Environmentally Sensitive Habitats and Goldfish Population

Hello Monster Fish Keepers!

I wanted to bring to light an issue I have been shown in a city about 2 hours south of me. London Ontario is home to the southernmost Canadian Acid Peat Bog formed by a glacial kettle lake environment. A friend of mine on Canadian Aquarium Connection (a canadian based hobby forum) posted in our 'Wild Release' thread about London's Sifton Bog http://www.thamesriver.on.ca/Wetlands_and_Natural_Areas/sifton.htm .

He visited there last summer and was disgusted to see that Redmond's Lake was OVERRUN with feral goldfish. Now, the Thames Conservation Authority has attempted to remove thousands of these fish and destroy them in order to curb the damage to this sensitive habitat. But clearly they have no idea how quickly the population can grow!

Something that occured to me, is that local hobby groups COULD spend summer weekends trapping these pest fish using baited lake bottom traps and send the carp-meat to monster fish keepers (no charge save shipping :3) as supplementary food. My only question is - would there be a demand for this free protein treat and would the product be safe for monster fish consumption?

Seems to me if the answer to both questions was a resounding 'YES MA'AM!' Aquarist clubs across North America may have found a way to handle a disgusting irresponsibility to nature - and a viable means of supporting Monster Fish Keepers.

I'm interested to hear peoples thoughts - keeping in mind this may be a venture I would undertake on a volunteer basis with coordination with universities such as Western (which has a fantastic environmental program and plenty of students looking to get their fingers into real-life situations) as well as a method of informing communities of the damage caused by feral colonies of carp.

Carp are safe fish foods? Cus that's an awesome idea. Massive Fish Fry! Free food for anybody that shows up and stays to listen to talks about environmental habitat destruction via invasive species :3

The question is how to go about getting permission for this festive 'cull'.

Are there any pond owners out there lurking who can offer some insights on how to 'trap' younger goldfish known to have camouflaged markings?

I'm not sure something like this would be 100% affective for a trapping regimen.

http://www.livetrap.com/cgi/search....mplate=products.shtml&2_option=1&2=Fish+Traps

Not a bad idea at all. Its a shame the fish are so profilic - I toyed with the idea of contacting pond installation companies and asking them who they get their stock from but then I thought "All those fancy goldfish koi traits are probably long gone now that these fish have bred freely....who the hell is going to want wild carp mutants as ornamental fish?"

My thoughts on having the carp meat dehydrated or frozen from monster fish keepers followed, when I read an article on how goldfish and exotic carp were first introduced as food fish in the states but made their escape into the natural streams and rivers and thus began their destruction. I wonder if they could be added to homeless shelter menus or even marketed as cat food :s....

But the fine netting is an awesome idea. Just needs an organized effort with the least impact on the lake itself. I've never been there, so I'm not sure how extensive that kind of project would be. But it'd be one hell of an educative demonstration to the public.

I was wondering, do any of the hobbyists here own a dehydrater or mincer who could tell me where they go it from and if it would work for a powdered application?