Re: Collecting on Grand Isle/and the sadness of some personal observations

["David Wood" <Daviduu at btinternet_com>]

Somewhat off-topic....
I agree 100% with Bruce's comment "enough is enough" when talking about
introduced species.
In Britain we have (like in Australia) rabbits which were introduced
2000 years ago, various rodents, and on the fish front , Zander and
carp.We even have goldfish swimming in some lakes.
In India I saw African cichlids being bred for the trade, along with
platies and swordtails, and in Sri Lanka I saw guppies in a pond within
50 meters of a river.(Come the monsoon rains....) A friend found guppies
in a pond in Gambia.
The problem is worldwide, apparently.
Dave Wood
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce J. Turner" <fishgen at vt_edu>
To: <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 1:13 AM
Subject: Re: Collecting on Grand Isle/and the sadness of some personal
observations


> Perhaps notes like this are "off topic," but perhaps not...  Early
last
> month I had to travel suddenly to the Delray Beach---Boca Raton area
of
> Florida to attend a family funeral.  My mother and stepfather live in
> Delray Beach, and, due to the suddenness of the trip and our crowded
> schedules, the only time I had to visit with them after the funeral
was
> while driving my mother to a cadiologist who practiced in a very large
> medical complex not too far from her home.  While my mother was
actually
> seeing the specialist, I wandered outside and inspected the lovely
looking
> and well manicured pools and channels that ran through the medical
complex.
> At one place, several 12 - 14 yr olds  had gathered around and were
looking
> in the water at the fish "fighting."  Naturally, I looked too and was
> "rewarded" with the sight of scores (literally) of very large
Oreochromis
> (probably O. mossambicus) either sparring , holding territories, or
> guarding broods on the substrate.  It was like seeing a film of the
entire
> range of courtship and breeding behaviors of this species, and it was
quite
> a show, particularly since the males were in nuptial colors, and the
water
> was very clear despite the activity of the fish.  The kids were very
> enthusiastic.  I wanted to say to them something like: "Those fish are
> originally from Africa---they're not native here and they don't
belong....
> They've probably wiped out many of the native species..."  Instead, I
saved
> my breath, glad enough that they were at least paying attention to
> something "natural..."
>
> I'm not sure exactly why, but the tilapia experience made me
especially
> sad. Oh, and yes, I've collected aquarium mollies,  platies and
swordtails
> in the field too, specifically on New Providence island in the
Bahamas, the
> Salton Sea in California, the Pacific slope of Mexico and on Puerto
Rico.
> And though I profoundly wish I hadn't, I've seen Pseudotropheus zebra,
and
> other cichlids in desert hot springs.  I'm not naive, and I already
knew
> very well that Florida was being overrun with introduced species
(though I
> had not seen it so vividly before).  Perhaps it was  the shock of
seeing
> all the tilapia while accompanying my 80 yr old mother to a
cardiologist.
> Perhaps, too, it was the juxtaposition of seeing the tilapia and
> remembering how collecting was in Florida some 35 - 38 years ago.
When in
> this same area (and places to the north--or just an hour away in the
> everglades) one could easily get numbers of Enneacanthus gloriosus, E.
> obesus, Fundulus chrysotus, F. lineolatus, F. cingulatus, J. floridae,
L.
> goodei, H. formosa and others.  More important, one could actualy see
them
> in a real, native, environment.
>
> Although more than a month has past, I still think of those tilapia a
lot,
> most especially when, on early mornings,  I look out my kitchen window
in
> Johnson City, TN and view my birdfeeders.  I try to offer safflower
seed
> and sometimes suet to the local birds, including cardinals,
chickadees,
> titmice, purple finches, mourning doves and three species of
woodpeckers.
> Instead, much of the time I end up actually feeding starlings and
crows,
> and I've noticed that the purple finches at my feeders have been
replaced
> this year by house finches, an introduced species originally from
> California.  Last year, both finch species were present, and two years
> before that, only the purple.   The crows in this part of Johnson City
are
> large and aggressive---but then, they have to be, for their numbers
are
> probably kept in check by a substantial population of feral
> cats---introduced a few years ago by one of my neighbors who let her
pets
> fend for themselves while she went on vacation.  Believe it or not,
some
> hybrids between feral cats and bob cats have been reported by local
> naturalists from localities not too far away from my home...
>
> Pardon my visceral (and probably unprofessional) response to all this,
but
> there comes a time when this kind of garbage has to stop.  And if we
can't
> eliminate the introduced tilapia (and we probably can't), and the
crows,
> and the house finches, and the cats, and the mollies and the
swordtails and
> the platies and the guppies...  then we really must do our damndest to
make
> sure that this doesn't happen any more...  To quote someone, "Enough
is
> enough..." It is just plain "enough."
>
>
>
************************************************************************
******
>
> Bruce J. Turner
> Assoc. Professor of Biology
> VPISU, Blacksburg, VA 24061
> (540)-231-7444
> fishgen at vt_edu
>
>
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