Arms aching sinews straining, as a battling 200 pound catfish makes one last run to avoid capture, the stuff of dreams for big specimen fishermen who travel to the River Ebro, to pit their wits against these aquatic monsters.
How these fish can grow to such a size is in no small part due to a huge head of carp and other species which the catfish feed on, the result being that they grow at the rate of ten to fifteen pounds per year.
The longest river in Spain, the Ebro winds its way eastwards, on its long 919km (565 miles) journey to Amposta before reaching the sea. The River Ebro is considered by specimen anglers to be the foremost destination in Europe for catfish. The catfish in the Ebro have the ideal location, a long growing season due to the short winters in Spain, very little competition from other predators, and huge amounts of fish to feed upon.
It has become clear from surveys, that following the controlled introduction of the non-native catfish, there has been a rapid decline in other fish species. For example, the Iberian barbel, (once abundant in the Ebro River), completely disappearance in the middle channel around 1990, due to competition and the predatory nature of the catfish. The plight of the Iberian barbell is blamed on the catfish due to the fact that barbel species from mountain stream tributaries of the River Ebro where catfish have not colonized, have not been affected.
Although catfish were originally legally introduced for experimental or sport-fishing purposes under-controlled populations, it is believed that the subsequent spread is mostly due to unauthorized and uncontrolled introductions by sport fishermen.
There is a law in place to combat the above problem. Spanish Law 42/2007 was introduced for the control or eradication of ?illegally introduced? non-native fishes, when documented surveys support that the introduced species has had an adverse effect on the native species. During the period 2000 till 2009, 238 documented surveys were carried out in the Ebro basin.
The bureaucratic wheels of public administrators move slowly in Spain, prevention measures need to be taken by the administrators to control the spread of non native fishes to other rivers and also prevent new introductions.
Invasive species are recognized as a leading cause of animal extinctions, you only have to look at Britain and the introduction of the zander to see the potential problems, some anglers love to target this hard fighting fish, while others despise its very existence because it has decimated the native species throughout large stretches of British waterways. Ebro beware!
How these fish can grow to such a size is in no small part due to a huge head of carp and other species which the catfish feed on, the result being that they grow at the rate of ten to fifteen pounds per year.
The longest river in Spain, the Ebro winds its way eastwards, on its long 919km (565 miles) journey to Amposta before reaching the sea. The River Ebro is considered by specimen anglers to be the foremost destination in Europe for catfish. The catfish in the Ebro have the ideal location, a long growing season due to the short winters in Spain, very little competition from other predators, and huge amounts of fish to feed upon.
It has become clear from surveys, that following the controlled introduction of the non-native catfish, there has been a rapid decline in other fish species. For example, the Iberian barbel, (once abundant in the Ebro River), completely disappearance in the middle channel around 1990, due to competition and the predatory nature of the catfish. The plight of the Iberian barbell is blamed on the catfish due to the fact that barbel species from mountain stream tributaries of the River Ebro where catfish have not colonized, have not been affected.
Although catfish were originally legally introduced for experimental or sport-fishing purposes under-controlled populations, it is believed that the subsequent spread is mostly due to unauthorized and uncontrolled introductions by sport fishermen.
There is a law in place to combat the above problem. Spanish Law 42/2007 was introduced for the control or eradication of ?illegally introduced? non-native fishes, when documented surveys support that the introduced species has had an adverse effect on the native species. During the period 2000 till 2009, 238 documented surveys were carried out in the Ebro basin.
The bureaucratic wheels of public administrators move slowly in Spain, prevention measures need to be taken by the administrators to control the spread of non native fishes to other rivers and also prevent new introductions.
Invasive species are recognized as a leading cause of animal extinctions, you only have to look at Britain and the introduction of the zander to see the potential problems, some anglers love to target this hard fighting fish, while others despise its very existence because it has decimated the native species throughout large stretches of British waterways. Ebro beware!
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