european carp to be attacked with herpes

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dubbleyew eight
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european carp to be attacked with herpes

#1 Post by dubbleyew eight » Sun May 01, 2016 1:15 pm

european carp in the murray river in new south wales - victoria are an absolute pest.
they have destroyed most of the recreational fishing.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-01/herpes-to-eradicate-carp-in-murray-river-pyne-says/7373736

a csiro tested strain of herpes is about to be unleashed on the pests, hopefully erradicating most of them.

there is one item in the article that rankles me because I know it is false.

Carp were first introduced to Australia in the mid to late 1800s, and are now found in every Australian state outside the Northern Territory.
Widespread flooding in the 1970s helped spread the pests throughout the Murray-Darling system.


in victoria they were introduced by a stupid farmer who imported them under the noses of the biosecurity at the time and had his farm dam stocked with them.
why he did it is anyones guess because the bloody things are inedible.
it was flooding in the 1970's during a particularly wet year that overflowed the dam and saw them swept downstream into the murray river.
I lived in albury during the time the pestilence first started and saw the encroachment first hand.

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Re: european carp to be attacked with herpes

#2 Post by 500N » Sun May 01, 2016 3:21 pm

About time.

Can't wait for them all to be gone.

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Re: european carp to be attacked with herpes

#3 Post by GrumpyOldFart » Sun May 01, 2016 9:03 pm

Yes - let's give CSIRO the clap they so richly deserve.


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Re: european carp to be attacked with herpes

#4 Post by dubbleyew eight » Mon May 02, 2016 10:18 am

evidently the tourist people are saying that it will hurt tourism.

my brother had the perfect comment. "who the hell goes to the murray river to catch bloody european carp? no one! idiots."

the murray used to be home to english perch (redfin) trout and murray river cod. the carp wiped all those out.
lets hope we can get some real fish stocked back into the murray after the carp are eradicated.

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Re: european carp to be attacked with herpes

#5 Post by 500N » Mon May 02, 2016 10:42 am

That is BS.

No one catches carp, we shoot them from the bank and leave them for the birds/hawks/herons to eat.

If you want more tourism, get the native species back and people will flock to inland Aus to fish.

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Re: european carp to be attacked with herpes

#6 Post by Alisoncc » Mon May 02, 2016 10:58 pm

I suspect the pollution from masses of dead fish is likely to be the problem. Who wants to go for a holiday near a river that stinks? Current estimates is that it would take at least a couple of years to clear. Long term it would be good, but short term a disaster.

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Re: european carp to be attacked with herpes

#7 Post by 500N » Mon May 02, 2016 11:09 pm

Alison

I doubt they will all die at once, en masse. And the Murray is a fast flowing river.

In side lakes and creeks it might be a bit of a problem but not the Murray.

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Re: european carp to be attacked with herpes

#8 Post by Alisoncc » Mon May 02, 2016 11:28 pm

500N wrote:I doubt they will all die at once, en masse. And the Murray is a fast flowing river.

In side lakes and creeks it might be a bit of a problem but not the Murray.

Apparently they could all die within a couple of weeks once the virus takes hold. The paradox is that any that don't die immediately may develop an immunity, so not something the are really after. The "population" density of carp is such that river banks and slow flowing areas could be absolutely covered in dead fish. Which could be a health hazard for the locals. Flies are a problem along the Murray as it is. Imagine those increased by a few magnitudes from all the rotting fish.

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