Fish Kabobs

Some crazy "Asian Carp Water Ninjas" are heading out onto the Illinois River and attacking the invasive fish mid-ski with swords and spiked armor. A link to the video, which must be seen to be believed, is here. (Don't try this at home, etc. etc.)

Carpoon!

Fifth grader wins national invention contest from Popular Science with his underwater fishy-facial recognition weapon, an anti-carp device.

Next Up: Lionfish Triple Crown!

Florida is holding lionfish derbies in an attempt to rid the Florida Keys of this invasive marine fish.

Hunting For The Right Angle

The US Forest Service, in conjunction with a number of other government agencies and environmental groups, has produced a new video to teach hunters and anglers about invasive species prevention. Featuring stories about the ways that hunters and anglers interact with the environment, "Defending Favorite Places" is filled with examples of the way invasive species impact the environment. It also presents several good tips to prevent the spread of invasive species, for example, cleaning off your clothes, vehicle and equipment to remove any invasive species hitchhikers. Also worth noting is a recommendation to report invasive species (or any plant or animal that seems out of place!), and record its location, especially if you're armed with a GPS unit. As one of the anglers noted, if you are a "regular" at a fishing site or hunting area, you're going to be the first one to notice when some new plant or animal shows up.

You can download "Defending Favorite Places" in full-length or mini versions to show to your favorite group of outdoor enthusiasts, or enquire about the DVD version by contacting:

USDA Forest Service San Dimas Technology & Development Center 444 East Bonita Avenue San Dimas, CA 91773 909-599-1267

If Not For The Courage Of The Fearless Crew...

According to this story over at The Hays Daily News, wildlife officials in the states of Kansas and Missouri are taking a closer look at their bait policies after a brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans) was found mixed in with a batch of fathead minnows that got shipped to retail bait shops in both states. Officials asked shop owners to cull their minnow stocks, removing any of the offendind fish. It is illegal to use the brook stickleback, a fish native to the northern half of North America, as bait in either Kansas and Missouri, for fears of wild populations establishing or escaped fish spreading disease. However, no shop owners were fined or cited for the incident and it sounds like they were cooperating with their states to remedy the immediate problem.

Ghoul Of Fish

Yikes - it seems that the giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes) has made an appearance in British waters. According to this report from the Telegraph, an angler hoping to catch a pike on the River Witham grabbed a two-foot-long, three pound Asian snakehead fish instead. This may be the first record of this species in UK waters.

The story is getting lots of media coverage, with the usual thorough job done by the BBC, but the best title so far is going to METRO.co.uk, who proclaimed, "Man-eating 'psycho' fish found in UK."

Thanks to budak for sending in a link to this story.

Clean Boat Clean Boat Clean Boat...

...Hey, that wasn't that hard to say! :-)

If you live in the USA (well, mainland USA) and you are into boating, check out this cool contest from the Izaak Walton League of America. If you can correctly answer all four questions in their Clean Boat Challenge, you could win $2500 to spend at Bass Pro Shops. Also, if you are part of a non-profit organization aiming to help keep aquatic invasive species from spreading, check out the Boat U.S. Foundation's Clean Water Grants program (but hurry - deadline is Feb. 8th!). Longtime readers of the ISW may remember that Bass Pro Shops is the same company that offered a bounty on the Northern snakehead back in 2004.

(Tip of the virtual hat to BYM Product and Industry News for posting the press release.)

Master Boot Record

If you're into fishing you'll want to check out Brett Prettyman's recent column in The Salt Lake Tribune about how to pick the right boots. Now that felt-soled boots are being frowned upon as carriers of pathogens like whirling disease (Myxobolus cerebralis) and invasive species like didymo algae (Didymosphenia geminata, also known as "rock snot"), Brett has some suggestions for felt-free alternatives. Unfortunately, at $100+ a pair, they don't come cheap, and of course boots with feltless soles still need to be properly disinfected after you've used them...no matter how much they cost :-).

Weekend Photoblogging

Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides
Originally uploaded by brian.gratwicke

If you are in the USA, as I am, you might be wondering what a largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is doing on the ISW. But consider that this photo was taken in Zimbabwe...

(Thanks to Brian for sharing this photo under a Creative Commons license.)

Perch Precariously

The Daily Nation is reporting that populations of introduced Nile perch (Lates niloticus) in Lake Victoria are dwindling, causing strife for fishermen in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The perch in Lake Victoria were once so numerous that they overwhelmed the lake and many of the native fish that lived there, causing a ripple effect that extended to the lives of the people that live in countries surrounding the lake and spawned a movie about the consequences. Now the perch are getting much harder to find, with fishermen being to forced to venture into the deeper waters of the lake in search of their catch. General consensus is that the drop in Nile perch numbers is likely due to water pollution, which likely doesn't bode well for the other creatures that call the lake home.

Fun With Video

A peek into the world of invasive species-related videos:

• This one is a real gem: Captain PU in "Attack of the Invasive Species" ...in which a grown man wears tights and a cape, and goes off to fight the invasive aquatic plant known as Eurasian water milfoil. In this version of unreality, the milfoil is a guy standing in the water, dressed in business casual accented by an aluminum foil hat and bow tie. Super cheesy but with a fair amount of useful information about aquatic invaders. Bonus points to you if you get flashbacks to the goofy videos you made with your friends back in school.
• Speaking of goofy videos you made with your friends back in school...this one on YouTube is certainly goofy, but watching a teen dressed up as an invasive Aussie rabbit get shot, poisoned, and attacked is laugh-out-loud funny. This other video may be for the same class project - it's really cute and actually has a lot of good information. Excuse me, I need to go buy some peanut M&M's! LOLZ!!!111!!
• The Center for Aquatic and Invasive Species has put together an identification video for the invasive aquatic plant hydrilla. This is a great idea! The video imparts far more information than you could get from just a set of photos, and does it faster than a fact sheet. Here's hoping it is just the first of many.
• Watch this video to learn about Dave Delaney's citizen science project to monitor marine invasive species that live off the coast of North America. Dave's research focuses on crabs: Asian shore crabs, European green crabs, and the Chinese mitten crab. If you are interested in finding out more about the project or perhaps even volunteering, be sure to check out Dave's website.
• Did this question about invasive species in the Great Lakes make it into the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate? It should have, if only because that kid put on a suit with a bow tie to go to the beach. Go Jake!
• Hankering for a hearty meal? Why not try some Kentucky Tuna? Of course by "Kentucky Tuna," I mean smoked bighead carp! It actually looks good.

One Lake At A Time

In an attempt to slow the spread of VHS (Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia) in their state, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has enacted emergency regulations stating that anyone exiting a body of water must now make sure to drain his/her boat and fishing equipment. VHS, first discovered in the Great Lakes Region in 2005, infects mostly salmonid types of fishes (salmon, trout, etc.) and remains viable in water for up to two weeks, meaning that it could be spread easily by angling activities. Perhaps more frustrating for anglers is the additional rule that any fish taken away from a body of water in Wisconsin must be dead, even bait fish. As a fishing guide says in this story from WJFW, that could be a pain for anyone wanting to visit multiple bodies of water in a single day.

California Streaming

Southern California Public Radio (KPCC 89.3FM) recently did a three-part feature on the aquatic invasive species that impact their part of the world. Part 1 is about the recent discovery of quagga mussels, Part 2 investigates marine invaders and ballast water management, and Part 3 is about the negative impact of fish hatcheries on the region's native flora and fauna. The best part is that you get to pick your flavor of information retrieval - play the audio or peruse the full text of the transcripts if you prefer. There are lots of interesting photos too - good stuff!

Fun With YouTube

More bizarre invasive species videos from the world of YouTube:

• Kentucky Afield posted a really interesting video about Bow fishing at night for bighead carp. Not for the squeamish, but if you want to see guys shoot an arrow through the head of a 40 pound carp with a bow and a flashlight, check it out!
• The Mississippi Valley Conservancy has a video about invasive plants. The intro is a bit heavy on the cheese, but on the whole, the video is full of good information.
• dancohen posts Alien Invasion, an educational video put together by some Emerson boys for a class project. It's wicked pissah! (No, no, it's not, it's actually pretty bad. Sorry guys. At least you had some decent factoids in there. But if you could get Rachel Dratch and Jimmy Fallon to parody it: comedy gold!) If you cannot get enough of them with AI Part 1, there's always AI Part 2, which is an interpretive dance. [Via That Biology Girl]
• Flkitesurfer caught a lionfish hanging around a shipwreck in the Bahamas. WOuld be a nice diving video, except for the fact that lionfish are native to the Pacific Ocean!
• bluedotprodux posted a video showing feral goats being removed from Santa Cruz Island, in the Galapagos. I have no idea what the guy being interviewed is saying, but I do know that it cannot be fun to be charged with catching and dragging dozens of goats into a truck.

Reel Big Fish

The Charlotte Observer is reporting that a man in North Carolina recently caught a northern snakehead (Channa argus) that weighed in at an impressive 13 pounds. Barry Faw snagged the giant invader while he was fishing at Lake Wylie. Unfortunately, no one, not the fisherman, nor his friends, nor the person at the neighborhood bait shop, recognized the invasive fish, and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission didn't have anyone available to inspect it...so Barry threw it back in the lake. Later the NC WRC saw photos and recognized the fish as a snakehead, but attempts to locate the fish or any of its brethren in the lake by shocking them to the surface of the water have failed. This is the second record of a Northern snakehead in Lake Wylie, the first being from 2002.

Sounds like North Carolina needs more rigorous invasive species outreach for their anglers and their bait shops.

Shock Value

Interesting story at Jacksonville.com about Georgia's plans to manage populations of flathead catfish (Pylodictus olivaris) in the Satilla River. Teams from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources will be spending this summer and fall shocking catfish-infested waters and scooping out the stunned flatheads where they find them. This might be disappointing news to some sport fisherman in the area, since lately they've been catching flatheads in the 50- 70 pound range.

Flatheads are native to the Central U.S. but are considered invasive in the Southeast, where wild populations were most likely started from intentional introductions. The catfish are "poisson non grata" there because they eat just about everything they see.

The article notes that if you're in the Satilla River area and you've got a boat or flatbed truck, the flathead catfish removal project could use your help! Contact Gordon at the Satilla RiverKeepers for more info.

Invasive Species Are Sexy?

I admit it, I was a little concerned when I noticed a site called Sexyloops.com linking to the ISW. No worries though - it's all about the flyfishing. Always good to see the angling aficionados taking an interest.

Update: As an anon commenter points out below, those fly fishers and anglers certainly do care about invasive species issues. Check out this post, this one and this one about the invasive freshwater algae known as Didymo.

Bow Regards

There is an interesting article from the Detroit Free Press about a fisherman that volunteers his "services" to anyone in Michigan with a lake filled with fishy invaders like carp (but also natives like gar and dogfish too). What makes this story worth posting is the way this guy makes his catches: night bow-fishing. That's right, not just fishing, but fishing with a bow on a 21-foot pontoon boat lit up like a cruise ship (see photo accompanying article).

A nuisance, or a valiant effort to fight invasive species? The noise and light certainly hasn't made this guy a lot of friends among those who own lakeside property, and a fisheries biologist notes that there's no way this technique could be removing enough carp to make a dent in that problem. I think the guy's just in it for the sport. But it sounds better than the anti-bow fishing Carp Anglers Group, who catch the darn things and then release them back into the water.

Holy Carp!

Michael Jones of Dennison, Texas spent over an hour fighting something big at the end of his fishing reel, but he had no idea how big. When it was over, according to this story from the Herald Democrat, he had landed a world record 70 lb. silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). Nobody knows how the carp, a prohibited species in Texas, ended up in Lake Texoma. This is also a new record for Texas: the first silver carp ever found in that state.

Bonus points to Mike for holding that huge fish in his hands and grinning like a son-of-a-gun!

Bucket Biology

There seems to be a bit of a split in the sport fishing community, between those concerned with depleting stocks of native fish and preventing new introductions, and those that just want to fish and are happy to let the government continue to stock bodies of water with species like the northern pike (Esox lucius). In Maine, angler Bob Mallard recently published this piece in the Kennebec Journal, addressing the DIF&W's policy of managing illegally introduced fish species in major bodies of water. Bob also has a forum at the website for his store, Kennebec River Outfitters, where you can find a lot of posts from anglers with similar concerns. You can also read Bob's recent article in the Northwoods Sporting Journal. By the way, "Bucket Biology" refers to the illegal introduction of species into bodies of water by transporting them in a bucket.