DWR plans to double the population of declining fish species
Jul 1, 2023, 2:00 PM | Updated: 2:08 pm
The bluehead sucker fish is about 15 inches long and feeds by scraping algae off rocks in the riverbed. (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)
(Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)
WEBER COUNTY –The bluehead sucker is a native fish species that lives in the Weber River, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources plans to stock the river next week with fish raised in a hatchery. Biologist Chance Broderius said the bluehead populations have been declining for years.
“Honestly I think that gives them the right to continue living here,” he said. “Without having to worry about our actions knocking them off the earth entirely.”
Blueheads are about 15 inches long and feed by scraping algae off rocks in the riverbed.
(Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)
“Our population within the Weber River occurs from just below Echo Dam, all the way down through Ogden and Riverdale.”
Broderius said there are only 300 to 500 of them currently left in the Weber River. Once the DWR releases the fish they raised in the Springville hatchery, the population will more than double.
“There will be about 800 fish going into probably five or six different spots in Weber to spread them out and give them the best chance at finding good habitat,” he said.
Related Reading:
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- Fish more vulnerable to warming water than first thought
