Fish Sticks
Well-known member
Invasive Snakehead and Introduced Sport Fish Illustrate an Environmental Health Paradox of Invasive Species and Angler Demand
The invasive snakehead fish, which is native to Africa, Asia, Indonesia, and Malaysia, has been found in nine states in the United States and has notably developed a reproducing population in South Florida, Maryland, and Hawaii. This case study discusses the environmental impact and policies...
online.ucpress.edu
I thought this article brings up an interesting observation. In general invasive fish species are often larger predators and sometimes more aggressive than native species. Their presence has often created demand for them that is counter to the goals of environmental health even though doing habitat work or stocking them is often falsely labeled as conservation.
Native multi species restorations seem to have some of the most wide reaching benefits that ripple through the ecosystem in a good way. For example if you remove a barrier and restore runs of river herring in Maine harbor seals increase but predatory pressure on endangered Atlantic salmon simultaneously decreases. Lampreys can pass upstream which dig redds that co-evolved Atlantic salmon have used to increase spawning success historically. The species that evolved together function together sustainably.
I fish for invasive species, I don’t propagate or promote them, but I fish for them and I enjoy fishing for them just like most everyone else. There are many watersheds its just not feasible to do a native multi species restoration for and we will continue have opportunities for fishing for invasive species in these degraded environments. But some more public awareness of the benefits of restoring coevolved native species at watershed or subwatershed scale would go along way towards pushing PA fish and boat to do that in a few select places like many other states have.
