You wrote:
> I was not aware that the Carp phenomenon was only perpetuated as recently
> as the 1960's and would appreciate some references to read further if
> possible.
There is a page on the NFA web site that includes a bit about the history
of carp last century. IIRC the URL is
http://www.nativefish.asn.au/exotics.html If that is not right look at
http://www.nativfish.asn.au/fish.html as there is a link to the correct
page there. (I am not at the moment on my own computer so I am doing this
from memory.)
What happened in the sixties was this. Someone (probably illegally)
imported a number of fertile carp ova, probably from Germany, with a view
to establishing a commercial fish farm in Victoria. When it became known
to fisheries that this had occurred, by which time many thousands of fish
were in earthen dams on the person's property, fisheries decided that they
had to act. Now instead of offering to buy the individual out and then
destroying the fish (and so saving the whole country a considerable amount
of trouble) Victorian Fisheries arrived on his doorstep and ordered him to
destroy the fish, offering him no compensation. This jackboot approach
prompted him not to obey but instead to transfer fish to a large number of
farm dams and he went around placing carp in various streams. The rest as
they say is history.
Carp are still migrating in this country into new areas and are, often
incorrectly in my opinion, generally blamed for all ills in our inland
waterways. In some waters, there appears to be a stabilisation of carp
numbers and fish like Murray cod are now feeding on carp. However, the
overall degradation of many of our streams is allowing carp to cause
considerable damage.
Cheers,
Nick
----------------------------------------------------
Nick Thorne nick at nativefish.asn.au
Native Fish Australia http://www.nativefish.asn.au