INDIANANGLER

I wish I could go back in time and stop that guy who introduced tilapia in pune waters...

there is a limit to everything...most of our first fish were tilapia, We all know they taste good and are cheap fish and the big ones give good fight on a light tackle but thats it...

I didn't know what the scene was before tilapia was here, but it wouldn't definitely be as worse as its now... last sunday went to the indrayani with good hopes of catching something but couldn't...
got pretty angry and fished off... what enraged me further was the fact that everywhere I laid my eyes, there was tilapia and tilapia and tilapia... the fries, the juveniles all moving in large shoals...these sons of fishes, buggers didnt even touch my bait ! no bites !
"Tilapia tilapia everywhere, no other species to fish"

My humble request to all anglers, think a 1000 times before you release or relocate an invasive species to a place they don't belong, just for your own selfish motive...

as a great saint once said "arise ! awake ! stop not till the goal is reached" I would say "arise ! awake ! Stop not till the tilapia is fished(out completely)"

down with the tilapia ! eradicate em...
Tilapia bharat chhoodo !!!

I hear you my friend. I urge FONA to put project Mahseer on the fast track and along with it also please start a project Murrel.

Regards,
Omesh

hi ralf,


Hi omesh,
Project murrel would help a lot man...heard from a local angler friend of mine that his friend's uncle(who is a fisherman) has caught a whooping 8 kg murrel in the net ! if monsters like that are in the river every few km's, tilapia population might be controlled...

rakesh the tilapia are not eating now.. speialy in the afternoon coz of the heat.. they just come to the surface and take air.. coz the water is deoxegenated to some exent coz of the heat..

about murrel.. i went to a spot on sunday where a friend spotted 2.. around 3 -4 kilo.. but coz people net and shoot them there they were wary and swam to the opposite bank.. unfortunately .. the fisheries does not stock m,urrel.. whatever murrels are there in pune are wild.. i believe there are a decent .. not good but decent number and the brood stocks are in the safety of dams as some local friends say there are some huge fish i the dams .. to the tune of 10 kilos etc.. the ones that leave the dams when water is released .. get caught very quickly or shot at the beginning sections to the rivers.. the worst part is the locals during the rains catch a lot of murrel from the dams on long lines.. and by their own addmission.. the murrels are mostly egg laden.. so.. its a tuff spot the murrel are in.. no wonder the murrel here are very elusive.. they have to be to survive...

perfectly said about the tilapia daryl ! yes saw them in shoals coming up to take air...was very much surprised at this behaviour as I didn't understand... even the fingerlings are moving around in the shallow waters near the bank...

as for murrel, ya netting is a problem but still lot of them survive...yes they are wild and very shy, so very difficult to catch...but shooting ?! are those poachers ?

for how long after rains do murrel parents stay with their babies ? if, for those number of months, netting can be stopped/lessened, they might have a chance...

Thanks :)

hi all
......From what i know, both the Tilapia and the Murrel are invasive species and we definitly should think twice before introducing them in the local rivers/lakes/ponds etc. they tend to wipe out the local species as they both are preditory fish going for the local fish fry and ultimatly taking over

all the best
mchishi

sorry bro..your info is wrong.. murrel is indigenous to india.. maybe marulius and striata are not native to the north east .. but i think gachua and some smaller ones are.. besides .. unfortunately your neck of the woods has a sorry state of affairs.. my naga friends, with whom i stayed for a year at a hostel.. used to tell me that dynamiting, electrocuting and poisoning water bodies are quite the norm in the northeast... so the native species have more to fear from us than any invasive specie ( not that . their introduction is condoned)

its not poaching as there is no law against any form of procuring fish.. and shooting murrel is and old and tested way to bag fish for the pot.quite a few locals with old guns do it..

hmm...

anyways, went to the fish today and was amazed to see nature fighting for the cause... Went to a nearby rocky structure to fish when suddenly the tilapia fries bolted seeing me... taking advantage of that chaos, 2 water snakes which were already in ambush position, attacked the tilapia and caught one... I froze then and there with fear... the snake, with the struggling tilapia in its mouth now came close to me, about 2 ft distance and stared at me, like it was thanking me for the help, then started swallowing its prey... I reached for my phone to take a few pictures of this awesome scene... aaand the snake went under some rocks...

@hamour
....i just gave a general statment on tilapia and murrel, so lets just stick to that...????????......and by the way i love both the species OK

Mchishi

@hamour.... and just i case you are wondering.....scroll down on the link

http://www.indianangler.com/viewtopic.php?t=4144

Let's not let this go out of hand guys...

im sorry mchishi if you got offended. that was not my intention at all.. was only stating the that murrel is native to india. and as for the rest i heard it from my naga friends. my statement was not made pointedly at you or anyone in general.. once again ,my apologies if you took it personally. best regards , happy fishing and caring for nature!

Hi hamour
None taken.....its just that i wish i could do something about the state of affairs out here and i am not able to, so the frustration hope you understand.

All the best
mchishi

you can do a little bit by talking to people you may know or meet .. who may be electrocuting , etc the waters.. whenever i get a chance i do speak to people i meet when im out fishing.. for starters most are not aware what damage they are causing.. for themselves or others and the environment. its the least we can do.

to all the guys on this forum i hope we can make this a place where we can share info on fisheries awareness , alongside , catch , location, technique reports.. etc.. please realize our resources are pretty taxed, overall.. in our micro regions ..we may be comfortable and seem to have plenty or otherwise.. but the overall picture is not good. please lets try to do whatever little we can to sustain our natural resources. regards.

electrocution is also common in my region...

Same thing was being done at my village in kolhapur... my cousins and almost all locals their, who used to work in tunnel drilling etc... would sneak out gelatine sticks and fish in the river... little did they know it does more bad than good... they also used a small shrub that when rubbed in water, make fish paralysed for a while... I talked to them and told them about the harmful effects of it on the environment and the habitats and told them if they keep doing this, there will be no more fish to fish there... hopefully they have listened and the area near my village is less dynamited now... may they spread their word on this to other villages...

[quote="raka"] they also used a small shrub that when rubbed in water, make fish paralysed for a while... quote]

Very interesting and ingenious this, got a picture of this shrub? It would be good to know what it is and what are the long term effects of using this on fish, if it is not kill fish and is not damaging, perhaps it could be a good way to catch baitfish.

Hi bobby,
I'll have to search my hard drive for the pictures will post it soon...
Meanwhile let me describe this plant...
Found in the hills near my village in the kolhapur district... Plant grows to about 6 ft, bears yellow flowers. Dont touch it barehand, because I have heard my cousins say "your hands will swell" the whole plant is uprooted, broken down and rubbed upstream... The helpless fish are collected a little further downstream... The shoots or the bark of the plant when rubbed, secrete some kind of toxin or chemical which paralyses the fish(they say it blinds the fish)...has been used since a long time cy local tribal people and villagers for fishin...

here are a few pictures of the plant...
I dont know the name of the plant... If anybody recognises please do comment...

Rakesh this is interesting!

If by chance some "machwaadas" on IA or out of the 15-17 guests stumble upon this post... they might actually take a lot of pain in finding this plant... lol... may god misguide them in their evil future plans...

in that case delete the pic bro...

hehehe Man let them waste a little petrol and energy to go in search of this plant...I know half of them will give up... the rest will go and search in vain and at last curse me... :lol and a few will get their hands swelled in the process