8/19

Invasive species are those that are not a normal part of an ecosystem or aquasystem.  Usually invasive species are introduced by human beings on boats, anchor ropes, wet felt soles, ballast water, aquarium dumps, releasing little Sammy into the wild and similar incidents.

The resulting impact on the ecosystem or aquaculture can be devastating and expensive. In aquaculture envioronments, major game fish depletions may occur with resulting loss of income and jobs for those who depend on recreational fishing.

Invasive Species Impacts:

Reduction in game fish populations may occur through direct fish kills, reduction of native food sources, interference with the reproductive cycle and reduction of oxygen content in the water. Such reductions in game fish populations are usually related to reduced gear sales, guided trips, less vacation trips booked and similar reduction of revenue in the affected area.

Zebra mussels in particular clog water plant intake pipes resulting in increased operating costs.  The also clog the water outlet pipes on power plants. Nuclear power plants in the Great Lakes region average $825,000 annually for zebra mussel control.  Zebra mussels accumlate PCB’s and PAH’s in their tissues 300,000 times greater than normally found in the environment.  Then they deposit these harmful chemicals in the pseudofeces.  Ducks and fish will then pick up the chemicals and may cause harm for humans that eat them.

These are only some of the impacts that invasive species have on communities, mom and pop businesses that depend on recreational fishing, water and power plants, human health and other negative aspects resulting from human transportation of these non-native species.  For more information on Invasive Species Imacts.  See www.protectyourwaters.org website from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Coast Guard for much more information about Invasive Species.

For an Invasive Species List . The first in this series on Invasive Species.  Next is Invasive Species Control

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

It seems the list of invasive species grows every day.  Here in Colorado, it was the New Zealand mud snail, then the zebra mussel was discovered on a boat anchor rope in Pueblo Reservoir.

Invasive species are an ever growing problem in the U.S.  August 9, 2005, three voracious Snakehead Fish were discovered in Meadow Lake of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens New York. (Ref: New York Times 8/9/2005 page C15).

The snakehead is a top of food chain predator with rows of sharp teeth and a torpedo shaped body designed to ambush its prey.  They will literally wipe out all other fish in a lake or pond if allowed to reproduce unchecked. 

July 5, 2007 Jerry Melton fishing the Catawba River in North Carolina caught a 1 pound 4 ounce piranha instead of the catfish he was hoping to catch. Imagine what will happen if there are more piranha in this river and they start reproducing.

 August 15, 2006, another angler Jack Clements caught an 11 inch Pacu, a vegetarian cousin of piranha, in Utah Lake near Provo, Utah. The Pacu article offers a fairly comprehensive look at the invasive species problem.  Much of the problem comes from people dumping their aquariums into local waterways instead of responsibly destroying the contents or donating the aquarium to a school or zoo. Dumping aquariums can spread plant disease, invasive plants or fish, snails and cause other problems for aquasystems.

List of Invasive Species

1. Snakehead Fish
2. Piranha
3. Pacu
4. Round Goby
5. Sea Lamprey eel
6. New Zealand Mud Snail
7. Aquarium Snails which may be from Asia
8. Zebra mussels originally came from the Black Sea.  Imported in ballast water of ships, they have become a major problem in from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Maximum out of water survival time for Adults in ideal conditions is 10 Days. A juvenile or veliger is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence and can survive in any residual water source.
9. Lion Fish — A venomous fish
10. Common Carp
11. Ruffe
12. Common aquarium Gold Fish
13. Didymo aka Rock Snot
14. Rusty Crayfish – Crusteacean
15. Spiny Water Flea – Crusteacean
16. Japanese Shore Crab – Crusteacean
17. Killer Algae aka caulerpa taxifolia – Plant
18. Hydrilla – Plant
19. Water Hyacinth – Plant
20. Purple Loose Strife – Plant
21. Whirling Disease
22. Bull Frog – In Oregon, the bullfrog is considered an invasive species.
23. Walking Catfish

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=invasive+species&search_type=&aq=-1&oq= links to a list of videos about invasive species.

The next post we’ll look at the Impact of Invasive Species.  The last post in the series will be techniques to prevent the spread of Invasive Species.

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Felt soles on wading boots have long been an industry standard.  Originally patented by famous Catskill fly fisher Edward Hewitt, the felt sole has undergone some changes but still retains the basic design of Hewitt.  Today high density felt is the norm for wading shoe soles.

Felt offers the advantages of maintaining traction on slippery mossy rocks, dry round round rock stream beds, or stepping over fallen trees. But felt soles have some major disadvantages too.  In winter, they build up with ice and add about 2 pounds of weight to each boot. They are not built for hiking long distances over dry ground to reach your fishing spot. They must often be combined with carbide studs for maximum traction on mossy roundish rocky stream beds. Felt with studs can be downright dangerous navigating certain types of dry rocks.

But the worst disadvantage is they are hard to clean and prone to transport aquatic invasive species like didymo, whirling disease, the New Zealand mud snail and the newest critter, the Zebra Mussel.  The Zebra Mussel is one nasty species which is a prolific breeder. (a single adult female may lay 30,000 to 1,000,000 eggs a year).  They grow in colonies that clog water plant intake pipes, water flow meters, river locks, boat anchors and similar mechanisms. More Info

Zebra mussels are filtration feeders.  This means they feed by filtering out food from the water column increasing the water clarity. Often increased bottom alge growth is a result with the loss of the normal food organisms trout may feed upon.  Zebra mussels will attach them selves to other types of mussels resulting in the dissappearance of some species from rivers and lakes. Crayfish, some bottom feeders like carp, catfish, roach, waterfowl will eat them.  But predatation is not in quantities large enough to keep the Zebra colonies under control.

New Zealand is proposing a ban on felt soled waders and wading boots begining Oct 1, 2008.  The reason is the transportation of invasive species especially didymo. I would expect to start seeing similar bans on felt soles in the U.S. some time in the next couple of years.

That said enter several new types of soles.  Choata Boots is using a high density felt sole combined with black rubber and impregnated with anti-fungal agents.  Simms has developed a new Vibram hard rubber wading boot sole which will be released in late 2008 for the 2009 line.

However, the main new sole material is aquastealth rubber aka sticky rubber.  Core advantages of Aquastealth rubber are it doesn’t absorb water, dries quickly, has much less tendancy to transport nasties from one fishing spot to another and offers traction properties similar to felt. This is a sole designed for traction on those algae covered rocks, dry rocks, round rocks or just about any other surface you would encounter wading. Sole designs vary from round buttons for traction to siped soles. Aquastealth soles also come with studded versions for those really nasty wading situations.

Simms Rivershed or Simms Headwater boots, Cloudveil Stealth boot, LL Bean’s River Treads II and Ultralight II, the Orvis Clearwater Navigator and of course Korkers Wading Boots with covertible aquastealth soles are just some of the current offerings available.

Who knows maybe Crocs will come out with some wading boots since their roots are water oriented and they have just released 3 new boat shoes.

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites