Re: [Killietalk] Lake Victoria Perch? Non-killie tangental rant

["unclescott" <unclescott at prodigy_net>]

>Typical commercial sizes range between 3 and 6 kg (7-13 lbs). This fish is
the most important fish food in  Africa."

I'm sure that it is an important food fish, but many of those fishes
exterminated were important locally. They became more important as fishermen
"fished down" through the larger species, many of which preyed upon the
smaller cichlids. I seem to remember that the local cichlids could be
sun-dried to keep them for later consumption. The Nile Perch, lates
niloticus, are oily and have to be fire dried - thus further contributing to
deforestation, erosion and degrading of the soil.

In the meantime, thanks to the slipping in of fish by a few colonial
administrators 50 years ago, the ecological balance of the lake (which as
already being altered by increasing fishing takes) is trashed, algae eating
fish are destroyed, algae growth increases (it was already increasing
because of population growth and changes in land use in the region) leaving
more detritus which decomposes and limits the strata in the Lake which has
the oxygen to support life now to 60 feet. Fish kills from oxygen depletion
are not now unknown.  As the perch eat their way through several hundred
local species, a much more limited food web remains where the larger Nile
perch turn to eating smaller ones. An introduced Nile tilapia and a cyprinid
which strains algae from the water have also thrived. See
http://www.zoo.ufl.edu/cachapman/cachapman/Pdf/158_BioScience.pdf

Many of the 50,000 fishermen who could use locally made canoes and nets of
their own manufacture (as opposed to the larger, stronger nets necessary to
hold the niloticus) are put out of business because they don't have the
financial resources to by the boats needed to commercially fish for those
big monsters. Thousands of women involved in the processing and sale of the
catch have also been deprived of their livelyhood.

The processing business has brought in foreigners shipping the product to a
number of overseas markets. It is important to a commercial constituency in
the area and around the world. One wonders how much benefit trickles down to
the local people who in the meantime are hurting for food and jobs.

Victoria perch (a lot of fishes in various places are called perches by
locals whether they are technically the perches of the scientitific group of
perches or not) is a useful trade ploy. It also covers up the continuing
social and environmental disaster in Kenya, Uganda and  may have impacted
the lives of as many as 30 million people.

A lot of this info is from http://www.american.edu/ted/PERCH.HTM . I'm sure
cichlid buffs don't need to use Google to drum up info, but there is a lot
there. See also a brief pessimistic assessment by Paul Loiselle
http://www.solodvds.com/aquarium_fish_magazine/lake_victoria.asp

Lates are important components of a number of ecologies, even in Australia,
however they evolved with the local fauna. I remember a usually pretty
thoughtful person mentioning an interest in bringing in a Lates species to
cooling ponds in Texas. Not the second largest lake in the world, but I
would worry about whether they would stay in those ponds. Maybe I'm kneejerk
paranoid and mis-informed, but American water systems are taking too many
hits already, most recently by big-headed carp ("don't worry, they'll never
wash out of these fish farms") and the amazing jumping silver carp, in the
news for clobbering fisherfolk as these large animals jump even into boats
on the Mississippi.

Hope it doesn't sound too smug, but by comparison, conscientious killie
collectors, taking only a few pairs from a location, look pretty
responsible. :)

Hoping for the best,
Scott




To join the AKA see http://www.aka.org/pages/join.html
Archives are at http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/