Joe’s earlier post on the fishing derby sounded really cool and made me curious, so I googled the topic of fishing derby benefits to species conservation. Rather than stumbling on the benefit of fishing derbies that Joe discussed, I stumbled upon another benefit. Apparently some fishing derbies are being planned and put on with the intention of eradicating invasive species! This article (accessible in link I attached at the bottom) discusses two ice fishing derbies put on at Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming to eradicate the area of burbots or lings that were illegally introduced years back with the tagline:

“Wanted: anglers to ding a ling or bash a burbot.”

Apparently game and fish biologists have found that these derbies successfully control this invasive fish population. They are particularly supportive of this event as these invasive species pose a significant risk to the lake’s sport fishery and to Kokanee salmon populations.

This idea that sport could double with conservation efforts put a funny image in my head. What if we had contests to get rid of all sorts of invasive species? What about a purple loosestrife, zebra mussel, or european starling derby?

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/fishing-derbies-aimed-to-eradicate-invasive-species/article_9e685c4e-baec-5bc9-89db-79824719317f.html