Giant goldfish cause havoc to South West river ecosystems

From the "You Can't Make That Up" Department-

AS part of a marine studies course, science students from Georgiana Molloy Anglican School assisted Murdoch University’s scientists in a goldfish eradication project.

The students worked with Murdoch University’s Dr David Morgan and Dr Steven Beatty to catch, anaesthetise and euthanise 100 feral goldfish found in the Vasse River.

For almost five years, the Busselton shire, GeoCatch and Murdoch University have been working together to rid the river of the growing goldfish population.

GeoCatch vice-chairman David Kemp said funding is received from both the shire and the university.

“GeoCatch has been coordinating the project for about five years and we’re involved because of the water quality improvement program in the entire Geographe area,” he said.

“This is just one of the arms of the program. It may seem like a small arm, but goldfish are a feral pest and cause major damage to the systems.

“We’re hoping that we can keep the goldfish numbers down and ideally eradicate them because of what they do to the water quality in the sense that they stir up the mud and release nutrients, causing algal blooms.”

More here-

http://www.busseltonmail.com.au/news/local/news/general/giant-goldfish-cause-havoc-to-south-west-river-ecosystems/2105520.aspx