This is all our rivers need

[Bryan Baron 2]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Thanks mate</blockquote>

Hopefully it will warm up a little with the rain. Just got home and its -8 outside.

 

[coelacanth]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Bryan Baron 2 wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote><blockquote class=quoteheader>Thanks mate..Just got home and its -8 outside.</blockquote></blockquote>
Yeah, sorry about that, couldn't read the missus' writing in her spell book and got it back-to-front, I'll ask her to do it when she gets back from Pendle.

 

[Bryan Baron 2]

Tell her to be careful. The winds are meant to be getting up to 20 odd mile an hour.

 

[Cliff Hatton 2]

...might make a good dead-bait...

 

[steveo]

Vicious nasty Snake head with sharp pointy teeth that KILL people,Dont read the Sun,its overpriced drivvle filled toilet paper and if you want to look at tit's then buy a porno.

 

[Bryan Baron 2]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>steveo wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>Dont read the Sun,its overpriced drivvle filled toilet paper.</blockquote>

Just don't use the front page or your behind will resemble a baboons.

 

[Andrew Huxtable]

i LOVE how the SUN highlight all the IMPORTANT words, i love reading a article then all of a sudden a single WORD shouts out at you...... oh dear!! i mean don`t get me wrong the sun does have aok sports section, butbefore the last 6 pages then the 7 pages of mobile phone adverts then the page of sex line adverts its IS the BIGGEST waste of recycled toilet paper

 

[Keith Williams]

"The Angling national magazines were well informed and published the CEFAS responses immediately with all the neccessary advice and warning as to what will happen to any UK waterways and fisheries if this species gains a foothold.

what is worrying is that nothing is known about how many may have been released by the unknown idiot and it has to be hoped that warming water temperatures in the UK do not give this fish the chance to breed.

The US Wildlife, Fish and Game service have a 24/7 battle on their hands on certain waterways and are now to trying toeradicate the Snakehead where its has taken hold and decimating native stocks of fish and other waterlife

See the following links that say's it all :
http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/OtherDocuments/snakeheaddistill.pdf
http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/02fr62193.pdf
http://www.fws.gov/snakehead3.htm

Our CEFAS staff thought they were having problems well if you read the problems the US is having from Illegal imports of fish for aquaria then this report link may show what may happen here if the ball is dropped
http://training.fws.gov/DivisionSites/ConservationLibrary/Pubs9/LEannual02.pdf

Makes you angry and cringe at the same time if you read the link in the Aquarist magazine thats reporting the mater big time

See : http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1588
I hope the Liconlnshire offender is found flogged and banned from keeping fish for life"

 

[The Gooner]

What's wrong with the PFK article? They state: "However, the Environment Agency told Practical Fishkeeping magazine: "We think it's a one off, dumped by a fishkeeper.

"We do not think that it is breeding there, and we do not plan to go and electrofish the area and look for any others.""

and

!The most commonly sold aquarium snakehead, the Giant snakehead, Channa micropeltes, grows to similar proportions but is a tropical species and is far less likely to be able to tolerate the current sub-zero nighttime temperatures.

[Update: Practical Fishkeeping has now seen a photograph of the fish and has identified it as the Giant snakehead, Channa micropeltes, approximately 45cm/18" in SL. This a tropical species, wouldn't tolerate our winter and was probably dumped recently. It is extremely surprising to hear that the species was feeding in water as cold as it would be at the current time.]"

 

[Keith Williams]

Gooner

Nature always finds a way to overcome environmental change by way of adaptation and challenge as history as always shown.


It only needs a slight excuse to succeed and no one has all the expert answers as well we all know.... ie Topmouth Minnows ( tropical) which thrived beyond all experts belief which eventually required chemical sanitization of the fisheries afflicted.

lets not be so assuming that this issue will go away !

 

[Bryan Baron 2]

Did i miss something here. The article in Practicle Fishkeeping says.

An Environment Agency spokesman told Practical Fishkeeping that it had not seen the fish to make a formal identification, but had received a photograph of the fish taken some time after it had died, and was able to confirm its identity as a member of the Channa genus.

I did not realise that it hadbeen found dead after the capture. This seems to be missing from a lot of reports. Surly there not trying to instill fear in the public.

Iremember as a youngsters reading about pepole catching tropicals from the canal at the back of the glass works in St Helens due to the hot water outflow.

 

[honslow]

THIS CATCH<u>IS</u> A HOAX!

Just letting everyone else know in case they make any embarrassing comments...../forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

 

[The Gooner]

Not in 5 minutes it doesn't. Evolution over a specific timeframe will occur of course but drop most tropicals fish in a jug of iced water and they aint gonna make it let alone decide to feed.

 

[coelacanth]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Keith Williams wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>It only needs a slight excuse to succeed and no one has all the expert answers as well we all know.... ie Topmouth Minnows ( tropical) which thrived beyond all experts belief which eventually required chemical sanitization of the fisheries afflicted.</blockquote>

Topmouth Minnows are not tropical by any stretch of the imagination, they come from the temperate zone of Eastern Asia. This is a very different scenario.

 

[Keith Williams]

I used the word "tropical" as this is the usual connotation in which this fish is associated in the eye of aquarium keeping general public and as always somebody somehow dumped their excess or unwanted stock in a waterway as has been discovered to the cost of a number of fisheries

Topmouths were brought in by the aquarist trade for fish keepers to enjoy.... Little did the fish trade realise what damage these fish can do if they got out into the wild.

Maybe I should have used the more appropriate direct genus terminology with habitat descriptions to which the species is well known as in scientific circles and not the general laymans phrase

Coelacanth knows this well and was I believe being cynical - maybe the dark habitat he dwells in has obscured his knowledge of what damage invasive non indiginous non native fish can do and what may happen if the right environmental circumstances present themselves as is known to occur and unstoppable by man no matter what we try to do.

The "Precautionary Principle" should always be applied in these situations

Maybe he should have a chat with the lads at the EA Brampton Lab or CEFAS Weymouth for an open answer which will be most illuminating /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif


<u><a href='http://www.fishingmagic.com/localiser/member.asp?sp=&v=1&MemNo=22734' target='_blank'>

</a></u>

 

[coelacanth]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Keith Williams wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>I used the word "tropical" as this is the usual connotation in which this fish is associated in the eye of aquarium keeping general public</blockquote>


Pseudorasbora were always classed and sold as "coldwater" fish (i.e. temperate) whenever I came across them, I've never once seen them being sold as requiring tropical conditions.<blockquote class=quoteheader>Keith Williams wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>Topmouths were brought in by the aquarist trade for fish keepers to enjoy.... Little did the fish trade realise what damage these fish can do if they got out into the wild.</blockquote>

The largest number of Pseudorasbora I ever saw was in a consignment of "small mixed coarse fish" from a fisheries dealer. It wasn't clear where these had originated, but they were going out to angling waters. There were more Topmouths in that one batch than all those I've ever seen in aquarium outlets put together. Purely anecdotal, but it shows that there may be multiple ways for fish to enter waters.<blockquote class=quoteheader>Keith Williams wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>Coelacanth knows this well and was I believe being cynical - maybe the dark habitat he dwells in has obscured his knowledge of what damage invasive non indiginous non native fish can do and what may happen if the right environmental circumstances present themselves as is known to occur and unstoppable by man no matter what we try to do.

The "Precautionary Principle" should always be applied in these situations

Maybe he should have a chat with the lads at the EA Brampton Lab or CEFAS Weymouth for an open answer which will be most illuminating /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif</blockquote>

Cynical? Not sure how, just realistic. I'm fully aware of the damage that non-native species (and the diseases that they may carry) can cause, but in this case the species reported as having been caught in a UK waterway is in my opinion no more likely to become established than areTiger Barbs or Neon Tetrasto start swimming around in the Ribble, or for someone to find live Clownfish off Skegness. I've been to the areas where Channa micropeltes is native and never measured a water temperature below 23 degrees C. The fact that another member of the genus,native to China, may have been able to survive and breed in the Central-eastern US (which althoughtemperate also has a very different climate tothe UK) is not actually relevant to this particular case (as has already been mentioned, the one species which might survive in UK waters has effectivelybeen banned from importation for some time).

Precautionary principles are all well and good but taken to these extremesmeans that all non-native aquarium fish would have to be banned "just in case".