Save the longfin eel from extinction

[Stella]

LIFELINE FOR LONGFINS

Longfin eel (Tuna) numbers have been reduced by years of excessive commercial exploitation, habitat loss and declining water quality. Nowadays very few Tuna are reaching breeding age and the population is facing collapse. Help the Tuna by signing our petition to the Minister of Fisheries calling for a moratorium on commercial fishing of this endemic, endangered species.

Learn about the plight of our endemic longfin eel here and sign the Forest & Bird petition calling for a moratorium on commercial fishing.

http://www.longfineel.co.nz

Please share on facebook etc!

[mcrudd]

I shared the link on facebook, hopefully some of my family and friends will sign it

[A-town...]

is that a pic of a leustic longfin on the homepage?

[supasi]

Signed sealed Delivered.

[waterlogged]

I felt so bad when I found out about this at uni this year, I used to go eeling with scounts with sharpened sticks and try to catch them

:facepalm:

[Insect Direct]

is that a pic of a leustic longfin on the homepage?

just what roundup does to all things aquatic :lol:

[livingart]

just what roundup does to all things aquatic :lol:

frogs? :sage:

[Stella]

actually roundup does some interesting things to some of the non-diadromous south island galaxiids.

The parasite lifecycle is thus: snail host > fish host > snail host etc.

Roundup is used in spring to spray the edges of the streams.

The roundup causes more of the parasite cysts to be shed from the snail.

Leading to more cysts in the fish.

Now the parasite grows in the muscle of the fish. In fry the parasite can cause spinal growth defects.

Obviously having more cysts inside you because of the roundup is a Bad Thing.

FURTHERMORE the roundup seems to have the effect of making the spinal malformations WORSE.

Original paper with photos of freaky bent fish:

http://www.eeid.cornell.edu/Trematodes%20in%20fish.pdf

Further study showing roundup connection:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01791.x/pdf

(or harder to read but easier to access html version http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01791.x/full

(Insectdirect, what do you mean about the yellow eel being caused by roundup?)

[Insect Direct]

fascinating thanks for the info Stella.

(Insectdirect, what do you mean about the yellow eel being caused by roundup?)

just making a bold unsubstantiated claim that comes from my vivid imagination. :oops:

I do think that chemicals are playing havoc with wildlife though.

In particular, bees, frogs, [edit] seem to be taking a serious hit. Given we nuke the environment with chemicals like there's no tomorrow it's no surprise I suppose.

[Mikey]

New Zealand is a little bit behind with sprays when you consider the main ingredients in round up etc have been banned in most other major developed nations due to health risks.

For instance 245t which is a main ingredient in these sprays is similar to agent orange.

:smot: But back on topic.... Stella I will be sharing this on my facebook etc and getting some sign ups :thup:

[spoon]

glyphosate based sprays are the most widely used herbicides worldwide and unfortunately in new zealand the only herbicide permitted to be broadcast over waterways, this still requires a resource consent but can be as simple as quoting a number if you work for the council :evil: there is still a lot of run off from other herbicides which are more dangerous and toxic, this is not measured and may be bio-accumulative.

i know of no safe alternative other than manual removal of vegetation(which is done sporadically anyway) its a pity about the eels people just dont realise how long it takes for for an eel to grow and breed and recreational, cultural and commercial fishing all take a toll

[#!CrunchBang]

And what are the removing the vegetation? they should be putting vegetation bands along all the waterways

[Nymox]

Definitely signed that, thank you for posting it Stella

I spent a good few hours tonight feeding some nice sized long fins, I love how confident they are taking meat from hand when they are wild animals. Such beautiful creatures I had a great time just watching them tonight no need to catch them at all. I don't watch tv so I am not sure if it has been on yet but there is a rivers monsters episode where he comes to catch the mighty longfin, I have a few things I would like to mention but if it hasn't been on I don't want to spoil it for anyone :nilly:

[anthony law]

i think you can eat them..they taste like chicken....smokoing them is best... :spop:

[Nymox]

No question as to how tasty they are, but I wouldn't take them any more. Not until they are in abundance and I don't see that happening in my life time

[Stella]

I would love to try smoked eel, but it is never happening. Is pretty amazing when you think that for longfins the generation time IS your lifetime... An eel that hatched when you were born may only go to sea to spawn when you are elderly (or past-tense).

Incredible creatures.

[anthony law]

yumm too... :lol:

[Nymox]

exactly Stella, anything that is sizeable enough to eat has to be at least 20 years old or more, and it still has a very long way to go before it gets to breed. Truly amazing creatures. I am content just feeding them now, more then content as it is an amazing experience. I would almost be inclined to say that individual eels are learning to recognise us. I can tell about 4 of them apart, one is a huge female with a chunk missing at the top of her tail fin, she'll come right up head out of the water to see what's on offer. Only reason I presume its a female is the shear size of it, she would be 8 foot long easily.

[Stella]

wow, that is very cool! Please post photos!

The longest wild eel I have seen was all of 3ft Beautiful beastie though.

[Nymox]

actually good call I will take the camera next time, might have to run it through the night vision goggles if I can though as the eels don't like light around. We can get away with a small amount of blue led light but anything else drives them away. New cree chip head lamps are like sunlight they really don't take kindly to it.

The sad thing is I imagine where these eels are they can no longer get out to sea, there is a hydroelectric dam in between them and the ocean.

[bdspider]

That won't stop them, they can crawl over damp grass etc. They can get to landlocked ponds and back.

[Insect Direct]

wow, that is very cool! Please post photos!

The longest wild eel I have seen was all of 3ft Beautiful beastie though.

maybe not long fin.

but anyway, have u seen them at massey?

[blueether]

They are nice eating...

I have seen them up to a good 6ft in back-country streams when trout fishing, stood on one thinking it was a branch of the tree it was 1/2 under.

[Stella]

That won't stop them, they can crawl over damp grass etc. They can get to landlocked ponds and back.

Actually hydroelectric dams have blocked eels from accessing HALF of their natural habitat. And any behind the dams get seriously munched going through the turbines.

They are now doing trap-and-transfer programs for both eels moving downstream and elvers moving upstream. It is a start, and they say they move thousands each season, but that is nothing compared to the numbers trying to move in each direction. Also if you pour all the elvers in the same place each time it just becomes perch/trout feeding time :an!gry :facepalm:

The thing with the numbers of eels - each female lays several million eggs, and I think they estimate that one out of every 100,000 reaches NZ. However they have to do such enormous numbers because the lifecycle is incredibly risky. To keep the population stable every parent eel is relying on ONE of their babies to make it to maturity. Right now that isn't happening, and soon, or even now, eels will swim off into the sea and be in so low numbers that they can't find each other to spawn with.

[chopper]

I love eels work with them every day (except weekends).Nymox if your eel in question is truly 8ft long it will most likely be a record holder and will be very old indeed. You should have contacted Jeremy Wade when he came here to catch a big one for River Monsters he only managed to catch ones about 4 ft long. A mate of mine caught a 5 footer about 10 years ago was bloody huge he didnt know any better and served it up for us to eat. Trout are a big threat to them too but this threat will never be stopped as there are too many trout fisherman and Fish and Game to deal with.