Barbel introduced to Loch Lomond

[Guest sslatter]

So it was you, was it? Introduced the carp to Lomond?

[Andrew Boyd]

If to many alien species take over the Lomond bio-mass from the natives . . better introduce Nile Perch to keep them in check !

 

But seriously, the introduction of any alien fish risks the whole cross species stock. The risk includes coarse fish used as live or dead baits.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Stu. Bullheads aren't exclusive to Edinburgh. Theres millions of them in the White Cart and as far as I'm aware, they've been there for more than 30 years. I was shown minnow trapping by a school friend's Grandfather when I was 8 and we caught plenty of Bullheads. They disappeared for a while but they've come back with vengeance. They are definitely not new arrivals over this side of the country.

I'll try and speak to Willie Yeoman who electro fishes the Clyde catchment system and see if he can shed any light on their existence.

[Andy Macfarlane]

A quick check on the net has the Bullhead living in the Clyde system only (Click here) and from what you've said Stu, Edinburgh also.

Hmm...doesn't seem very clear does it? It would be interesting to find out how long they've been in the Clyde system.

[StuMac]

Nile perch are a good example of stocking gone wrong. They were introduced into L. Victorai some time this centuary (they didn't come right upstream) and have had a very serious effect on local telapia populations. These fish provided most of the protein in the local diet, and so, whilst nile perch have supplied a local sport fishing industry, they have also contributed to a big incidence of malnutrition amongst the locals not involved in it!

[Dick Dastardly]

Surely the fact that the likes of bullhead and ruffes biology makes them able to establish breeding populations so quickly is the whole key to their spreading? I thought it was an accepted fact that fish eggs can be transfered by birds? Above all if there is no proven case of a species of fish establishing a breeding population through translocation by pike anglers why is this theory so often quoted or rather put forward as a fact?

 

For the rercord I think that any stocking of non indegenous species is fool hardy be it legal or illegal.Anglers always think they know best when in fact they are motivated by their own motives.

 

Jocks.rejoice in the fact you aint got carp and other species! enjoy what you have! If you want to catch carp then travell down here to the south,as we who live here and relish your wild Lochs,Pike and Game fishing have to travel North!

[corydoras]

Graham X:

So it was you, was it? Introduced the carp to Lomond?

Non. C'est mon petite blague.

[Guest sslatter]

Je le sais.

[Steve Randles]

Its long been known that fish eggs will adhere to the legs of birds, and so fish species can colonise a newly dug and filled water, such as gravel pits.

 

Reading above I see that the Ruffe population is localised and not in surrounding areas, suggests to me something other than birds.

 

Following from my first sentence, would it not be possible for eggs to adhere to an anglers net or boots, the keel of his boat or his unhooking mat? Any water user could then have introduced Ruffe eggs...couldn't they?

 

Pike anglers, fly anglers, any sailing craft, windsurfers, canoeists, anyone who walks the bank or has anything to do with the loch itself? Probably hundreds more instances if we think about it..

[StuMac]

I don't know why pike anglers get the blame for Ruffe either, although I'm sure a few must have been taken North in aerated tanks when the pike fishing boom took off. In fact the otherwise excellent book I mentioned above does state that Ruffe are used as bait!

 

I seem to remember reading somewhere that sticking corks onto Ruffe was an accepted method of catching pike / haveing fun at a fish's expense in years gone by (18th - 19th centuaries). The cork made them bouyant and so pike would see them on the surface and go for them. The alternative name for Ruffe was the pope, and I think this was an expression of anti-catholic feeling rather than serious angling!

 

Ruffe have clearly spread since 1972 when the last major survey of British fish distributions was published. Lomond is not alone - loads have appeared in Bala Lake (is that spelled OK) in wales as well as in the lake district. In 1972 they had a very similar distribution to silver bream and spined loach, fish that are still confined to the UK rivers that used to connect directly to the european river systems.

 

[ 14. December 2004, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: StuMac ]