Solving The Problem Of Freshwater Fish Populations

I am intrigued in informing and preserving fish population. The fish population in freshwater bodies of water is very important to know about and protect. There are many things anyone can do to promote population. These can be big or small actions to help your lake’s ecosystem. I will go over multiple factors that go into to informing yourself about, protecting, and preserving freshwater fish populations.

Information

    I first learned how important this is when I did not know what fish I would be trying to catch in different lakes. There are multiple resources you can use while trying to figure out what fish are where. Information can be found the websites of the actual lake. Many lakes have their own websites diagraming the estimated population, or the scale of fish compared to each other.

When looking through the fish populations there are important factors to realize. If you are looking for a balanced lake, you will want to see more smaller sized fish than larger fish. This will have decent sized fish of all species because the ecosystem will be balanced. If you are looking for trophy fish, the less number of fish, the more likely they will be bigger. For example, if there are too many bass and too few blue gill in a like, bass will be less than a pound. Hardly a trophy fish anglers go after. For crappie however, if there is too many, will be very small with bulging eyes. Knowing this will help you to better gauge what fish you will encounter and how big or small they will be.

Protection

    Protecting the fish population is important for any fisher to know about and practice. Having disregard for the population will result in species diminishing quickly.

There are a number of a regular person can help this problem, but also extra efforts one can make. Simple ways people can help are not polluting in lakes, not over fishing, and not exposing new species to a lake. All of these are problems for lakes around the country.

Pollution in lakes is becoming overwhelming. People dumping trash in lakes is big because it easy to do if you are right beside it. Fishers often stay in places right by the lake and not putting your trash away in a bin causes the wind to carry it into the water. Also, on a boat people will throw cans or wrappers into the lake. It seems small, but if everyone will stop doing this, it will make a great impact.

Overfishing has become a huge talking point for not only saltwater fishing, but for freshwater fishing as well. Lakes will have limits on size, weight, or number of fish you can keep in one day. These cannot always be enforced but should be followed. Fishers are taking more than they should in some cases, causing numbers to dwindle. In Shelbyville, crappie numbers started to decrease rapidly and were forced to repopulate the lake more than normal. If the city was not paying attention to these numbers, the species would have died out. This is just one effect of overfishing, and not even close to the worst one.

Exposing new species into a lake can be devastating. Not many people do this, but putting an evasive species into a lake can destroy the fish population. Asian Carp has been devastating lake throughout Midwest United States in the past years. People have introduced this fish, they have been eating all the fish and other fish species. This has caused local fish species to die out and ruin fishing and lake activities on the lake.

Preservation

    Preserving lakes is essential to keeping fish populations steady, and then have them grow. There are a number of ways people can help like, donating to causes around you lake, supporting natural fishing habits, and volunteer for programs at your lake.

Donating to causes around your lake can be very important. Some lakes do not have Corp. of Engineering program around them to monitor the lake. Others have to raise money and hold events. Donating to these causes can help clean up the lake, buy fish to stock in the lake, and promote visitors to come and fish in your lake. Money can also go to programs that build man mad or natural structures for fish to live in. These structures promote spawning and protection. That will in turn raise the population of fish in the lake in a healthy lake.

Supporting natural fishing habitats in a major key for a healthy fishing population. Having natural effects for a fishing habitats is important because it keeps the ecosystem alive and thriving. Natural water, effects, and environment are all important. Having sufficient water source for a lake is important to be able to maintain the water table and give the fish a stable environment. The effects of the lake is vital to fish because it needs a habitat that is normal and familiar. The environment is the most important part of the natural habitat because if the surrounding are bad, it will have a trickle down effect throughout the entire lake.

Volunteering for programs around your lake can be a simple way to help your lake’s fish population thrive. There are an abundance of programs your lake can offer. One program I have done is helping with the release of fish into the lake. It is a nice way to spend a few hours on the weekend to help repopulate your lake’s fish population. Be sure to look for things like this in your area.

 

              There are many things people can do to help solve the freshwater fish population problem we are having in the United States. Many are just simple examples, where others take more effort. However, this means anyone can help in any area no matter how big or small it may be. I hope this gives you some ideas and ways that you can help preserve and promote your local freshwater fish population.