Salmon and trout stocks in rivers ‘almost gone’

By Claire O’Sullivan

Monday, February 13, 2012

Salmon and trout stocks in West Cork rivers "are almost gone" due to fish farming around Bantry Bay, according to a former National Parks and Wildlife Services manager.

Retired NPWS divisional manager Paddy O’Sullivan, a native of the area, was one of up to 100 people attending a meeting in Adrigole on Saturday night, aimed at halting plans by Marine Harvest to build a 12 to 14- cage organic salmon farm in the bay

Out of 30 contributions to the meeting, two were in favour of the €5.5m aquaculture project at Shot Head. Among those voicing concerns were fishermen, anglers, residents, scientists, and holiday home-owners who had travelled from New York and London.

A Bord Iascaigh Mhara representative was in attendance at the request of Marine Harvest.

A petition has been organised, calling for the Department of the Marine to hold a meeting in the area.

Mr O’Sullivan said the area’s once bountiful native salmon, sea trout and spring stocks are "almost gone completely" due to sea lice from the farms attacking salmon smolt (baby salmon) swimming out to sea.

Freshwater pearl mussels, a protected species, are "not breeding in West Cork rivers due to the lack of fish in the water," he claimed.

"Those rivers fed us when we were growing up. They are a vital part of our environment and heritage. We have to ask ourselves if this project is sustainable or will it damage the natural environment, the sea and rivers.

"Do we want to wipe out all the native fish stocks for a bit of foreign investment?"

Marine Harvest technical manager Catherine McManus has said the company "has the highest regard for the local environment and community" and is committed to developing the new farm in line with best environmental practice.

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/salmon-and-trout-stocks-in-rivers-almost-gone-183702.html#ixzz1mN5gnPef

Species-proving Kunimasu trout goes on display in Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Copyright: © 2011, The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Published: 01/29/11

KOFU, Japan — One of the fish that helped prove the long-lost species of kunimasu trout still exists went on display Saturday as part of a local festival in Fuji-Kawaguchikomachi, Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan.

The specimen put on display at Saiko Wild Birds' Forest Park as part of a juhyo (frost-covered tree) festival in Fuji-Kawaguchikomachi is a male kunimasu trout about 26 to 27 centimeters long.

It is one of nine fish caught in Saiko lake in the prefecture in March that were ultimately found to be kunimasu trout by Kyoto University Prof. Tetsuji Nakabo and Sakana-kun, a TV personality and guest associate professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.

Kunimasu trout were thought to have become extinct 70 years ago, but they were proven to be living in the lake in December.

Ice sculptures of kunimasu trout and Sakana-kun also are on display at the park.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/01/29/1507241/species-proving-kunimasu-trout.html

Species-proving Kunimasu trout goes on display in Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Copyright: © 2011, The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Published: 01/29/11

KOFU, Japan — One of the fish that helped prove the long-lost species of kunimasu trout still exists went on display Saturday as part of a local festival in Fuji-Kawaguchikomachi, Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan.

The specimen put on display at Saiko Wild Birds' Forest Park as part of a juhyo (frost-covered tree) festival in Fuji-Kawaguchikomachi is a male kunimasu trout about 26 to 27 centimeters long.

It is one of nine fish caught in Saiko lake in the prefecture in March that were ultimately found to be kunimasu trout by Kyoto University Prof. Tetsuji Nakabo and Sakana-kun, a TV personality and guest associate professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.

Kunimasu trout were thought to have become extinct 70 years ago, but they were proven to be living in the lake in December.

Ice sculptures of kunimasu trout and Sakana-kun also are on display at the park.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/01/29/1507241/species-proving-kunimasu-trout.html

Japan: 'Extinct' trout species rediscovered (via Chad Arment)

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Kunimasu trout--long believed to have become extinct more than 60 years ago--have been found in Saiko lake in Yamanashi Prefecture, according to research conducted by Kyoto University Prof. Tetsuji Nakabo and TV personality Masayuki Miyazawa, who is widely known by the professional moniker Sakana-kun (Mr. Fish).

The trout, scientifically named oncorhynchus nerka kawamurae and originally known to inhabit only Lake Tazawa, the nation's deepest lake, in Akita Prefecture, has been designated as extinct by the Environment Ministry. The freshwater fish were last seen in Lake Tazawa in 1948.

The trout's environment in the lake was severely damaged by the introduction of highly acidic waters from a nearby river in 1948 to increase the volume of water for hydroelectric power generation.

The discovery of the "extinct" fish came when Sakana-kun, also a guest associate professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, found nine blackish trout among rainbow trout caught in Saiko lake. Sakana-kun, who sports a fish-shaped cap when appearing on TV programs, asked his acquaintance Nakabo to examine the unusual fish. Nakabo and his Kyoto University team confirmed the fish as kunimasu trout by analyzing their DNA.


Nakabo said the nine kunimasu trout were descendants of those hatched in Saiko lake from about 100,000 eggs brought from Lake Tazawa in 1935.

The Environment Ministry plans to remove kunimasu trout from the list of extinct species when it reviews the list in fiscal 2012.

It will be the first time for the ministry to remove a vertebrate species from the list. Shellfish and fungi have been removed in the past.

"We should take this opportunity to think about the value of nature and living creatures, so as not to send any species to extinction," Sakana-kun said.

According to a fisheries cooperative association at Saiko lake, kunimasu trout have sometimes been caught there during net fishing for lake smelts. Fishermen in Saiko call the trout "black trout" because the color of their skin is blackish when compared with rainbow trout.


Yamanashi Prefectural Gov. Shomei Yokouchi said: "I am very surprised to hear that [kunimasu trout] were found in Saiko lake. I'll take steps to conserve them in consultation with the Environment Ministry."

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/T101215004146.htm

Japan: 'Extinct' trout species rediscovered (via Chad Arment)

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Kunimasu trout--long believed to have become extinct more than 60 years ago--have been found in Saiko lake in Yamanashi Prefecture, according to research conducted by Kyoto University Prof. Tetsuji Nakabo and TV personality Masayuki Miyazawa, who is widely known by the professional moniker Sakana-kun (Mr. Fish).

The trout, scientifically named oncorhynchus nerka kawamurae and originally known to inhabit only Lake Tazawa, the nation's deepest lake, in Akita Prefecture, has been designated as extinct by the Environment Ministry. The freshwater fish were last seen in Lake Tazawa in 1948.

The trout's environment in the lake was severely damaged by the introduction of highly acidic waters from a nearby river in 1948 to increase the volume of water for hydroelectric power generation.

The discovery of the "extinct" fish came when Sakana-kun, also a guest associate professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, found nine blackish trout among rainbow trout caught in Saiko lake. Sakana-kun, who sports a fish-shaped cap when appearing on TV programs, asked his acquaintance Nakabo to examine the unusual fish. Nakabo and his Kyoto University team confirmed the fish as kunimasu trout by analyzing their DNA.


Nakabo said the nine kunimasu trout were descendants of those hatched in Saiko lake from about 100,000 eggs brought from Lake Tazawa in 1935.

The Environment Ministry plans to remove kunimasu trout from the list of extinct species when it reviews the list in fiscal 2012.

It will be the first time for the ministry to remove a vertebrate species from the list. Shellfish and fungi have been removed in the past.

"We should take this opportunity to think about the value of nature and living creatures, so as not to send any species to extinction," Sakana-kun said.

According to a fisheries cooperative association at Saiko lake, kunimasu trout have sometimes been caught there during net fishing for lake smelts. Fishermen in Saiko call the trout "black trout" because the color of their skin is blackish when compared with rainbow trout.


Yamanashi Prefectural Gov. Shomei Yokouchi said: "I am very surprised to hear that [kunimasu trout] were found in Saiko lake. I'll take steps to conserve them in consultation with the Environment Ministry."

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/T101215004146.htm

Deadly Parasite Could Endanger Salmon And Trout Populations In U.K.

Stocks of the UK’s Atlantic salmon along with varieties of domestic brown trout could be under threat from a deadly parasite according to research led by Bournemouth University (BU) and published in the International Journal of Parasitology.

Lead author of the paper Dr Rodolphe Gozlan believes the disease is a rosette agent or parasite first identified in the UK in 2005. The agent - Sphaerothecum destruens – was originally found in the US and is closely associated with ‘invasive’ fish species including topmouth gudgeon and could prove deadly to native salmonids (Atlantic salmon, brown trout).

Young brown trout

Atlantic salmon

Dr Gozlan and his colleagues from the University of California-Davis, State University of New York, the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Cardiff University have found the first record of the new infective parasite rosette agent outside North America.

In his previous research (Nature, 2005), Dr Gozlan initially found that the parasite poses a severe threat to some freshwater fish species in Europe. The latest findings have serious implications in understanding the potential risk posed by the association in the UK of this disease, the rosette agent, with invasive fish species.


North American isolates of the rosette agent have been shown to cause both high morbidity and mortality in various salmonid species including Atlantic salmon, brown and rainbow trout. Analysis of the European strain indicates a degree of isolation between European and North American rosette agent populations.


“Unlike in the US, the occurrence of this agent in invasive fish presents a major risk of spread from wild invasive populations to sympatric populations of susceptible native fish,” said Dr Gozlan, an Associate Professor in Conservation Ecology within BU’s School of Conservation Sciences. “As such it represents a risk for fisheries and commercial aquaculture, as movement of fish for stocking purposes is common practice.”


Dr Gozlan and his colleagues say more work is required to determine the extent of the threat to UK and European fish diversity. They have already observed the rapid demise of the sunbleak (Leucaspius delineatus) in parts of Europe in the last forty years following the spread of a healthy carrier – the Asian topmouth gudgeon - the most invasive fish species in Europe. As a result, the sunbleak species is now on the European list of threatened freshwater fishes.
Scientists at Bournemouth University have so far found 26 populations of topmouth gudgeon across England and Wales in rivers, enclosed lakes and sites connected to the river network. Catchments at risk from invasion include the Kent, Yorkshire Ouse, Trent, Thames, Medway, Itchen, Test and Severn.


“The new parasite has also been shown to affect other UK freshwater fish such as bream, carp and roach so there is an urgent need to develop more sensitive detection tools of the rosette agent if responsible authorities want a chance to control its spread and limit future outbreaks,” concluded Dr. Gozlan.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617155011.htm



Journal reference:
Rodolphe E. Gozlana, Christopher M. Whippsb, Demetra Andreouc and Kristen D. Arkushe. Identification of a rosette-like agent as Sphaerothecum destruens, a multi-host fish pathogenstar, open. International Journal of Parasitology