Asian snakehead fish-an ecological disaster!

[rtidd]

ASIAN SNAKEHEAD FISH-AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER!

Previously, I have written about the Asian Carp, how the fish was an ecological disaster for the United State. There is another fish from Asia, which is also an ecological disaster for the United States, the Asian Snakehead fish.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

I wrote two part article for FAOL's Readers Cast, the current article is on Asian Snakehead Fish, the other that has not run yet is on Asian Carp was the lead-in story! Hopefully the" Asian Carp" article will be run on "Reader's Cast", as it was meant to precede the "Snakehead" article!

We now live in a "Global Market", and we are also living in a "Global Ecosystem"! It seems as if it is not only people from around the world coming to America, but the other lifeforms too!

~Parnelli

[Rocketfish]

The next step for US rivers is to hold Piranhas...we humans cross from one continent to anothers...why not the fish?

[Sonny Edmonds]

Well, these folks smuggle in these fish for healing rituals. But if the person they were smuggled in for gets well, they are obliged to release the live fish unharmed.
That is how they showed up in Maryland waters.
I guess it was only a matter of time before these world travelers brought to these shores the joys they left behind. Like polio, whooping cough, and other lovely things we had once protected ourselves from.
There is a cure for these snake fish and diseases, but we can't use it.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Snake+fish&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a

[The Chronicler]

Steve,

Sorry, but this old editor got the articles out of sequence. Asian Carp next week.

Neil

[Gigmaster]

I have to disagree on the ecological impact of snakleheads, at leat in the Southeast. They are present in Rome, Ga., and I fish for them all the time. The bass and panfish populations in the river have not gone extinct, or seem to be adversly effected in any way. And the snakeheads are delicious, and put up a great fight.

As in most instances, nature is a lot tougher than what people give it credit for. Just like with European Brown Rats, carp, cotton-tail rabbits, and brown trout in the 1800s, nutria in the 1960s, 'Killer' African Honey Bees in the 1970s, hydrilla, and other introduced species, there is a short adjustment period, then everything balances out. Sea Lampreys did not wipe out Lake Trout in the Great lakes. Carp have not caused any species to become extinct. And Rainbow Trout are not native to most of the places in the East that became famous fisheries. And Smallmouth bass did not become extinct as a result...

The only time species become extinct from introduced species is when they are already threatened to start with.

Actually, domestic animals, farming, and livestock production do tons more damage to the environment than any introduced species ever has.

I loom upon introduced species as new opportunities to be enjoyed. I wish we had Asian Carp hwere. Maybe we will soon. I have heard they are delicious.

Semper Fi!