Pest fish busting is catching on in Australia

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I thought I didn’t have anything to write about so I went to our national news site to try to find something that might be interesting. And I had quite a field day! Firstly, have you heard of pest fish-busting? This is the sport of fishing for invasive fish species that are threatening native species. The sport is fast catching on among fisherpeople (Note the non-gender specific term!) and pest fishing contests are pulling in large numbers of contestants. Carp and Mozambique tilapia are two of the species targeted. Mozambique tilapia was introduced to Australia about 50 years ago as an ornamental aquarium fish and are considered a huge threat to the aquatic ecosystem. It is now illegal to keep them in Australia or to use them as bait. As they can survive salty and oxygen-starved waters, they are found in lakes, reservoirs, drain, swamps and creeks. So far, they are mostly found along the eastern seaboard and north of Geraldton in Western Australia. Although tilapia is a primary protein source in some countries, and I’ve heard ‘tilapia’ mentioned in myLot discussions, it is not permitted to take them as food fish here. This is because females carry their eggs in their mouths until well after they hatch. The eggs and babies can survive long after the death of the mother. The anglers share pictures and videos of their catches, and maps of where to go to combine a love of fishing with helping protect native species. I don’t have a photo of a fish but the one here is the tail of a whale.