Reintroduction of species in lake Victoria.

by theswede Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:14 pm

A few weeks ago i watched "monsterfish 3" on National Geographic and it was about the Nile perch in lake Victoria. The perch is rapidly declining in the lake. The really big ones has almost totally disappeared. Now there is talk among the scientists that they will take haps from lake Bisina and some other lakes in the Victoria basin to introduce them to Victoria. Is that really a smart move? Can they be a 100% sure that they are the same species that has disappeared from the lake? Lake Bisina is also very different from Victoria. It´s a shallow lake with loads of plants and has much higher oxygene levels in the water. I know that these lakes ones where a part of Victoria but that was a very very long time ago, so with the speed of evolution in this part of the world it would be really surprising if they where the same species. To me this feels like mankinds madness all over again.

by football mom Mon Aug 08, 2011 5:21 pm

I agree with you!
The potential for "unintended consequences"
seems really great here.
Seems like re-introductio of captive-raised
species native to Lake Victoria specifically would
make more sense.

by **Aura** Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:09 pm

I agree as well. I wonder -- are they introducing the haps to repopulate the lake with cichlids ... or as a food source to increase the perch population once again.

by football mom Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:27 pm

Ouch, that would be bad, wouldn't it?

by finnyas Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:09 pm

I wish they would leave the lake alone and recuperate . It would be interesting to see what species come back and flourish if it was left alone. As well as see what species adapted to the stressful situation the Nile Perch placed on them.
If they have to repopulate they should be grabbing species that are being captive raised or one s that are were in the lake originally and are now in satellite lkaes around Victoria