Moved on to greener pastures at the start of this year but still in the loop..........kinda
Just an update on this. A friend came over yesterday and said that he saw Murdoch Uni doing some kind of testing of the lake recently. Anyone know who I can contact at Murdoch Uni to see what they were doing? Would love to see if they are interested in eradicating feral carp
Do you mean Baler Reserve? Was probably people doing invert or water quality stuff.
This isn't me trying to shoot you down, I think it is good people care about natives, this is just what I've picked up over the years.
Most of Perth was built on swamp or ephemeral wetlands that dried out regularly locking nutrients into the substrate and never really had any natives in them, unless connected to a river. These reserves/wetlands/parks are essentially metropolitan drains for developments with a car park, lawn and a swing set. You now have a massively modified system receiving heaps more water, nutrients (from peoples lawn etc) and nasty crap (like hydrocarbons). Because these "wetlands" rarely dry out and receive a massive amount of nutrients they become for lack of a better word I can use a crap hole. In the grand scheme of things a few goldies aren't a big issue if its a closed system, Pygmy Perch might not even technically be native if they were stocked in this instance. I do agree more should be done but it should be in the rivers.
The only real way to remove introduced fish from a system is to get in before they establish a widespread population (like with the pearl cichlid........................) or drain the whole thing (like with the pearl cichlid........................). You can go in with nets etc, remove a few and feel good but at the end of the day time is money and the amounts dedicated to such tasks is enough to achieved SFA.
The red tape is also a joke. For a council to stock a pond the legit way with local genetic strain of native there is all kinds of hoops they have to just through and high costs so most of them say stuff it.
Sorry. Riverside dog park in Bayswater. Opposite Ascot race course.
That was probably the estuary group or students. Was there an English sounding bloke with them?