TheFishWhisperer said:
I don't like the 1% largie part. Or "the rest of the species are misc". If they get in the rivers and lakes here, good bye fishing for quality.
Doom and gloom just the same for Zebra Mussels and Round Goby.
Zebra Mussel was believed to deplete plankton and zooplankton so much that they will affect Salmon and Trout in the Great Lakes by depleting the food base for prey species such as Alewife. You noticed any difference in Lake Ontario? Lately, if you follow the King of the Lake and Toronto Sun derby, the chinooks are getting bigger and bigger. I don't notice a depletion of salmon or trout on the streams either. Yes, it is a fact that Zebra Mussels helps to increase the water clarity of Lake Erie and Bay of Quinte, and that causes a shift in the usage of habitat for some species such as Walleye. Instead of using basin habitat (where anglers used to bottom bounce the channels for Walleye), the fish retreated into weed line habitat (now anglers fish deep weed edges). Were the walleye wiped out because of the change? No. They just shifted their behaviour to adjust to the new conditions. Most fish has a certain degree of adaptability.
We also have Quagga Mussel...two invasive filtering species...come on, we must have zero fish left now! I don't know what everyone was fishing for this opener...must be phantom steelheads...
Round Goby was believed to predate heavily on eggs and YOY fish to the point to killing inshore fishery. What happened to Lake Erie, Bay of Quinte and Lake Simcoe? The Round Goby must not have received the memo. But in fact, Round Goby provided new forage for Smallmouth Bass, Freshwater Drum, Walleye and even Lake Whitefish. I've caught Round Goby in the mouth of streams such as Bronte and Credit, yet, when I micro fish those areas, I still find a healthy minnow, darter and sucker community. I do not notice a change in the salmonid species either.
How about the Ruffe? Or Rudd? They must be everywhere now? What about Tubenose Goby?
The prognosis is often, if not always, worse than real life when it comes to invasive fish species. I've been to Illinois where the Asian carp invasion was ground zero. Yes, there are a lot of carp, but in the immediate area, there were also an abundance (as in swirling masses in the thousands...if not million) of Gizzard Shad (species dependent on the same food source as the Asian Carp), plus at least 10 other species that we caught on hook and line, and many more species that we could see personally that we did not catch. Fish species tend to have better natural check and balance system that Mother Nature imposes. Fish cannot completely deplete an area of food because they cannot survive without food. Habitat is often limited and that places pressure on invasive species.
Invasive plant is a different story...because plants are primary producers...they only need sun, soil and water. And to some extent pollenators. They don't need to depend on anything else. The ecology of plant is often much simplier than ecology of fish.
