14 August 2008

Won't anyone think of the Macquarie Perch?

| johnboy
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Building dams is usually a tricky thing. People get touchy about flooding a valley and wonder where all the cute little animals will go.

Detailed inspection finds all sorts of endangered species which would probably also be found in the next valleys over if anyone was building a dam in them.

So expanding the existing Cotter Dam must have seemed like a great idea. The valley’s already been flooded by our less civilised ancestors.

The ABC, however, reports that there’s a problem:

    The dam is home to the last known population of Macquarie perch in the ACT and one of the few remaining viable colonies in the country.

Apparently they won’t be happy in the larger dam, because they need the reed beds currently fringing it.

Big brains are looking for a solution.

UPDATE: Thanks to Miz for noticing that this looks a lot like a consultation process for the Perch.

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seriously, though, perhaps the ACT Government and ACTEWAGL should look at ways to increase our water containment through covered reservoirs. if we had water in large tank containment, fed by pumped in stormwater, the catchment potential would increase.

the purification plant would still be effective, but the amount that the murrumbidgee would receive would decrease.

and how much would that p*ss off the Murray darling people, not to mention the farmers downstream?

Touche, Peter, Touche.

Headbonius said :

Sorry for the triple post Peter, I left the “ed” off cock. Thought I better correct the posting before JB moderated me.

Ah headbonius,

medication????

when i have riotACT?

this is the most fun i have had in years.

Sorry for the triple post Peter, I left the “ed” off cock. Thought I better correct the posting before JB moderated me.

Peter, please ease off the medication too mate. I have never claimed to have cuaght a Tiger trout before. Like you I have caught plenty of Brown and rainbow trout and a smattering of brook trout. Please read postings before going off half cock.

Dear Peter@home and Ari – sorry about upsetting you with some of my more “Meathead” comments they were designed to get a rise and rise like a trout to a well presented fly you just did. Tiger trout were a suggestion because as you pointed out correctly Peter, they are sterile. They would no breed to the exclusion of other species in the system other than the natural predation they would undertake and they themselves would be subject to predation. They have been stocked in New Zealand with some success. So as a put and take fishery spcies they are perfect.

I’m all for opening up Cotter Dam for a dual use drinking water and fishing reservoir. It can easily be done and its perfectly safe. Its what happens in most of Europe’s waterways anyway and the water quality is fine. Hell they are advocating we reuse recycled waste water so a spot fishing isnt going to effect the water as much as that.

It would be great for Canberra to have a world class fishery so close to the town and it would be a real shame to have such a large body of water locked up.

Headbonius said :

Look it isn’t like people go scuba diving in the Cotter Reservoir to admire the fine McPerch is it?

Peterh, if the Governemnt decided to make this a fly-fishing/lure only, electric outboard only fishery they could create a great, fishery capable of generating immense income. Googone used to be like this until the loony greenies decided that trout were destroying the tadpoles of the frilled native frog and therefore should be eliminated. It is a time proven principle of conservation, if you make something worth something, people value it. Deb Foskey just doesn’t get it. Either does Andrew Barr’s good mate Bob Brown (Actually I don’t know if they are good mates – perhaps they are) No one values Macquarie Perch or even really gives a toss besides hairy armpitted, tree hugging fwits and even they don’t really care, it’s just another cause to get smelly over. So, make the place worth something, manage it properly and people will care because it means something to them. You haven’t died yet from drinking Googong water and I have fished in it a lot of times.

headbonius,

have you ever caught, in your years of fishing, a “hybrid tiger trout”? ever?

I have caught browns and rainbows, but never a hybrid tiger….

hahahahahaaaaaa.

geez mate, not a proper post without the pros and cons of a fishery for an unavailable species…

well done. no, really, I hope they do set it up as a fishery for this kind of fish.

then I can see what one actually looks like. (especially as it is an american hybrid, not found in oz) of course, there may be a bit of argy bargy re bringing it into australia in the first place, bit like carp, really…

and here is the info from wikipedia…..

The tiger trout (Salmo trutta X Salvelinus fontinalis) is a sterile, intergeneric hybrid of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). The name derives from the pronounced vermiculations, evoking the stripes of a tiger. It is a rare phenomenon in the wild, with the brook trout having 84 chromosomes and the brown trout 80.[1] Records show instances as far back as 1944.[2]

Artificially, tiger trout can be produced reliably enough to be grown by hatcheries. This is done by fertilizing brown trout eggs with brook trout milt, and heat shocking them, which causes creation of an extra set of chromosomes and increases survival from 5% to 85%.[3] Tiger trout have been reported to grow faster than natural species,[4] though this assessment is not universal,[5] and they have been widely stocked for sport fishing.

Never heard of a macquarie perch.

What about all the animals and birds that will die as all our trees die off, due to the water crisis, cos we haven’t got enough dams?

Good onya Headbonius,

Wade into another argument in a half-arsed manner.

You’ve got no idea where any of us is coming from.

Keep up the hairy-armipit argument.

That’s a winner!

Look it isn’t like people go scuba diving in the Cotter Reservoir to admire the fine McPerch is it?

Peterh, if the Governemnt decided to make this a fly-fishing/lure only, electric outboard only fishery they could create a great, fishery capable of generating immense income. Googone used to be like this until the loony greenies decided that trout were destroying the tadpoles of the frilled native frog and therefore should be eliminated. It is a time proven principle of conservation, if you make something worth something, people value it. Deb Foskey just doesn’t get it. Either does Andrew Barr’s good mate Bob Brown (Actually I don’t know if they are good mates – perhaps they are) No one values Macquarie Perch or even really gives a toss besides hairy armpitted, tree hugging fwits and even they don’t really care, it’s just another cause to get smelly over. So, make the place worth something, manage it properly and people will care because it means something to them. You haven’t died yet from drinking Googong water and I have fished in it a lot of times.

justbands said :

>> um, isn’t this our drinking water??

Well Googong is currently…& we’re allowed to fish in there.

yeah, but it isn’t a “hybrid Tiger Trout Fishery (world class)”.

>> um, isn’t this our drinking water??

Well Googong is currently…& we’re allowed to fish in there.

Headbonius said :

Introduce hybrid Tiger Trout and use it as a world class trout fishery, bring in tourist dollars, macquarie perch dissappear – end of problem of worrying about them at all. Hooray.

um, isn’t this our drinking water??

Introduce hybrid Tiger Trout and use it as a world class trout fishery, bring in tourist dollars, macquarie perch dissappear – end of problem of worrying about them at all. Hooray.

So basically they are consulting the perch . . . that’s noice.

I believe in saving the perch from shags. (how bad does THAT sound??)

Nobody is suggesting that people come second…only that they are trying to work out how to best help the fish deal with the change.

will there be perch counseling?

ROFL

Oops, stuffed up link…

Mælinar - *spoiler alert* I've seen S04E1312:03 pm 14 Aug 08

I can’t believe the Government hasnt tried to run with – ‘no its a demonstration dam, we’re not going to fill it’ yet.

> So, actual *people* are second to some hithertofore unheard of critter?

Nobody is suggesting that people come second…only that they are trying to work out how to best help the fish deal with the change.

& I would have thought most people had at least heard of Macquarie Perch.

So, actual *people* are second to some hithertofore unheard of critter? However, if this means they will be happier with a brand new Tennent Dam, go for it fish lovers, I say!

> I’ll reserve judgement on the “Save The Perch” campaign until someone tells me what they taste like……

Quite nice apparently….although I believe it’s illegal to take any from the water.

I’ll reserve judgement on the “Save The Perch” campaign until someone tells me what they taste like……

Mælinar - *spoiler alert* I've seen S04E1311:12 am 14 Aug 08

You’ll find no support for introduced species BT.

barking toad11:10 am 14 Aug 08

What about the earless carp?

Bloody favouritism I say!

The report last night showed how two ecologists from CCAE ooops I mean Canberra Uni are trying to come up with alternatives for the Perch. They use the reeds to hide from Cormorants (AKA “shags”) who want to eat them.

They showed how these blokes are experimenting with reefs, and fake reeds made from pipes. They’ve tagged a bunch of Perches with transmitters and things so they can track wehre they are (and I assume that if a Cormorant eats one, the transmitter will go flying off) to gauge which protective mechanism is working.

I’m glad they’re looking at the effects of the increased water level on populations of organisms. The report was pretty interesting.

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