Impacts of Fish Introduction on Aquatic Environment: a Study with Special Reference to Common Carp/ Cyprinus Carpio, (Linnaeus, 1758)
Abstract
Fish introduction was practiced for years in the world for economical, social, biological and ecological purposes without consideration of the deleterious impacts on the aquatic environment. The most important environmental impacts caused by fish introduction were competition for resources, predation, disease and parasites, genetic impacts, fish community alternation, physiological changes, impact on other aquatic fauna, habitat alternation and socioeconomic impacts. The impacts of fish introduction were evaluated on the following criteria: species suited to the physico-chemical properties of the intended water body; attractiveness and profitability of the fish to the fishers; fish with good flesh quality for the consumers; and fish that fill a vacant niche to establish balanced community. Fish introduction in Ethiopia started during the Italian invasion and then the practice expanded in many natural and man-made waters. Information on management, status and impact on the aquatic environment were not well documented. The literature review, focus group discussion and field observation indicated that ill-conceived and poorly monitored fish introduction was practiced. As the rule of thumb, well-organized and adequate knowledge on fish introduction management is essential in ‘Resource Management Challenged Environments’ and for ‘Meeting the needs of the society, and keeping the balance of aquatic environment.Â
References
Abebe Getahun and Melanie L. J. Stiassny 1998. The freshwater biodiversity crisis: the case of Ethiopian fish fauna. SINET: Ethiopian Journal Science, 21 (2) ,207-230.
Arthington, A. H. 1991. Ecological and genetic impacts of introduced and translocated freshwater fishes in australia. Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences 48(supplement 1): 33-43.
Balon. E. K. 1974. Domestication of the carp (Cyprinus carpio) Royal Ontario museum life science miscellaneous publication, 27-34.
Barel, C .D .N., Dorit, R., Greenwood, P. H., Fryer, G., Hughes, N., Jackson, P .B. N., Kawanabe, H., Lowe-McConnell, R. H., Nagoshi, M., Ribbink, A. J., Trewavas, E., Witte, F, and Yamaoka, K. 1985. Destruction of fisheries in Africa’s lakes. Nature 315: 19-20.
Bradford, D. F., S. D. Cooper, T. M. Jenkins, K. Kratz, O. Sarnelle and A. D. Brown. 1998. Influences of natural acidity and introduced fish on faunal assemblages in California alpine lakes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 55 : 2478-2491.
Cahn, A. R. 1929. The effect of carp on a small lake: the carp as a dominant. Ecology 10 , 271-274.
Chapleau, F., C. S. Findlay and E. Szenasy. 1997. Impact of piscivorous fish introductions on fish species richness of small lakes in Gatineau Park, Quebec. Project Report, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario. 30 p.
Christie, W. J., J. M. Fraser and S. J. Nepszy. 1972. Effects of species introductions on salmonid communities in oligotrophic lakes. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 29: 969- 973.
Chumchal, M. 2002. "Cyprinus carpio" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed July 07, 2014 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Cyprinus_carpio/
Coates, D and Ulaiwi, W. K.1995. A simple model for predicting ecological impacts of introduced aquatic organisms: a case study of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) L., in the Sepik-Ramu River basin, Papua New Guinea. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2: 227-242.
Cowx, I .G. 1994. Introduction strategies. Fisheries management and ecology, volume 1, Issue 1, 15 -30.
Crivelli, A. J. 1983.The destruction of aquatic vegetation by carp. Hydrobiologia 106, 37-41.
Dodge, D. P, and Mark, C. (1994). Direct control of fauna and role of hatcheries, Fish introduction and fishing regulation In: Peter Calow and Geoffrey E Petts. The river hand book, Vol. 2, 386-399.
Ferguson, M. M. 1990. Genetic impact of introduced fishes on native species. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 1053-1057.
Fernando, C. H. 1991. Impacts of fish introductions in tropical Asia and America. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 48(Supplement 1): 24-32.
Fisheries Development and Utilization proclamation 2003. Federal Negarit Gazeta - 9th Year No 32 4th February 2003 of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Addis Ababa.
Fisheries Development, Prevention and Utilization Proclamation 2003. Zikre Hig - 9th Year No 3, 17th December 2003 of the Amhara National Regional State, Bahir Dar.
Fletcher, A. R., Morison, A. K. & Hulme, D. J. 1985. Effects of carp, Cyprinus carpio L. on communities of aquatic vegetation and turbidity of water bodies in the lower Goulburn river basin. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 36, 311-327.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. 2014) Editors Fish Base. World Wide Web electronic publication. Available at: http:// www.fishbase.org, version (08/2014).
Goede, R. W. 1986. Management considerations in introduction diseased or carrier fish. p. 349-355 In R. H. Stroud [ed.]. Fish Culture in Fisheries Management, American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland.
He, X. and J. F. Kitchell. 1990. Direct and indirect effects of predation on a fish community: A whole lake experiment. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 119: 825-835.
Hestand R.S. & Carter C.C. 1978 Comparative effects of grass carp and selected herbicides on macrophyte and phytoplankton communities. Journal of Aquatic Plant Management1 6, 43-50
Holcik, J. 1991. Fish introduction in Europe with particular reference to its Central and Eastern part. Can.J.fish.Aquatic Sci. 48(1), 13-23.
Jackson, Z.J., Quist, M.C., Downing, J.A. & Larscheid, J.G. 2010. Common carp (Cyprinus carpio), sport fishes, and water quality: ecological thresholds in agriculturally eutrophic lakes. Lake and Reservoir Management 26: 14–22
Khan T.A., Wilson M.E. & Khan M.I. 2003 Evidence for invasive carp mediated trophic cascade in shallow lakes of western Victoria, Australia. Hydrobiologia 506, 465-472.
Koehn, J.D. 2004. Carp (Cyprinus carpio) as a powerful invader in Australian waterways. Freshwater Biology 49: 882–894.
Lougheed, V.L., Crosbie, B. & Chowfraser, P. 1998. Predictions on the effect of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) exclusion on water quality, zooplankton, and submergent macrophytes in a great lakes wetland. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 55: 1189–1197
Lowe, S., Browne, M., Boudjelas, S. & De Poorter, M. 2004. 100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species: a selection from the Global Invasive Species Database. Auckland, New Zealand: The Invasive Species Specialist Group, World Conservation Union
Mathewos Hailu 2013. Reproductive aspects of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L, 1758) in a tropical reservoir (Amerti: Journal of Ecology and the Natural Environment 5(9), pp. 260-264
McClaren P. 1980 Is carp an established asset? Fisheries 5, 31-32
McCrimmon, H. 1968. Carp in Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada.
Miller, S. A. & Crowl, T. A. 2006. Effects of com mon carp (Cyprinus carpio) on macrophytes and invertebrate communities in a shallow lake. Freshwater Biology 51, 85-94.
Neess, J.C., Helm, W.T. & Threinen, C.W. 1957. Some vital statistics in a heavily exploited population of carp. Journal of Wildlife Management 21: 279–292.
Oguto-ohwayo, R. and Hecky, R. E., 1991. Fish introductions in Africa and some of their implications. Canadian Joumal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 48, Suppl 1, 8-12.
Panek, F.M. 1987. Biology and ecology of carp. In: Cooper, E.L., ed. Carp in North America. Bethesda, MD: American Fisheries Society, pp. 1–15
Perrow, M. R., Jowitt, A. J. D., Stansfield, J. H. & Phillips, G. L. 1999. The practical importance of the interactions between fish, zooplankton and macrophytes in shallow lake restoration. Hydrobiologia 396 , 199-210.
Pillay, T.V.R. 1990. Aquaculture Principles and Practices. Fishing News Books, Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd, UK. 575 pp.
Pillay, T.V.R. 1992. Aquaculture and environment. Fishing News Books, Blackwell scientific Publications Ltd, 189
Pinto, L., Chandrasena, N., Pera, J., Hawkins, P., Eccles, D. & Sim, R. 2005. Managing invasive carp (Cyprinus carpioL.) for habitat enhancement at Botany Wetlands, Australia. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 15, 447-462.
Richard H Stroud 1975. The introduction of exotic fish species into waters of the United States. The seventh British coarse fish conference. The University of Liverpool. pp. 3–13
Shibru Tedla and Fisseha Haile-Mesekel 1981. Introduction and transplantation of freshwater species in Ethiopia.SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science 4(2) 69 -72.
Stephanou, D. 1990. Twenty years of experience in managing Cyprus reservoirs for angling, In: W. L. T. Van Densen, B. Steinmetz and R. H. Hughes, Management of freshwater fisheries, Wageningen (Netherlands), Pudoc, pp. 1-13.
Stiassny, M.L.J. 1996. An overview of freshwater biodiversity with some lessons from African fishes. Fisheries 21(9): 7-13
Verspoor, E. and J. Hammar. 1991. Introgressive hybridization in fishes: The biochemical evidence. Journal of Fish Biology 39 (Supplement A): 309-334.
Weber, M.J. & Brown, M.L. 2009. Effects of common carp on aquatic ecosystems 80 years after ‘Carp as a dominant’; Ecological insights for fisheries management. Reviews in Fisheries Science 17: 524–537.
Welcomme, R. L. 1988. International introductions of inland aquatic species. Fisheries Technical Paper No. 213, Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome, Italy.
Welcomme R.L. 1984. International transfers of inland fish species. In: W.R. Courtenay Jr. & J.R. Stauffer (eds). Distribution, Biology and Management of Exotic Fishes. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, pp. 22-40
Williams, A. E., Moss, B. & Eaton, J. 2002. Fish induced macrophyte loss in shallow lakes: top-down and bottom-up processes in mesocosm experiments. Freshwater Biology 47, 2216-2232.
Wolfe, M.D., Santucci. Jr, V.J., Einfalt, L.M. & Wahl, D.H. 2009. Effects of common carp on reproduction, growth, and survival of largemouth bass and bluegills. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 138: 975–983.
Yared Tigabu, 2010. stocking based fishery enhancement program in Ethiopia, Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology10 (2-4) 241-246.
Copyright (c) 2019 Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
