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Muskie as Invasive Species in NB

22954 Views 56 Replies 25 Participants Last post by  conservethis, 
BobD
Hey guys,

Like many anglers I think it's pretty cool that I can go out on the river here and have a chance of catching muskie. However they are an invasive species, and they are spreading south. I suspect in a handful of years they will be throughout the entire St. John river system.

What I don't understand is why there is not an uproar against these fish? They are a top level predator, with no natural enemies. Nothing to control their population except us anglers... and the majority of the serious musky anglers seem to be practicing catch and release. (although I could easily be wrong here).

Look at the uproar of asian carp getting into the great lakes. Or smallmouth getting into the miramichi river system. Is the problem with these two examples only because of money? (i.e. the fishing industry in the great lakes and the salmon industry (tourism, etc) in the Miramichi?

Personally I'd love to have salmon and trout improve in the St John system, but that seems even less likely with the introduction of these top predators. What about the sturgeon in the river? There is almost nowhere else on the east coast of North America with such a strong sturgeon population, but it is mostly isolated to this one river system. Will they eat young sturgeon?

I'm really not advocating the removal of muskie. I think it's too late for that now anyway. I just think it interesting that this invasive species seems almost welcomed.
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B
Really guys I think that we need to strike a balance in NB, that is best for NB. I think that we need to travel the middle road it's not practical to say that any non-indigenous fish should be eradicated. However I do believe that certain watersheds could carry some sort of status that would favor the native fish and invasives would be targeted for removal and other watershed like the SJR could be managed for a multispecies trophy fishery. Really the Saint John river has such a mix of different fish species that arrived by one means or another and they are here now so why not take advantage of them. Where as the Miramichi / Restigouche and other northen watersheds with only a minimal low number of invasive fish should be kept in as prisitine a state as possible. I'm certainly not advocating expanding any invasive species of fish into new watersheds however why not take full advantage of them where they exist. I really think that the muskie fishery in the SJR has the potential to surpass all other trophy muskie fisheries in Canada and the US.

Bill G.
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B
Ya that picture with the three small sturgeon on the board looked like alot of small stripers in the boat.

Bill G,
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B
Along the oromocto river as soon as you start getting close to a net you can smell the dead fish that they've dumped in the woods along shore. Looked like mostly catfish to me, however as mentioned these nongame fish do figure into the predator prey relationship.

Bill G.
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