Fishing Victoria Forum

I read this to day in the local paper. I would be interested to hear comments from the forum members .
http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/sto ... lare/?cs=7

Good move. Will **** of the course fishermen but who cares about them anyway

Interesting read, does anyone know about electrocution method they use that make fish come up to the surface that seems to work well how come they don't just use that all the time??

the electrofishing only stuns the fish, and they have to be scooped up to be disposed of. also, a virus works without needing blokes in boats being paid to drive up and down every river, stream and pond in vic.

Virus will only work within limited temperature ranges. Will not be effective in many rivers eg Goulburn downstream of Eildon because water too cold.

The virus sounds like a good idea as long as it doesn't harm our native fish

I would like a bit more information on the efects it has other species before it is released. And what's the use of releasing it in NSW as carp can be returned to the water live. But I could wrong after reading this.

European Carp are a large freshwater fish
native to central Asia. Introductions in many
Tilapia
Carp (European Carp)
NSW Recreational Freshwater Fishing Guide Pests and diseases
58 countries have helped make European Carp
the most widely distributed freshwater fish
in the world. They are extensively farmed in
Europe, Asia and the Middle East and are a
popular angling fish in Europe. European Carp
are very versatile and can live in a great variety
of habitats including highly degraded waters.
Over the past 30 years Carp have spread
across most of south-eastern Australia and
are now the most abundant freshwater
fish in some areas, including most of the
Murray-Darling Basin and are thought to have
contributed to the degradation of our natural
aquatic ecosystems. Carp are a popular sport
species in Europe,however as they are noxious
in NSW recreational fishers are encouraged
to retain and utilise landed Carp rather than
return them live to the water. Fish retained
should be dispatched humanely.

I am very "ify" on introducing a virus to control carp. We know that it will be extensively researched but what if? Once a virus is free in nature there are no real guarantees on it's ultimate behavior. A "cane toad" like outcome in our rivers and steams would be absolutely catastrophic. We can't get it back once it is in the wild. It just makes me very nervous.

It can only be a good thing as long as it has no unintended consequences on other fish & wildlife :thumbsup:

They were working on daughterless carp some time back,but i think the funding ran out/got taken away.The advantage of that was that the carp would breed themselves out of existence over a few generations rather than having dead ones floating everywhere.

You are correct kev,you can release them back into the water where you caught it alive legally in NSW.

It has been argued on here before by carp lovers that a govt can't force you to kill an animal.It is probably a fair point,but if you were that worried about killing something you wouldn't be going around trying to put hooks in them & drag them out of the water to put back in again in the first place would you.

In fact i think i read on here somewhere this morning of someone saying they released the carp they caught back into their local poo hole they came from.I hope the post is gone (and the member) as it is illegal in this state to do so.I don't enjoy reading of people boasting about illegal fishing practices on here.Hopefully CC gets a whiff of it and heads down there with his magnificent carp culling skills :thumbsup:

Don't want to sound pessimistic - but I think there will be carp a plenty for all of us to catch for many years to come.....and even more for cornacarpio
No Carp in our waterways is just a pipe dream - like saying there will be no blackberries to pick while fishing, or rabbits running around the bush, etc