Here in Andalusia, Alabama, one of the biggest populations of Flagfins, possibly the biggest, has been destroyed.
The land had been bought by some rich idiot from Connecticut who bought a chunk of swampland sight unseen over the internet, and I was worried that there would be a problem arising from that someday when he decided to retire and move down here to build his dream home.
No such luck.
The creek was dammed up a couple of miles downstream to create a lake around which several other rich folks built their own dream homes. For a few years I was worried about that, too, but it actually only helped the Flagfins, which no longer had to travel so far downstream in the winter to find warmer water. Their population didn't dwindle, but instead exploded.
I went to the site yesterday to see how things were going and to collect a few specimens, but couldn't find a single one. Instead, "their" creek was full of Little Green Sunfish, and they have apparently eaten everything else in sight.
The people of the lakefront community downstream decided to stock the lake with Greens for use as forage for the Largemouth Bass they also stocked. The Bass didn't swim upstream, but the sunnies did.
I can't even express how angry I am over this. I just wish there was something I could DO about it.
Hmm.... would it be possible to Rotenone the creek to wipe out all the sunnies, and install some sort of excluder to keep the sunnies out of the creek while letting reintroduced shiners come & go as they pleased?
Edited by Mysteryman, 02 August 2014 - 12:30 PM.