Description: This plan is intended to identify the priority species for a water, the general management type used to support a species or community, and designate general management direction for all waters within the jurisdiction of the Department. The general management direction also intends to identify areas which have been or may be considered for expanding sportfishing opportunities or to implement federal or state recovery plans for fishes in New Mexico. This plan is not intended to identify a comprehensive list of activities or research needs at the individual water or species scale. The Department has and will continue to develop water or species specific management or recovery plans to provide fine-scale detail, where warranted, and potentially adopt or coordinate with federal recovery plans. This plan does not override previously adopted plans unless otherwise noted. National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) flowline and waterbody files for New Mexico were imported into existing Department geodatabases to identify management reaches. Department staff identified management reaches based upon available fish distribution datasets and management activities. Management reaches were based upon individual waters, in some cases, but also grouped into watersheds or sub-watersheds where feasible. Once identified, corresponding features from the NHD datasets were exported into a new dataset. Additional spatial information, including hydrologic unit codes and geographic names information system (GNIS) codes, were appended into the new dataset. Non-spatial information including priority fish species, management type, and management direction for each were then incorporated. Some reservoirs were not included in the NHD and were digitized using the National Agriculture Imagery Program (U.S. Department of Agriculture) aerial photography from 2011 to 2014.
Copyright Text: New Mexico Department of Game and Fish; Fisheries Management Division