When people think of catfish, they’re more likely to
imagine roadside cooking shacks in Mississippi than desert streams.
But that could change now that the native Yaqui catfish has been
restored to Arizona.
In October, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service released 350 of the blue-gray fish in the San
Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge near Douglas,
Ariz.
The catfish, which can weigh over 20
pounds, has been extinct in Arizona for 100 years. According to
Buddy Jensen, the biologist who led the reintroduction efforts,
cattle wiped out the fish’s habitat. Overgrazing destroyed
streamside vegetation, he explained, leading to muddy water and
irregular stream flows. Federal officials traveled to Mexico, where
the Rio Yaqui flows over 300 miles to the Gulf of California, to
trap wild catfish for the project.
The
reintroduction is part of a refuge effort to replace non-native
fish with eight native species and restore streamside habitat.
Jensen has also re-introduced the Yaqui chub, Yaqui shiner and
Yaqui top minnow in the San Bernardino refuge, created in 1982 to
focus on native fish recovery.
To balance the
non-native and native fish populations in Arizona streams, state
biologists have promoted unlimited catches of exotic fish such as
rainbow and brown trout, which feed on native
fish.
Biologists hope the catfish will succeed
well enough to allow limited fishing, which will bring in money to
pay for more restoration.
Even ranchers are
supporting the fish’s return. “I think it’s great,” said Wendy
Glenn, co-owner of the Malpai Ranch, which surrounds the refuge.
“If they have a place for it, they should put it back.”
*Jason
Lenderman
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline No, ma’am, this isn’t Mississippi.
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