Utah
Hundreds of goldfish found illegally dumped in Utah pond. Here’s why that’s a problem
A photograph of a pond on the Mail Draw Wildlife Administration Space in Daggett County. Utah wildlife biologists discovered lots of of goldfish within the pond on Aug. 29. (Utah Division of Wildlife Sources)
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SALT LAKE CITY — One fish, two fish, Utah wildlife biologists say do not illegally dump any fish.
State wildlife officers are reminding folks to not illegally dump fish into ponds after wildlife officers discovered lots of of goldfish in a wildlife administration pond within the Uinta Mountains final week — and unique fish at different ponds within the state earlier this 12 months.
Biologists with the Utah Division of Wildlife Sources got here throughout the goldfish on Aug. 29 throughout a routine survey at a pond throughout the Mail Draw Wildlife Administration Space, situated between Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur Nationwide Monument in northeast Utah. State wildlife officers notice that the pond is not even used for fishing, it is used to supply water for wildlife within the space.
But it surely’s not even the company’s strangest discovery this 12 months. Biologists stumbled throughout an oscar fish, a species native to South America, throughout one other survey at Millrace Park Pond in Taylorsville. Additionally they just lately discovered “quite a lot of different unique fish” in a number of different Salt Lake Valley ponds.
These examples tack onto the “numerous” variety of occasions biologists have discovered aquarium fish illegally dumped into ponds, streams or lakes throughout the state, and that is an issue, says Randy Oplinger, the division’s sportfish coordinator. Unlawful fish dumping can add species that prey on and outcompete native or endangered species or sportfish, introduce illnesses in our bodies of water and worsen water high quality within the physique of water they’re dumped in.
“Unlawful fish introductions seldom enhance fisheries — as a substitute, unlawful introductions usually spoil fisheries and threaten the species that stay there,” he stated, in an announcement. “Additionally it is unlawful in Utah and can lead to a category A misdemeanor.”
Unlawful fish introductions seldom enhance fisheries — as a substitute, unlawful introductions usually spoil fisheries and threaten the species that stay there.
–Randy Oplinger, Utah Division of Wildlife Sources sportfish coordinator
Whereas most circumstances have concerned group ponds, the division notes there have been at the least a half-dozen unlawful dumping circumstances at reservoirs over the previous 20 years. The newest of these got here when biologists discovered yellow perch, bluegill and inexperienced sunfish at Kolob Reservoir in southern Utah 4 years in the past. The three species “wreaked havoc on the fishery,” ensuing within the division utilizing rotenone that 12 months to filter all of the fish within the reservoir, division officers stated.
Oplinger stated each considered one of these environmental restoration tasks is “very costly and takes a very long time,” which is why folks shouldn’t dump a fish right into a physique of water. Division officers add that it isn’t simply aquarium fish which might be an issue, folks also needs to not transfer fish from one Utah physique of water to a different.