ANGLERS are concerned a mainstream media article calling for the eradication of trout in Australian waters ignores the real problems facing our native fish species.
Daniel Flitton’s feature “Rainbow’s End?” was published in Fairfax Media’s latest Good Weekend magazine. In the piece, Flitton places the blame on Australia’s declining native fish populations on the introduction in the 1800s of brown and rainbow trout.
The article makes no reference to issues such as the European carp invasion, species translocation and large scale habitat destruction – all of which are considered as major threats facing native fish and their environments.
While it’s obvious that the introduction of trout in Australia has impacted on some native fish species, frogs and insects, Flitton’s failure to address or even mention the environmental destruction caused by highly invasive European carp and redfin seriously reduces the credibility of his article. This is further compounded by the lack of attention paid by Flitton to other environmental factors – including issues such as habitat loss, water quality, pollution, development and agricultural run-off – which are all known to be detrimental to native fish populations.
In a letter to the editor of the Good Weekend, the secretary of the Central Acclimatisation Society, Don Barton, pointed out what he said were inaccuracies in Flitton’s article.
“It’s a measure of Mr Flitton’s cavalier disregard for fact and accuracy that he claims, ‘Rainbow trout also carry a fish smallpox that has cruelled numbers of native Macquarie perch.’ Smallpox is of the genus Orthopoxvirus, while the only possible virus that could be relevant to his ostensible concern is the Epizootic Haematopoietic Necrosis Virus (EHNV), which is a native Australian Iridovirus and has a major impact on Macquarie perch,” Barton wrote.
“EHNV has only been found in some farmed rainbow trout and has not been found in wild trout, according to the NSW DPI Fisheries web page on the subject.”
In his article Flitton writes of the sportfishing potential of threatened native fish such as the trout cod, aka “bluenose” – a name unfamiliar to any anglers Fisho spoke to.
“Australia does have a contender to rival, or even surpass the trout as a freshwater sportfish, if only it could be given the chance,” Flitton says of the bluenose.
In Fisho’s view, blaming trout for the demise of natives like trout cod seems misdirected, especially when governments continue to green light projects that threaten their future, such as the controversial pipeline project on the Macquarie River in western NSW, a known site for healthy populations of stocked trout cod.
Flitton’s article appears to promote the eradication of trout in Australia as the magic solution to halting the decline of native fish. In our view, this smacks of illogical sensationalism.
According to respected angling experts such as John Newbery, there is “no more sense in suggesting knocking off all salmonids as the solution as in knocking off all cats and dogs to ‘fix’ what we’ve done to land based species, although some of our more extreme green compatriots would probably support just that”.
In Fisho’s opinion, Flitton and The Good Weekend have missed an opportunity to raise public awareness about key environmental problems facing iconic native sportfish. Taking the easy option by “bashing” trout might make for entertaining weekend reading but it doesn’t really rate when you consider the big issues facing our inland waterways …
This debate will no doubt rage on and on … Where do you stand? Are trout the root cause of problems involving native fish species? If so, should we eradicate them from our rivers, lakes and streams? Or should we instead respect and admire the trout and focus more on helping native species by ridding our waterways of noxious carp and redfin while at the same time working to improve water quality and restore habitat?
Read The Good Weekend article and let us know your thoughts and opinions!
