Volunteer divers on Saturday harpooned 10 Thai snakehead fish, as the nation seeks to eradicate the invasive species from Taitung City’s Huoshuei Lake (活水湖).
“Huoshuei Lake hosts many watersports events and is an important recreational space for residents,” Taitung Underwater Federation president Huang Tung-yi (黃東益) told a lakeside news conference.
“This event was organized to ensure that the lake’s waters remain safe for the public and indigenous fish,” he said.
Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei Times
The Taitung County Government asked diving enthusiasts to help eradicate the species in the lake after visitors reported seeing clutches of eggs and schools of juvenile snakehead fish in waters near the shore, he said.
The observation suggests that the invasive fish are thriving, which means indigenous species and ornamental fish the county might want to introduce to the lake would be displaced, he said.
A large snakehead population is also a liability to public safety because adults of the species are fiercely protective of their young, he said, adding that several swimmers have been bitten after getting too close to fry.
Harpooning was chosen as the method for the cull because other, less discriminating methods could affect indigenous fish, federation rescue committee chairman Cheng Yu-hao (鄭又豪) said.
Low visibility from cloudy weather made spotting the fish difficult, and the divers had to search among the kelp using flashlights and shoot the fish with harpoon guns, he said.
“The fish often sensed the divers before the divers could see them, so the [culling] was very difficult,” he said, adding that the adult fish they caught in four hours of the exercise were 30cm to 50cm long.
Huoshuei Lake is part of the Beinan River (卑南溪) national wetland and members of the public must obtain permission from conservation authorities before visiting, Taitung County Agriculture Department Director Hsu Chia-hao (許家豪) said.
The lake also hosts the county’s triathlons, he said.
The lake’s waters originate from an aquifer and flow into the sea, which allows saltwater and freshwater fish to mingle, Hsu said, adding that fish living in the lake include roe-bearing mullets, snappers, eels and giant trevallies.
The county and environmental authorities are disturbed by increasing reports of invasive species in Huoshuei Lake, he said, adding officials would continue efforts to eradicate them.
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