Cold shot fired in battle over Colorado River invaders
The federal government has released a 584-page document detailing possible solutions to an invasive species that poses “an unacceptable risk” to another fish that’s listed as threatened. When it’s all said and done, officials want to give smallmouth bass a cold shower — or a cool bath, anyway — to discourage them from reproducing. Make no mistake, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s plan is a detailed “Cool Mix” strategy on how to reduce the threat to the humpback chub in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. Smallmouth bass are voracious predators, and they’ve started to establish populations below the dam where the chub is struggling to survive. Biologists say the bass will feed on the chub, their eggs, and pretty much anything else that will fit in its mouth.
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