Moapa dace population holds steady in count

Researchers unhappy with species status quo

The latest count is in for Clark County’s most endangered fish, and the results are mixed.

While researchers were relieved to see the Moapa dace population holding steady at 1,138 adult fish, they would prefer some real improvement for a species that’s been under federal protection for just over 50 years.

“We’re not in a crisis mode where the species is declining,” said Michael Schwemm, senior fish biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Southern Nevada. “But we’re not happy with the status quo. We want to see things improve.”

He said researchers plan to step up efforts to restore habitat and eliminate nonnative predators in the warm springs and streams that form the headwaters of the Muddy River, 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

To arrive at the most recent population estimate, Schwemm and company put on snorkels and swim masks and crawled through several miles of shallow, warm-water streams, counting the fish one at a time. The survey was conducted over three days in late February by a team from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which owns most of the fish’s natural habitat in northern Clark County.

This year’s number was close to the February 2017 count of 1,165, but the population remains well below the roughly 1,900 fish spotted during the February surveys in 2015

DACE