What Do YOU View as Invasive/Harmful?

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
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Pittsburgh, PA
This seems to be a very heavily debated topic among fish keepers and fishermen alike so I figured I'd get the opinions of some people on here. What do you personally see as an invasive/non native/harmful fish? Either in your specific area or somewhere else. To me, it varies depending on fish, I see some as extremely harmful whose introduced population needs to be eradicated, and for others I see them just as introduced or naturalized being much less of an impact (not saying it's ever smart to introduce non native fish but some are much less harmful than others). Here's how I feel about some local examples, I live in pa.

Common Carp: Not a very large threat at all if populations are managed wisely.

Grass Carp: Fertile grass carp are very much a threat because of the amount of vegetation they eat and should be removed as much as possible other than from private lakes, ponds, etc where they can't reproduce or a flood won't be able to carry them to a public waterway.

Rainbow Trout: Hardly a threat as they're very similar to native brook trout with similar diets and only slightly large size.

Brown Trout: More a threat than rainbows because they grow larger and eat more native cyprinid type fish than rainbows or brooks but still not a fish to over worry about unless overstocked.

Flathead Catfish (in the Sus. River): Highly a threat because of their immense hunger, large size, and predatory nature. However they may help to reduce the grass carp number so I'm still undecided on them in the Susquehanna. In their native pa rivers (ohio, mon, allegheny) they're of course native and should be treated well as they may aid in the population reduction of invasives like grass carp and keep common carp populations manageable plus theyre great sport fish.

Round Goby: The bane of my and fellow erie fishermens' existence. They're really good for nothing at all, they eat massive amounts of eggs of native fish and young fry. They're not big enough to be sport or food. They also eat zebra mussels which are also invasive but at least the mussels improve water quality. I never release a round goby when I fish for Erie, it's a fun time to watch seagulls fight over dead gobies while you're waiting for the next bite, they also don't leave you alone for the rest of the day though :).

These are just my opinions on these fish and I'm curious as to your guys thoughts on these fish and others in your area and others.
 

ballinouttacntrol

Polypterus
MFK Member
Aug 20, 2009
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Eugene, Or
Everything has an impact weither immediately noticeable or not. Most of your/our likes or dislikes are personal preference based and not long term environmental based.




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houie925

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 12, 2008
827
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48
Manteca, California
In my area black bass, striped bass, crappie, bluegill, carp, channel cats. There was talk recently about removing all regs on fishing for striped bass in the delta, which would be a good start, but it didn't get anywhere.

Water hyacinth seems to be becoming a bigger problem every year.
 

Gill Blue

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 28, 2011
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michigan
for every introduced animal/plant/insect, the very least thing they do is consume resources needed by species that were already there. it's no different that someone coming into your house, eating your food, using your electricity. now imagine that you couldn't bring in any more food, that your electricity was capped. that food you need, they ate it. you have to go hungry until some more food comes in, but it still won't be enough for both of you...
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
for every introduced animal/plant/insect, the very least thing they do is consume resources needed by species that were already there. it's no different that someone coming into your house, eating your food, using your electricity. now imagine that you couldn't bring in any more food, that your electricity was capped. that food you need, they ate it. you have to go hungry until some more food comes in, but it still won't be enough for both of you...
Im not trying to downplay that there is any introduced fish that isn't harmful, my point was just some are worse than others in terms of ecological impact.
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
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Pittsburgh, PA
^ Good idea, I debated posting it under fishing but wasn't sure. Can a mod please do the above, thank you!
 

Gill Blue

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 28, 2011
4,072
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michigan
Im not trying to downplay that there is any introduced fish that isn't harmful, my point was just some are worse than others in terms of ecological impact.
bad point. the ecosystem is just that, a system. when you change one thing you change others you have no idea of.
for example, over fishing of salmon slows the growth of many of our old growth forests.
less salmon, less fish for the bears to catch during spawning, that's less fish carried into the forest to be eaten, with the bears leaving less because now they can't just eat their favorite parts and leave the rest to fertilize the trees. they also don't go off into the woods as far, so that reduces the area fertilized as well.
and that's a fairly direct one.

you have no idea of the impact of these kinds of things because you can't see everything that's being impacted. so what if half the fish in that lake don't belong there? maybe the heron that can't catch dinner now because the new fish don't taste good, or have spines and can't be swallowed. perhaps it's that endangered newt species that doesn't breed in that lake anymore because the invaders are better hunters, or don't fall for the tricks that the newt has evolved to escape a certain kind of fish that wasn't able to compete with the introduced fish.
so now what simply appears as a new fish on the line every now and then we have an extinct bird, an extinct newt, and who knows what else.
 
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