> This may be of some interest to those who have lived/ been to Adelaide Ghost
> town. Over the last year or two there has been a considerable amount of
> press relating to the polluted state of our beloved River Torrens.
I have always wondered why South Australians (Crow Eaters) always put
river before the river's name. I guess it is just because they are SO
backwards...... :-)
> Perhaps this is an optimum time for a group, eg ANGFA, to assist in the
> process by leaning on these authorities to take it one step further. It
You should get on the back of the SANFA folks (South Australian Native
Fish Association). Have you seen their fish display at the zoo yet?
Wadya reckon of it? For such a small group they really haven't done too
badly. They only brought in several thousand, maybe tens of thousands of
dollars or so of funding for their zoo display via the Murray Darling
Commission. :-) Pretty good for a club that usually got 10-15 folks to
a meeting. Maybe things improved after I left. :-)
> would be nice to see them ban the Fly Fishing Association from releasing
> more trout and Gambusia into the river, employ some of our long time
> unemployed to drag nets through the river to deplete the stocks of redfin,
> carp and trout. Provide native aquatic plants and fish to restock the river.
> I know this is just a dream but it cant hurt to dream.
Removing exotics is almost impossible. I don't think the political clout
is there to stop trout stocking. By and large today trout in the Torrens
have little to no impact on natives (as there are virtually none now).
Graham Walker just wrote to me today and
mentioned that during a recent field trip they recorded Murray rainbows,
Tandanus catfish as well as carp gudgeons, none of which are native to
the Torrens. It is good that they are finally doing something to improve
the river. Perhaps if they removed all those weirs in the lower river it
would help the natives more since most of the natives still there need
access to and from the ocean.
> Some of you other Aussies may be interested to know that last year our
> Fisheries people poisoned one of our local resevoirs (Thorndon Park) (had
> some huge Galaxia species in it) and have since stocked it with native fish,
Galaxias maculatus (common galaxias) and Philypnodon grandiceps (flathead
gudgeon) were the only natives in there prior to poisoning. Not sure if
some were put back in or not. I know they stocked Murray River Mogurndas
(purple spotted gudgeons) in there.
> The great thing is you
> have to be under 12 years old to keep your catch.
Heay, they'd even let Roy fish there, he usually acts this age. Pity
about Fordy though. :-)
Tootles
Peter Unmack