Would you believe that one weekend angler with a bait bucket could disrupt an entire ecosystem? It’s true! “Bucket biologists” – those who illegally or carelessly introduce an aquatic species into a new environment – have caused significant changes, some of them devastating, in aquatic ecosystems across the country. If you’ve ever dumped the bait bucket into the lake at the end of a day’s fishing, or brought home that big catch to release in your backyard pond, you’ve joined their ranks. Fish relocation and non-native species introduction can introduce new diseases to native species; upset the natural habitat and critical predator/prey balance; and/or create conditions that result in oxygen depletion and water quality problems.
Don’t be part of the problem – NEVER release live bait fish, aquarium fish, or aquatic plants into any water body; dispose of bait fish after fishing in a manner that keeps them out of the watershed; and don’t move live fish from one water body to another. Even if you limit your bucket-dumping to your own pond, you run the risk of relocated species escaping into the watershed and repopulating. Here in Georgia, it’s illegal to release any fish without a permit from the Department of Natural Resources, except for lawfully obtained fish of legal species stocked in private ponds. For more information about proper fish stocking practices, contact Aquascape Environmental or visit the Georgia DNR’s Fishing Resources site.
