Forged-off pets to a pond havance: Pie Naturalist is operating with Goldfish

A central payi watershed group and the provincial departments of the forests, fish and wildlife are worrying about more golden fish in the pond.

In 2021, teams removed hundreds of golden fish from the 9.2-hectare pond in the Union Road area north of Charlettown. Now they are once calling from public flags that the population seems rebounding, spotting anything brightly colored fish schools.

Rayana Parent, with Winter River-Tracadi Bay Watershed Association, said, “We have seen some young people this year too, which means they are already breeding.”

“Somebody told me that he had seen about 75, so I am guessing that we are at least 100.”

He is 100, he said. Goldfish is known as an aggressive species that thrives in a cool body of fresh water like Hardy pond. They can carry diseases, parasites, viruses or bacteria, and this is not good for native species in the region.

Parents said, “There is a list of reasons that we do not want goldfish with here.”

“They will eat anything … vegetation on the ground in the pond, they will eat other fish, fish eggs, insects, their larvae. The biggest issue, I have to say, they will be the feeder below.”

Hardy’s pond has been immersed in the past, but the parents said that it still has a good amount of silt. When around the fishing fish at the bottom, all that silt stir and the particles float around in the water.

“It is difficult for light to penetrate, which can then prevent plant growth. And then it gets away from the habitat, other species need to eat and so,” he said. “So it is very problematic.”

Backyard ponds and aquarium concerns

Peei’s freshwater fishermen, Rosie McFarlen, suspects that the fish population began as a cast-off pets from the aquarium or backyard ponds of the house.

Maybe the pond overflows and sends the fish to a nearby sewer system or stream, or maybe an owner decides that they can no longer take care of the fish and think it is best to release them.

Unfortunately, McFarlen said, this is a wrong option.

“People need to think long and hard before buying one of these fish,” he warned.

“We will encourage anyone with golden fish that they do not want to try anymore and want to rebuild them … If you can’t do this, you should erupt those fish humanly because we do not really want them in our rivers and ponds.”

And once they come in, it is difficult to get them out.

“These things are very vast and they can be quite large and they can live for a long time,” McFarlen said. “This is a serious issue – not only in PEI these things are aggressive everywhere.”

Next step for Hardy’s pond

Good news: McFarlen said that Goldfish appears concentrated in the pond and does not spread through the winter river, with some best trout fishing on the island.

Last week alone, his crew found about a dozen samples. Most Hardy’s ponds were just below the dam and were located at the bottom.

McFarlen said, “I still think there is a lot in the pond, but we are going to see ways that we can better evaluate on it and perhaps some management measures below the road.”

For the parents, he said that the watershed is also keeping a close watch on the situation, and is dealing with the surrounding streams, while the next stages for the pond have been resolved.

“These fish can last for decades … you have to make sure you are ready to handle the number, how big they get, and just how much they need to eat,” he said.

“Because as we can see here, they start to populate and grow and handle a region.”