hi all,
Mike (Maximum?) made me aware of this thread and asked if I would like to post, thanks Mike.
Part of the reason why there are relatively few yellowfish breeding projects in existence in RSA is partly due to the moratorium the Yellowfish Working Group placed on stocking yellowfish some 4 odd years back: this moratorium was put in place because very little is known about the differences in DNA between the various yellowfish species, until we know what populations are indeed distinct species it would be dangerous to allow parties to stock fish from 1 side of a catchment to another, or from 1 river system to another (even if the distance between the 2 only a few kms).
breeding projects would of course exacerbate this problem as a large volume of fish of species x would be available for stocking, possibly into rivers that are not the natural range of that species. the result of this would potentially be:
1. interbreeding with the indigenous yellowfish species, leading to a weak strain of fish that would have reduced immunity and potential to fight the elements and disease... ultimately extinction is very possible in this scenario.
2. the introduced species may displace the indigenous species due to aggresiveness, habitat requirement, feeding habits etc resulting in extinction of the indigenous species
the YWG genetic study is pretty much concluded after years of hard work in sample collection from all over RSA and Lesotho and beyond and the final reports are being written up by the Profs involved.
Hopefully thereafter, private and public bodies will be empowered information to make informed decisions around which species should be supported with stockings in which areas.
in the 60's and 70's a number of yellowfish of the wrong species were introduced to support local species that had been impacted by pollution etc...there were some undesirable effects, we'd like to avoid this happeneing again.
Of course the ideal is to maintain the natural habitat in a pristine state so that stocking is unecessary.
I hope this has added some further perspective to your discussion on yellowfish breeding programmes.
Please email me at
keith@yellowsonfly.com should you wish to discuss further on this or other subjects.
Some of you may remember the thread on day ticket fees, Mike (Maximum) and I are meeting up for a beer to discuss further, please contact me if you are keen to join us some time next week in JHB.
cheers,
keith
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