If ever there was a case to be made for the use of rotenone, the Riviersonderend would be "it".
Old Carp Recipe...
Gut and scale one carp. Fill cavity with a four ounces of whole kernel sweet corn. Make a marinade of 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 1/2 cups cream sherry; 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon liquid smoke and salt and pepper to taste. After marinating carp overnight, tie fish to a hickory board with parcel twine and bake in a 400-degree oven for 2 1/2 hours, basting regularly. Remove from oven, cut twine, throw away the carp and eat the board.
"Ex Africa simper aliquid novi" - Pliny the Elder
If ever there was a case to be made for the use of rotenone, the Riviersonderend would be "it".
But it may then eventually revert to "normal". Unless we can get rid of the barbel and carp, we may as well canalise it.
No, much as I'd like to rid 'my' river of these pests, I don't think rotenone is the answer. It doesn't fit the criteria for rotenone use anyway, having no barriers to fish movement.
Last edited by Mike Taylor; 07-02-11 at 07:57 PM.
According to Paul Skelton's book 'Freshwater fishes of Southern Africa' their natural distribution is from the Nile to the Orange River system, Israel, Lebanon & Turkey.
They have been "translocated" to the Eastern Cape & Western Cape. Interbasin transfers may be partially responsible, but urban legend says that they were brought to the Western Cape by a couple of anglers returning from a competition in the Transvaal and a farm dam was stocked. As usual, they escaped. I should imagine that their ability to breathe air would have helped with this.
Bookmarks