We raise all our fish in all glass aquaria in our hatchery. This
obviously requires daily feeding and the culture of various food
supplies, but we simply do not have any alternative and this gets us
satisfactory results anyway. Since we are not talking about commercial
numbers of fish, we can manage OK. BTW, the trout cod are transferred
to the fisheries research station at Snob's Creek shortly after hatching
and are mixed in with the young fish they breed. The main objective
being to increase the genetic diversity of the fish to be stocked into
the wild as part of the trout cod recovery plan.
WRT the issue of mixing the gene pools of wild and released fish, with
both trout cod and maccas, this is not really an issue as the releases
occur in areas where the fish have become locally extinct.
Unfortunately with maccas this is becoming far too many places and with
TC, they had, as you probably already know, already been reduced to just
two wild populations, only one of which was a natural population, before
the TC recovery plan was implemented.
NFA is opposed as a general principal with translocating fish between
catchments, including the stocking of fish using brood stock from other
areas. In some cases, it may be demonstrated to be OK, but we would
need to be convinced on each case.
As far as outside culture and keeping of fish we believe that as a
general rule you should not culture or keep fish outdoors that do not
already occur in the catchment in question. We have fought against a
number of proposals, for instance - to start barramundi farms in
Victoria, primarily because of the possibility of introducing Barramundi
Picorna Like Virus for which there is currently no diagnostic test.
BPLV has been demonstrated to effect a number of Murray Darling fish and
could prove disastrous if it were to be released into the system.
Anyway, better go and do some work!
Cheers,
Nick
------------------------------------------------
Nick Thorne nick at nativefish.asn.au
Native Fish Australia
http://www.nativefish.asn.au
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Hansen <bhansen at ozemail.com.au>
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au <rainbowfish at pcug.org.au>
Date: Friday, 6 February 1998 23:49
Subject: Re: [RML] angfa and aquaconservation--was all kinds of
othercrap
>Good to hear you again Nick
>
>> From: Nick Thorne <nick at nativefish.asn.au>
>> To: Rainbowfish Mailing List <rainbowfish at pcug.org.au>
>> Subject: Re: [RML] angfa and aquaconservation--was all kinds of
othercrap
>> Date: Friday, 6 February 1998 14:24
>>
> At present we
>> are seeking a permit from NSW to obtain another 6 or so trout cod for
>> the breeding program to replace the inevitable losses suffered(*) and
to
>> maintain the genetic diversity of our brood stock. We intend trading
a
>> couple of thousand Macquarie perch bred by NFA this summer for this
>> permit.
>
>What happens to these Macquarie Perch Nick - I presume they are raised
in
>outside ponds to a certain size before they are suitable for handling ?
>What disease control and monitoring is applied to them along the way?
>Are they eventually going to be released for stocking in water ways or
>only in farm dams? What guide lines do you recommend for outside pond
>culture of fish and do you have a local watershed policy for your
members ?
>At present the topic of breeding in outside ponds, translocation
policies
>and mixing genes and diseases between captive and natural populations
are
>hot topics here in Qld especially in the ornamental branch of the
>aquaculture industry.
>
>Regards,
>Bruce.
>
>Bruce Hansen, ANGFA, caring for our aquatic ecosystems.
>
>Please visit us at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fisher/angfa.htm
>
>
>
>