I see the anti-trout movement is back at it writing one sided articles blaming trout for the reduction of native fish again. As usual there were no black and white photos of hundreds of Murray cod, Macquarie perch and trout cod strung up along lengths of wire to support their claims. As usual there was no mention of unregulated fishing pressure in the early days. As usual there was no mention of harmful chemical sprays entering the waterways from farm sparing and no mention of oil leaks and chemical leaks from pump sheds along the banks of the river. There was no mention of trees being removed causing severe siltation of the deeper holes and no mention at all of redfin. There was also no mention of trout cod spawning around and down stream of Wangaratta, areas that trout do not exist because the water is too warm. There was lots of mention of trout, particularly rainbow trout being the reason the trout cod disappeared. Of course trout had a negative impact to a degree, I am not denying that. I refuse to be one sided and bias like the person that wrote that article. However, there are many more factor that were not mentioned. Rainbow trout can carry the deadly EHN virus which is deadly on Macquarie perch. Redfin carry it much more than trout. Redfin compete with trout cod and Macquarie perch for food much more than trout do. I love redfin, but believe they were much more to blame than the trout. Trout cod have thrived in the Ovens River for close to 20 years now. They were first re-stocked around the mid 1990s. I remember catching my first one at the Wallnuts with Sandy Hector. I rang the fisheries officer at the time, Leigh Murray to report my capture. At the same time, trout have also thrived in the headwaters of the Ovens (Until a natural disaster a couple of years back). They have thrived in many other headwaters and tributaries of the Ovens River. The same time as the trout cod have thrived. I seriously suggest than anybody who reads that one sided report keeps an open mind as it is very biased. There is plenty of room for both species.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 00:06:04 +0000
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