To stock or not to stock, that is the question

[Toddy]

It's actually quite scary just how fast something that seems perfectly sound can turn out to be an ecological disaster.

A couple way up the valley near the headwaters of the major feeder burn to the Clyde had a duck pond....and they brought in signal crayfish to feed the ducks.
Thing is though, signal crayfish will happily escape a pond and go walkabout to find other waters...and these ones did so.
They are now rife in every burn and river that feeds the major river that drains half the Scottish lowlands.
All because folks thought that the wee crayfish would feed their ducks.

The signal crayfish have pretty much wiped out the native ones, and they predate every other water living species in their endless hunger.

Repeat that across the country and it's all too easy to see how invasive species cause grief.

 

[Kepis]

It's actually quite scary just how fast something that seems perfectly sound can turn out to be an ecological disaster.

A couple way up the valley near the headwaters of the major feeder burn to the Clyde had a duck pond....and they brought in signal crayfish to feed the ducks.
Thing is though, signal crayfish will happily escape a pond and go walkabout to find other waters...and these ones did so.
They are now rife in every burn and river that feeds the major river that drains half the Scottish lowlands.
All because folks thought that the wee crayfish would feed their ducks.

The signal crayfish have pretty much wiped out the native ones, and they predate every other water living species in their endless hunger.

Repeat that across the country and it's all too easy to see how invasive species cause grief.

Exactly, people put so little thought into the long term consequences of their actions.

We have an issue on one of our local rivers that has Wels Catfish in it, they don't occur naturally and have either come from a fishery close to the headwaters of the river that has them and they have escaped during winter floods or its eejits having them in their garden pond not realising how big they get and rather than get rid of them properly, they just dumped them in the river without thinking about the devastating effect they can have on the indigenous fish/wildlife population of the river.

If anyone catches one they cannot by law return it to the river, they have to retain it and call the Environment Agency who will come and collect it and rehome it with a specialist fish farm or collector or they can euthanise it.

 

[Tengu]

Are Wels good to eat?

They are good to make huge great fish; I know that.

 

[Kepis]

Are Wels good to eat?

They are good to make huge great fish; I know that.

Catfish can be tasty, personally, id steer clear of a Wels, ive caught them before and they stink

 

[slowworm]

Total recipe for disaster and subject to either heavy fines or time at Her Majesty's pleasure for the most serious offences.

Do the EA actually do much down your way? Down here they don't seem to bother prosecuting much.

I've considered digging and stocking a pond and the stream it would be close to once had trout. However, the farm run off in this area has long since killed the vast majority of the fish and the EA don't seem that bothered. However, I expect I would have to follow the all sorts or regs even if most don't.

 

[Kepis]

Do the EA actually do much down your way? Down here they don't seem to bother prosecuting much.

The EA round here are really good, very active and very good at keeping controlling clubs/landowners etc informed of what's been going on, they are also very receptive to reports from the public, clubs etc about illegal fishing/activity and act upon it.

I see from your profile you are in Devon, i know of one fishery down your way that was prosecuted and fined to the tune of £40k for stocking illegal species into one of their ponds, was a massive operation to eradicate them and i doubt the fine even partially covered the cost of the clean up operation by the EA.

 

[spandit]

But still subject to the laws of the land which specifically prohibit the stocking of any water with fish or other aquatic species without the necessary movement permits, stocking license, health checks, eco impact surveys and assessments, invertebrate surveys etc etc etc.

I have the necessary licence from CEFIS. The pond has a small rivulet running into it from a spring higher up (all my springs are on the higher ground, weirdly) and the overflow is a small weir into a 300mm pipe that flows into a ditch. In warmer weather (remember that?) it doesn't reach the overflow. In wet weather, like now, the depth of the overflow is a few mm and obscured by bullrush, so for a fish to jump it they'd have to be psychic. The pipe actually slopes upwards at the far end so the outflow from that is a mere dribble.

It's a good discussion. I do fancy having some trout for the grill but if they have to be triploid then it's an expensive way of providing them

 

[Toddy]

Our lochans often have wee brown trout in them.
They're never very big trout, but the folks who fish and eat them find them tasty enough.

Since those are native trout, would they be allowed to be stocked in your pond ?

Brown trout

This species has two possible life-cycle patterns. Brown trout remain in freshwater their entire life, while sea trout mature at sea.

www.nature.scot

 

[Broch]

Our lochans often have wee brown trout in them.
They're never very big trout, but the folks who fish and eat them find them tasty enough.

Since those are native trout, would they be allowed to be stocked in your pond ?

Brown trout

This species has two possible life-cycle patterns. Brown trout remain in freshwater their entire life, while sea trout mature at sea.

www.nature.scot

All stocked trout have to be triploid, brown or rainbow, as far as I can tell.

 

[Kepis]

I have the necessary licence from CEFIS.

CEFAS (Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science) don't issue licences to stock fish they are the statutory body under which "Aquaculture Holdings" ie fisheries must be registered.

Fish movement site permits are issued by the Environment Agency.

Capture2 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/163167411@N07/, on Flickr

Capture by https://www.flickr.com/photos/163167411@N07/, on Flickr

 

[spandit]

CEFAS (Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science) don't issue licences to stock fish they are the statutory body under which "Aquaculture Holdings" ie fisheries must be registered.

You are quite right, CEFAS is the body that I'm registered with. I'm aware that movements must be registered.

 

[Spirit fish]

I have a fairly large pond (1/2 acre) which we use for swimming and wildlife. I'd like to be able to eat fish (trout) from it but I've heard that they're not good for other wildlife, presumably because they predate on insects, tadpoles etc.

We have a heron visiting quite often but the pond is very deep in places so hoping the fish will be able to escape into the depths, or is this wishful thinking?

coarse fish can be tasty if you put them in a hot curry otherwise they taste like compost

 

[slowworm]

I forgot about this thread. Anyway, midday yesterday I noticed a large ferret type animal on our front lawn by our fish pond...

It turned out to be a small otter and it dived into the pond and we watched it swim around for a few minutes right in front of us before it headed off into our fields.

I had wondered what had disturbed all the weed in the pond a few days back, I assume the otter had been about for a while. It probably will not be back as there doesn't seem to be any fish left.

I do wonder how the otter will fare as there's no fish in the local streams due to polution. Still, it shows theres no point in me ever stocking a pond round here unless I intend to feed the otters.

 

[spandit]

I forgot about this thread. Anyway, midday yesterday I noticed a large ferret type animal on our front lawn by our fish pond...

It turned out to be a small otter and it dived into the pond and we watched it swim around for a few minutes right in front of us before it headed off into our fields.

I had wondered what had disturbed all the weed in the pond a few days back, I assume the otter had been about for a while. It probably will not be back as there doesn't seem to be any fish left.

I do wonder how the otter will fare as there's no fish in the local streams due to polution. Still, it shows theres no point in me ever stocking a pond round here unless I intend to feed the otters.

I'd love to see an otter here...

 

[Disabled Preppers]

It's actually quite scary just how fast something that seems perfectly sound can turn out to be an ecological disaster.

A couple way up the valley near the headwaters of the major feeder burn to the Clyde had a duck pond....and they brought in signal crayfish to feed the ducks.
Thing is though, signal crayfish will happily escape a pond and go walkabout to find other waters...and these ones did so.
They are now rife in every burn and river that feeds the major river that drains half the Scottish lowlands.
All because folks thought that the wee crayfish would feed their ducks.

The signal crayfish have pretty much wiped out the native ones, and they predate every other water living species in their endless hunger.

Repeat that across the country and it's all too easy to see how invasive species cause grief.

You are so right on the signals , i use to fish a carp lake and we had traps out 12 months of the years pulling out hundreds if not thousands on a good year , i wanted to find out if the canal was as bad and in hemel there is a run off viaduct of concrete but up where it splits off the concrete was all cracked and looked old so as i knew crays were local i wanted to find out so i got some cheap fish reduce to clear in asda , i chopped it in to biggish chunks and went there we threw it is near the edges and by the cracks i was amazed at the size of the monsters that came out i mean big 8uggers , so i ordered a drop net and made a metal box out of aviary mesh 1/2 x 1/2 mesh i fixed that in them iddle of the drop net and off we went put some fish scraps in raw fish and lowered it down well i can say with in 30 minutes i had a black bucket full and showes the size one grabbed my german shepcards paw he screamed so loud lol but he never went near one again , these vermin are rife and if you can trap the little 8uggers and boil them up if not to eat yourself they make great carping bait , we had some lovely meals from them i use to keep them in a large plastic tub with air pumps in nice clean water for a few days to clean them out .
We moved north to the west midlands i was thinking i would get some here but i have put traps out and not had a one but i can tell you Zander are rife , due ot health not had a chance to get much fishing but if i get one whack and fillet and yum yum , people say about pike they are a pain bone wise but fillet them well and you do not even need to gut them you can whip the flanks off then the tail fillets and a back fillet and your good to go , the rest gets recycled.
CRAYS ARE LIKE GREY SQUIRRELS IF YOU TRAP THEM YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LET THEM GO

 

[Broch]

Just a reminder in case there are people reading that don't know - you need a licence to trap crayfish.

 

[Disabled Preppers]

Just a reminder in case there are people reading that don't know - you need a licence to trap crayfish.

Hi Broch your very right but lets say i have eaten the evidence so to speak it was so years ago now so not sure if the law on that has changed , likei say the carp lake use to trap and i wanted to check the culvert out and wow big monsters in there , they tasted nice with the bbq lol bit like a prawn cocktail starter

 

[Kav]

Exotics are destructive, from critters attached to container ship hulls to idiots keeping large cats. A unknown collector had a TIGER escape.
I was at my boarding facility tending a newborn foal. We received a warning it was in our still semi rural agricultural area, roughly near the Reagan presidential library.
I had a 97 Winchester 12 gauge trench gun from WW1 in the car boot. I’m loading the magazine and fixing the long, enfield bayonet .
Horseygirl, trying to look like Elizabeth Taylor in NATIONAL VELVET freaks out about the poor tiger and my ‘assault rifle’ We hear rapid shots. Police put 14 handgun rounds in it just over the property fence.
Nix on messing with the native system!

 

[Ozmundo]

From time to time I get asked to survey fishing lakes (or look for someone’s drone).

A year or two back we had completed sonar on one site and I was taking a buddy of mine to have a look at a section adjacent to where the bank had collapsed.

We jumped in and he looks down and says “Indie why is the floor moving?” Just like Raiders of the Lost Ark, the whole of it was signal crayfish.
I’ve seen aggregations but this was immense.
We went off to look at the wall to see what the condition was. It was like Swiss cheese with burrows barely a hand span apart. I know they are deep and I could get my arm all the way down so they were well established!
It was like this down to about 20m.

I had to tell the owners it would not be a good idea to put glamping yurts on the shore above it.