Last weekend Brisbane City Council held a pest fish education event encouraging families, anglers and members of the public to bring along their fishing rods and fish for pest species at The Lake Parklands, Forest Lake.
As well as removing pest fish such as tilapia from the lake, the event aimed to inform the public about the number and variety of exotic fish species living in the regions waterways, the impact they have on the environment and how they frequently come to be there (i.e. pet fish owners releasing their exotic aquarium fish into waterways).
Ecosure Senior Ecologists Chris Pietsch (aquatic) and Carissa Free assisted attendees to identify their catch and euthanize those fish identified as pest species. Exotic species captured included Mozambique tilapia, carp and flower horn cichlids.
A number of freshwater fish organisations also attended the event including Brisbane Valley Anglers Fish Stocking Association and the Australia New Guinea Fishes Association.
