Royal Palm aims to raise awareness about invasive fish species

THE SHALLOWS - Official Trailer (HD)

Take a walk along one of Royal Palm Beachs many canals and you never know what you might see.

During a recent council meeting, Councilman David Swift showed a PowerPoint presentation detailing the growing number of exotic fish that have begun popping in the villages canal system. Exotic fish that are pretty, unique looking and, in some cases, potentially harmful to the environment in which they dont belong.

The Mayan cichlid (shown here) is one of the invasive fish species that have found their way into the canal system in Royal Palm Beach and elsewhere in the county.

I know some of the lakes around here have a fairly large population of clown knifefish and now there are quite a few of them in the canals here, Swift said. They are predatory and they eat minows. I think it takes about 10 pounds of forage to produce one pound of fish. So, if we have a clown knifefish that weighs 10 pounds, that means they are consuming about 100 pounds of forage throughout their lives. What is that forage? Native fish? Bluegills? Bass? Other exotics? To get a fish that big, they have to be eating other fish in our canal in order to exist.

Swift said some of these fish, like the walking catfish and the sailfin catfish, have been around the village for 30 years or more. But its the new ones like the Mayan cichlids, the knifefish and the snakeheads which have begun popping up in the past 10 years or so.

The question is what to do with them?

Photo courtesy of FWC

The clown knifefish is one of the invasive fish species that have found their way into the canal system in Royal Palm Beach and elsewhere in the county.PHOTO: Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Being an avid fisherman, Swift said the dilemma is even tougher.

The knifefish especially, you can see them out there, they kind of roll like a tarpon, Swift said. And they jump like a tarpon when you hook them. To be honest, theyre kind of a hoot to catch. But when you catch them, now what? Do I throw it back? Probably not. But, then again, theyre really fun to catch.

What to do with an exotic when you catch it is one of the messages Swift was trying to get out to the community. He invited Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) fisheries biologist Kelly Gestring out to the village to take some samples and see what exotics they could identify. Gestrings samples didnt turn up very much, but they were very limited by shallow water and could only access a small portion of the canals.

Gestring said the introduction of exotics to local ponds and canals is a trend much like the green pythons and ball pythons in the Everglades that is more and more disturbing. And harmful.

What weve witnessed the past couple of years is what I call bucket biology, Gestring said. An angler catches a fish and then illegally transports it to a new spot. Im quite sure that is what has happened here. The only way they could have gotten there is by illegally releasing them.

Swift and Gestring are asking anglers who catch an exotic species to take a picture and then call the FWC biologist with the information. A photo, Gestring said, is the best way to positively identify the fish. After that, its up to the angler what to do with the fish, though Gestring made sure to stress how tasty a lot of the exotics are.

We encourage people not to release the exotics back into the water, Gestring said. Catch, keep and eat is a very good way to help control the population of these kinds of species.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for a brightly colored fish swimming in the shallows, or maybe a shiny one rolling in the middle of the canal. Or, in the case of the snakehead, a toothy, long skinny fish that may see you before you see it.

I saw two of them kind of shepherding a whole school of 3- to 4-inch babies down the shoreline, Swift said. And I dont know if they have binocular vision or what they can see, but the one stopped and was looking right at me. Kind of like it was sizing me up. Ive never had that happen with a fish before.

What: Non-native fish species that have been introduced into the Royal Palm Beach canal system, most likely by anglers catching and then relocating the fish.

Types of exotics: For many years, walking catfish and sailfin catfish have lived quietly in the canal system. During the past decade or so, Mayan cichlids, bullseye snakeheads and clown knifefish have formed a population.

What to do if you catch one: There is no hard and fast rule regarding exotic species. There is no bag or slot limit. Anglers are encouraged to photograph the fish and call FWC biologist Kelly Gestring at 561-292-6007 or email him at kelly.gestring@myfwc.com. Many of these species are edible and very tasty.

Source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/royal-palm-aims-to-raise-awareness-about-invasive-/nrbxk/