The reason the cui-ui remains endangered (though upgraded from critically endangered in 2014) is the recent history of recruitment variation, illustrating that in many years of the 1970s and 1980s there was virtually no recruitment whatsoever due to unsuccessful spawning in an unfavorable water quality and water flow environment of the Truckee River.

These releases are critical to successful spawning since low warm flows at the Truckee River delta are inhospitable to upstream migration of adults.

Cui-ui were also still important for subsistence, despite Bureau of Indian Affairs attempts to encourage farming and discourage fishing.

After the 1905 construction of Derby Dam which diverted much of the Truckee River's flow, the Pyramid Lake fishery declined.

Although conditions have improved recently, the cui-ui are managed for cultural and ecological purposes, not as a human food source.