ESA Today 15/09 Hazelmere

ajayrajh

New member
Hi

 

Howie mentioned that the dam is not managed and that there should be stock limits. There are too many small fish and this will pose a problem in the future.

 

What exactly did he mean?
 

100% African

Senior Member
when there's so many small fish in a dam, if it's managed they advise fishermen to remove fish of a certain size so the population is more naturally balanced... that way all the fish benifit...
 

CarloT

Senior Member
Hi There.
What he ment was the following:

If a dam has too many small bass, there is not enough food for all of them to grow big the way that can be managed is taking out bass between say 200 grams and 1.2kg. The bass smaller than 200 grams become a food source for the bass bigger than 1.2 kg and then there are less bass to fight for food so some of the 200gram bass can grow bigger!

Hope that makes sense!
 

bassboy

New member
Greetings all, what I meant was the following..... there has never been any dam management implemented in SA until now, government has introduced new zoning laws that will control the spread of bass through our waterways, which is absolutely neccessary, to protect our endemic fish species. Bass were stocked in SA a long time ago, with little thought as to what would happen to our precious natural resources, and although it is going tobe a long, hard struggle to get this problem resolved, I still believe that it can be done. No one is saying that bass are going to be eradicated from our waters, but they have to be controlled.

The thing that anglers seldom realise, is that no stocking of bass in our bigger dams takes place any more, and it is up to us as anglers to make sure that all the bigger breeding fish are not removed in order for the populations of our favorite sport fish to continue. When dam management strategies are put into place, you may well see programs put into place to manage the size of the fish more effectively, for example, "for the next 12 months, all fish between 25-40cm caught are to be removed." this is called a slot limit, and it will only be implemented once a full study of the dam is conducted by the scientists/biologists. This will help fish of various sizes have a better shot at surviving, this process has been used in the USA for ever, and their dams are really well managed. Ultimately this will lead to better quality, healthier and bigger populations of bigger fish which will be better for all of us in the long run.

Dam management encompasses more than just "killing" fish, it is about water quality, total fish populations, baitfish populations, sustainable controlled netting etc, etc. There is no need to panic, as we are directly invloved with this project, and the bass fishermen are well represented, and government is listening to all parties concerned. I believe that this project is in all our best interests, and would urge you all to participate as soon as this project goes public. Thankyou for your interest in this topic, and I hope that I have helped you to understand what I was saying ?
 
:welcomesea:Howie, thanx for the info on the planned project, are you's directly involved with the govt negotiations etc etc.? one more question, does Rob ever get bigger fish than you? just wondering?::S
 
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