KDWP and Transporting Live Fish

[eatmorfish]

Craig ----
I read the informative thread about Blue Cats and other species that ingest zebra mussels. It is amazing the entrails of fish can withstand these jagged nusiances.

It begs the question---Should KDWP amend their "no Transport of Live Fish requirements" to include no transport of entrails/carcasses?

Has anyone been able to determine how long a mussel remains viable inside a fish?

[crappieslinger]

I thought of something very similar to this last weekend when I went out to dump my fish guts. I have dumped them in the Marais des Cygnes river in the years past not giving it another thought. The Marais des Cygnes rivercomes out of Melvern so I would assume zebra mussels are already present but that is beside the point.

Do the fish guts contain anything that would/could introduce/transport zebra mussels or any other ANS to a body of water if dumped in that body of water? I am talking only guts and carcasses, no live fish or water from the contaminated body of water. My fish come home in a cooler of ice and then the guts go into a 5 gallon bucket with about a gallon of city water in it to make it easier to dump.

[Craig Johnson]

Craig ----
I read the informative thread about Blue Cats and other species that ingest zebra mussels. It is amazing the entrails of fish can withstand these jagged nusiances.

It begs the question---Should KDWP amend their "no Transport of Live Fish requirements" to include no transport of entrails/carcasses?

Has anyone been able to determine how long a mussel remains viable inside a fish?

eatmorfish,

Good question...with the increase in numbers and species of ANS that are present in Kansas moving anything from one water to another is not a good idea. Fish diseases can be transported via fish guts/carcasses and dumping the leftovers from one water body in to another is not a good idea even though the fish themselves are dead.

I asked the KDWPT Fisheries Research supervisor if he knew of any studies on how long zebra mussels can live inside the digestive tract of a fish and he was not aware of any studies that detailed duration. He mentioned on OSU study that showed live zebra mussels can pass through a blue catfish.

I thought of something very similar to this last weekend when I went out to dump my fish guts. I have dumped them in the Marais des Cygnes river in the years past not giving it another thought. The Marais des Cygnes rivercomes out of Melvern so I would assume zebra mussels are already present but that is beside the point.

Do the fish guts contain anything that would/could introduce/transport zebra mussels or any other ANS to a body of water if dumped in that body of water? I am talking only guts and carcasses, no live fish or water from the contaminated body of water. My fish come home in a cooler of ice and then the guts go into a 5 gallon bucket with about a gallon of city water in it to make it easier to dump.

crappieslinger,

See reply above. It would be best to return the guts/carcasses to the water from which the fish were originally caught. Fish cleaning stations are available at some lakes/reservoirs. Blue catfish digestive tracts can contain live zebra mussels so theoretically you could be moving live zebra mussels unknowingly inside the body cavity of a blue catfish. Even if the fish is fresh dead, the zebra mussels could still be alive and by throwing the guts of that fish in a uninfested water way a new zebra mussel infestation could occur. How long will the zebra mussels live inside of a dead fish? Good question and I'm not sure anyone knows that answer yet.

[eatmorfish]

I may talk with Gerald Lauber whom I know very well about this, he is on the KDWP advisory committee. At a minimum, it would be a good idea to add some language to the rules-regs. Whenit is not frozen, I bury my entrails in my vegatable garden, but I know some guys, that for years have taken their fish home, cleaned them and returned the next day to fish and they dump the entrails into the water ( usually crappie and in much cooler weather).That is not a big deal is they return them to the source body of water, but if they go to another body of water it could be a big deal. I could certainly fathom zebras remaining viable in a bucket of entrails, especially with some water in the bucket, especially in less than 60% temps for a day or so..........

Thanks Craig!