- The fish surviving in cooling lakes or river discharges could easliy be
killed by just turning off the plant for a week during a nasty winter temp
spike. Pretty inexpensive removal. Some lost operations costs adjustments
and the problem is solved.
- The fish that were found in other systems aren't going to have the luxury
of warm water refuge and are going to go down in the Wisconsin winter.
- While the salmonoids are completely exotic to the Great Lakes... They're
filling niches where nature didn't fill them, or where humans took out the
Lakers. And, they generate _a lot_ of dollars in state revenues that are
used to support the entire fisheries... Which offers habitat protection and
enhancement for a lot of other species found in the pristine waters the
salmonoids need for survival. Do you think that anyone in their right mind
is going to / will watch someone else dump hazardous wastes into a river the
salmon and trout make runs in? There's quite a few other species enjoying
the pristine waters.
However, if another temperate species makes a go of it in these same
scenarios... It may pull through just fine. And it may end up _becoming_
the niche. Then the taxpayers end up paying for it's removal anyway. What
do you think that electric fence project to prevent the bighead carp on the
Chicago River is costing us? I'm sure it could be brought down to a "cents
per taxpayer" figure over the course of a few years.
And... A baby snakehead at a pet shop looks like a baby snakehead, no
matter what species and won't need to involve 30 of the world's finest
Channa icthyologists to come to agreement that "yes, this is a violation of
act xx".
So I'm just fine with them taking the easy road on this one :)
As they say... There's plenty of other fish in the sea...
Respectfully said,
Todd
----- Original Message -----
From: "R. W. Wolff" <choupiqu_at_wctc.net>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 1:03 AM
Subject: Re: NANFA--Snakeheads and Pacu - the whole thing makes me sick
> How about the possibility that someone in Illinois released the snakehead
> when IL implemented the ban? Then it swam up river to WI. Janesville is a
> very short distance from Rockford Illinois. Certainly if they judged the
> fish had been in the river for a good while. Also in the article, the
> bioligist who caught this fish released it, thinking it was a bowfin. Come
> on, bowfin. If they honestly thought it was a bowfin, then they should
have
> taken it in for testing to determine why the pelvic fins migrated forward,
> the anal fin developed several more rays, and the head grew scales. Not to
> mention the odd coloration.
>
> Here is a link to the story I got my info from, with a picture of the
actual
> fish you can blow up and look at yourself and see if you think it's a
> bowfin.
>
> http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4115924.html
>
> Not to worry, most who fish in Wisconsin despise bowfin, and if it is
> caught , it will be tossed on shore and stomped on, slit up, or some other
> gruesome butchering and then kicked into the tall grass and brush to rot.
> Certainly bowfin will loose on this one, when people are encouraged to
kill
> snakeheads, as they are ruffe, gobies, and white perch.
>
> The whole situation is bad. Several Pacu have been caught in Lake
> Columbia, a cooling lake that is very warm all year. No race to ban Pacu
or
> even Pirahna in Wisconsin. A Tilapia was caught in Horicon marsh some
years
> back. No race to ban all cichlid species. Just as the mass ban on Channa
and
> Parachanna has banned some delightful dwarf species in some states. Yet
> exotic salmon and trout are stocked here every year, since they raise lots
> of money for the state. You won't find them bashed on the rocks of Lake
> Michigans coast.
>
> Ray
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