Mottled Sculpin - Management Recommendations

Management Recommendations

Although mottled sculpin are not a highly endangered fish, they are more sensitive than other fish to levels of copper, cadmium, and especially zinc in streams across North America. Therefore the absence of different sculpin species, especially mottled sculpin, in streams where other species of fish, such as trout, are abundant could be an indication of future trouble for these areas. Mottled sculpin could be used as an index species for the water quality in streams and rivers.

One thing that could be done to help the mottled sculpin return to its native western streams is for the EPA to use the mottled sculpin to set the WQCs for zinc. Once the new levels are set for the United States and zinc concentrations become more favorable for the species, the species can be reintroduced to these streams and hopefully reestablish populations once lost. One area that would be ideal for this project would be the segment of Eagle River downstream of an old mining area near Minturn, Colorado. This area would be ideal because it is a natural experiment. Up stream of the mining area mottle sculpin and brown trout are present, but directly downstream of the old mining town mottled sculpins are absent while brown trout have increased in numbers. Therefore it could be a goal to reduce the levels of zinc in the water downstream so that either a new population of mottled sculpins could be introduced or so that the upstream population could migrate downstream and have a larger population over all. If this were to work then it could be a guide line for further management plans for mottled sculpin.