Arnhem's attack on the problem of goldfish with pike

In Arnhem, fifteen pike are released to hunt for goldfish in Sint-Jansbeek. On Sunday, 186 goldfish were caught in the stream that runs through the center of town. Fish from the dance are now used as pike feed.

A number of Arnhem football club supporters, Vitesse, jumped at the beginning of this year to the goldfish in Sint-Jansbeek. It was restored at the end of last year, but was immediately disturbed due to the amount of waste it projected. Arnhemmer Rob Garritsen came up with other fans to brighten up the creek.

"While sipping a beer with the Vitesse boys, the idea was born to release a goldfish," he explained this spring to the newspaper Trouw . Absolutely not the intention, says the Rhine Water Board and IJssel. Exotic newcomers could supplant fish that belong to the region.

Intersections

In the creek that flows into the creek along the terraces of Arnhem, the crucian carp – a species of native fish that, according to the Water Board, does not go well. According to the ecologist Matthijs de Vos, the risk that the cruciferous carpe crosses with the goldfish could possibly mean the end of this species. De Vos does not know if this has happened yet. "But we wanted to be ahead and intervene before hundreds of goldfish swim in the Rhine."

Football fans who introduced the first goldfish were also able to remove them from Sint-Jansbeek in April. But it turned out that Arnhem did not get rid of his goldfish problem. When a professional fisherman went back and forth into the creek on behalf of the Water Board, 186 goldfish were caught. De Vos is almost certain that these fish were released later. "It can not be the descendants of the first group because it takes a lot longer with the goldfish."

Goldfish caught Sunday are transferred to the pond of a professional fisherman, with the goal of saving him as much as possible. According to the ecologist Matthijs de Vos, a natural system must be created in the Sonsbeek: "Sunday, we met whitefish, river gravel and perch, they can live right next to the pike." [19659002] Listen also to the episode Why does the exotic animal have to die? from the NRC Science Podcast Unharmed Monkeys