Round Goby -School Project

[20MileCreeker]

Hi there,
This is a bit off topic but my son is doing a science project for school on how to deal with ecological problem. He selected the Round Goby being an invasive species in local waters. He needs to come up with a reasonable solution that can help combat goby invading local waterways. 

He believes that anglers would be the best people to help combat gobies as they are most knowledgeable about identifying various types of fish. His idea is if there was a government  app that anglers could use to report goby sightings then that could help the Ministry Natural Resources track potential hotspots and areas of concerns. For example, say you were fishing 20 Mile Creek on Saturday, September 12th between 1-4pm and you caught 3 gobies within that timeframe you would report that and the government might be able to track where hotspots are and intervene.  

As an angler, is this something you would use?    The other solution he is proposing is mandatory education for those applying for their first fishing licence being to able to identify and know what to do if you catch a goby and know the severe penalties and fines for having them in your possession. 

Any feedback or other ideas would be of great help to him.

Thanks in advance! 

[smerchly]

Gobies are everywhere  20MC  . Watch underwater videos of the Niagara river and see them scattering among the mountain of zebra mussel shells . Lake Simcoe is loaded with gobies and all waters connected to the Great Lakes . Over the years many fish eat gobies . Bass are now much larger after including gobies into their diet . I have to choose what baits to use when bottom fishing since the gobies will tear minnows apart , eat worms or corn ,etc.  We were told to kill them when we hook them while fishing but that is not even a drop in the barrel . While netting some minnows I have caught dozens of tiny 2-3" gobies in one lift of the net . I think they are here to stay .

13 minutes ago, 20MileCreeker said:

he is proposing is mandatory education for those applying for their first fishing licence being to able to identify and know what to do if you catch a goby and know the severe penalties and fines for having them in your possession. 

Many of us would like to see more educated anglers ....like having the first few pages in the regs about fishing etiquette , garbage (fishing line) , fish I.D.,  limits , etc .  A written test should be mandatory in English or French since signs posted are in either language . Our laws are too weak both federally and locally to stop the abuse of our natural resources , so I don't expect to see anything change in my lifetime ....except more new invasive species from other countries .

[Surf and Turf]

Good to hear that your son is taking an interest. I do however agree with Smerch. Maybe a better topic would be that of invasive species in general, how they got here, their affect on the local ecosystem and how to avoid potential new invaders from arriving and establishing. Maybe an app, or function on MNR website to report and upload a picture of unidentified potential invasive species? Just a thought.

[smerchly]

World trade has brought us many destructive species ...aquatic species like these .....

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=aquaic+species

 

We have lost millions of ash trees etc etc. due to invasive beetles . Farms have lost crops from foreign bugs , new plants have invaded our wet lands and on and on ....... This has cost us billions of dollars and we get to pay for it from our paychecks . The "cheap" imported products cost us a lot more than we think . As the ships get larger to bring us all the products on the store shelves , I don't see any positive change in the future . 

 

....forgot to add the new bug from China ...the covid bug.....no export charge ....

[20MileCreeker]

Thanks so much for your input.

The purpose of the project is to try and win a fictitious $100 million grant. His other idea was - he discovered that round gobies exhibit a red fluorescence when exposed to a green light. He may try to convince the panel that with a $100 million he could develop a subaquatic robot that can emit a green light and if it sees the red fluorescence it would vaporize the fish ☠️. Perhaps he could win on creativity. 🤷‍♀️

[smerchly]

Now that's a project I  could see happening in the future . When I was a kid we read Flash Gordon comic books . Yes , back in the 50's the comic books had cosmic ray guns and wrist watches with phones  LOL ....Now , that has all come to pass today . There are sub aquatic robots today used to locate depth and fish ....hooked up to your smart phones . Some of my brainy ideas came from outer space ....some worked , some flopped badly lol. Lots of luck to your son ..... 🤖   and I hope he caught some big carp down Jordan way .......  

 

I found this in my book marks ....very good info on Ontario invasive species .....

 

http://www.invadingspecies.com/

[мормышка]

I've always thought they were "brought in" to take care of the zebra mussels. I remember how clear the waters were (and causing blockages of water pipes) because of zebra mussels before the gobies showed up.

 

Something to think of.

[Tyler0420]

The gobies are here to stay. There’s too many to try and get rid of them now. Maybe try stopping some other kind of invasive species that haven’t taken over our waterways yet...

[Chrisb]

gobies, zebra mussels, quagga mussels spiny water fleas, all came in ship ballasts.

 

The next one that might be preventable is the asian carp.

[smerchly]

31 minutes ago, Chrisb said:

The next one that might be preventable is the asian carp

Ironically speaking ,   "they" say the Asian carp are great fighters and quite tasty ........We have a  lake full of salmon that are mostly tossed back ....something like the Euro carp we catch in the lakes  .  Food for thought ......   

[Tyler0420]

2 hours ago, smerchly said:

Ironically speaking ,   "they" say the Asian carp are great fighters and quite tasty ........We have a  lake full of salmon that are mostly tossed back ....something like the Euro carp we catch in the lakes  .  Food for thought ......   

I’d love to catch a grasser. Built like a rocket. 

[Chrisb]

2 hours ago, smerchly said:

Ironically speaking ,   "they" say the Asian carp are great fighters and quite tasty ........We have a  lake full of salmon that are mostly tossed back ....something like the Euro carp we catch in the lakes  .  Food for thought ......   

And install deflectors on the front of all our boats so we don't knocked out the boat when cruising across the lake.

[Snags]

On 11/23/2020 at 7:58 PM, 20MileCreeker said:

Hi there,
This is a bit off topic but my son is doing a science project for school on how to deal with ecological problem. He selected the Round Goby being an invasive species in local waters. He needs to come up with a reasonable solution that can help combat goby invading local waterways. 

He believes that anglers would be the best people to help combat gobies as they are most knowledgeable about identifying various types of fish. His idea is if there was a government  app that anglers could use to report goby sightings then that could help the Ministry Natural Resources track potential hotspots and areas of concerns. For example, say you were fishing 20 Mile Creek on Saturday, September 12th between 1-4pm and you caught 3 gobies within that timeframe you would report that and the government might be able to track where hotspots are and intervene.  

As an angler, is this something you would use?    The other solution he is proposing is mandatory education for those applying for their first fishing licence being to able to identify and know what to do if you catch a goby and know the severe penalties and fines for having them in your possession. 

Any feedback or other ideas would be of great help to him.

Thanks in advance! 

 

Personally I would not use the app since gobies are throughout the waters in Niagara, basically if the water comes from Lake Ontario or Lake Erie ... there are gobies.  If I was fishing a pond that is not linked to either water body, that becomes a different story, I would probably sooner call it in than use an app.  I tend to have a lack of trust in our governments regardless of the intentions they claim.

 

Unfortunately the round goby does look very similar to a sculpin which is native and very similar to someone who might have never see either.

 

http://www.feenstraguideservice.com/sculpinvgoby.html

 

I would love to see an education piece for people to do before they get there license ... but look at cars, there are testing requirements and all of these idiots out there on the road have passed.

[Snags]

On 11/24/2020 at 6:00 AM, мормышка said:

I've always thought they were "brought in" to take care of the zebra mussels. I remember how clear the waters were (and causing blockages of water pipes) because of zebra mussels before the gobies showed up.

 

Something to think of.

 

Well if that is the case they did their job way too well, there is a lack of zebra mussels in many of the areas I fish to the point where water is no longer as clear as it has been five years ago.

[мормышка]

3 hours ago, Snags said:

 

Well if that is the case they did their job way too well, there is a lack of zebra mussels in many of the areas I fish to the point where water is no longer as clear as it has been five years ago.

 

I remember there was talk also of putting something in the water that only attacks the mussels to inhibit reproduction. That seems a lot more risky for other creatures, but I'm sure it is possible to be developed and implemented with research and trials. At one time flushed meds (like birth control) made the bass one sex. Can't remember where it was observed, but it was in papers.

[Snags]

56 minutes ago, мормышка said:

 

I remember there was talk also of putting something in the water that only attacks the mussels to inhibit reproduction. That seems a lot more risky for other creatures, but I'm sure it is possible to be developed and implemented with research and trials. At one time flushed meds (like birth control) made the bass one sex. Can't remember where it was observed, but it was in papers.

 

I recall something out of the Niagara River (US side) where most fish checked over had antidepressants in their system.

[smerchly]

How do all those chems . make it intact going into the lake after sitting in $hit at the poo plants ?  Tons of pill pee is flushed away daily and tons of butts from that monkey above end up in the lakes . And don't forget the road chems . from leaky vehicles  and tons of salt during the winter .

....and gobies aren't round ....they're about 1" wide , by 5" long ..........and bass are pigging out on them , thus we have 7 lb. hogs !   

And we just finished a nice perch din din ....they will all return to the lake tomorrow .....  

[мормышка]

Some chemicals and elements are very persistent. That means they can be transferred up the food chain easily.

 

If gobies in an area were ingesting lots of mercury through the mussels, you know the gamefish or birds will get them too. Enough mercury in the body, the body will react and come out in lesions/lumps, like cancer.

 

 

[smerchly]

2 hours ago, мормышка said:

Some chemicals and elements are very persistent. That means they can be transferred up the food chain easily.

 

If gobies in an area were ingesting lots of mercury through the mussels, you know the gamefish or birds will get them too. Enough mercury in the body, the body will react and come out in lesions/lumps, like cancer.

 

 

Going back about 20 years ago , I have seen many fish caught at PortDal. that had tumors on various parts of their body , and also caught fish that had bent spines , The fish "seem" to look healthier now , although I haven't fished there much the past 3 years . 

 There was a pond in Pelham that we stocked with pond chubs over 30 years ago , one of a few we stocked in the area for friends . This was the only pond that was spring fed and had clear water . Many of the chubs we caught there 2 years after stocking had bent "Z" spines . The pond was getting some runoff from the farm land which obviously contained fertilizer chemicals . So maybe the farm land runoff is the worst culprit ? 

 I have an older fish consumption guide book and I wonder how it compares to the fish today since the bass , pike , perch are eating gobies ?

[мормышка]

Depends what the gobies are carrying and how old they are. Oldest/largest fish will carry most and may vary fish to fish. For example suspended walleye feeding on smelt/herrings will be less toxic that those more bottom oriented (I would believe).