The US Bureau of Reclamation has arrive up with a plan to prevent invasive smallmouth bass from consider over the Grand Canyon , and it involves bend down the temperature .

Smallmouth bass are typically aboriginal to the eastern and key United States , but they are also highlyeffective predatorsthat love nothing more than chowing down on young aboriginal fish like the hunchback chub – 90 percent of which live on within the Grand Canyon dowery of the Colorado River .

The basso were find breeding downstream from Glen Canyon Dam in July 2022 ; they ’d been known to live inLake Powell since 1982and further upstream , but this Modern development spelled difficulty for the Leuciscus cephalus , with the worry that the materialisation could make their way down to the Grand Canyon .

" These non - aboriginal predatory Pisces the Fishes were latterly discovered raising in area where they have not previously been found in large numeral , threatening the recovery of kyphosis chub , which is listed as threaten under the Endangered Species Act , " the National Park Service saidin a report .

mood changeand drouth have exacerbated the problem , let down the Earth’s surface of the body of water of Lake Powell , while quick water has been flowing through the dam and toward the Grand Canyon . The smallmouth black bass bass have managed to go past through the dam ’s hydropower turbine to spread into more of the river .

Currently , the bass live in the stretch of river called Lees Ferry , while the Leuciscus cephalus remains unmoved around 121 kilometers ( 75 miles ) from the area . To deter the bass from moving into the chub nursing home , the Bureau of Reclamation has decided to tackle the temperature change by discharge cold piddle into the river .

" The need for these flows was actuate after the average note daily piddle temperature reached smallmouth black bass bass replication limen above 15.5 degree Celsius ( 60 degrees Fahrenheit ) at the conflux of the Colorado River with the Little Colorado River , " order the Bureau of Reclamation in astatement .

The plan involves releasing the cold water from Lake Powell through the Glen Canyon Dam , and it began on July 9 .

So far , it seems to be working . The invasion of the smallmouth basso may have been stalled because the urine has been chill past the temperature they are cognise to be able to reproduce at . This also means that the official will not be using a controversial fish - killing chemical calledrotenonethat was used last year to curb the spread of the bass .

While the approach shot at last might never be able-bodied to hit the bass completely from the river , it ’s hoped that keep the water system cool enough will protect the humpback Leuciscus cephalus downstream .