Text Size
News release
Quebec Action Plan on Aquatic Nuisance Species
Announcement of an education campaign on potential colonization of the St. Lawrence by the round goby (neogobius melanostomus)
Shawinigan, April 17, 1999 – At a scientific conference on introduced species in Quebec held at Shawinigan as part of the annual convention of the Quebec Wildlife Federation, the Quebec government’s Wildlife and Parks service today announced the action it intends to take to identify the risk of potential contamination of Quebec waters by the round goby. These measures were prompted by a confirmed identification at the Quebec Aquarium of a round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) taken on September 23, 1997 by the institution’s commercial fisherman at his site of operations on the south shore of the St. Lawrence nine kilometres downstream from the Quebec Bridge. This male specimen, some 18 cm long, was kept at the Aquarium and survived until January 1999, by which time it had attained a length of 21.5 centimetres and a weight of 144 grams.
The round goby is capable of doing considerable harm to North American aquatic ecosystems and to sports and commercial fisheries. Once established, the species can proliferate rapidly and can survive in waters of poor quality. It can supplant indigenous fish species by eating their eggs and young, usurping the best habitat and spawning several times in the course of a summer.
Native to the Black and Caspian seas in Europe, the round goby is also found in the seas of Marmara and Azov, the Gulf of Gdansk and various rivers flowing into the Black Sea. In North America, it was taken for the first time in the St. Clair River between Michigan and Ontario in 1990. The species probably found its way to North America in the ballast water of ships coming from eastern Europe. Thereafter, other specimens were reported at numerous locations around the five Great Lakes and in some of their tributaries, but hitherto none had been confirmed east of Lake Ontario.
The main identifying characteristic of the species is the fact that the two ventral (pelvic) fins are fused to form a sucker. This organ allows the fish to cling firmly to a suitable substrate such as rocks or crevices, often in fast flowing water. It looks a lot like a sculpin, but can easily be distinguished because the latter has two ventral fins.
If this first catch is ever confirmed by discovery of other specimens, the presence of the round goby in the river in the vicinity of Quebec City may represent a significant expansion of its range. However, the Quebec Aquarium fisherman’s catch may well be a fluke rather than indicating establishment of a new species in the St. Lawrence basin. The species has never shown up at any of the 622 stations in operation between 1995 and 1997 of the fish monitoring network of the St. Lawrence Vision 2000 agreement. This suggests that the species is not widespread in the St. Lawrence River. No other captures have been confirmed so far in Quebec.
Together with their partners in the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species, in particular the special monitoring group known as Round Goby Watch, the Quebec government’s Wildlife and Parks service and Environment Canada are implementing an action and education strategy aimed at sports and commercial fishermen and fisheries professionals, getting them to report any new round goby specimen that may be caught in the Quebec portion of the St. Lawrence. Accordingly, in the next few weeks, brief descriptions of the goby will be circulated to fishermen in the regions concerned and to visitors to the Quebec Aquarium. Any fisherman who suspects that he has caught a round goby should take the frozen specimen to one of the Department’s regional offices for identification. Any new sites where the species occurs can then be pinpointed. For further information, please call one of the Department’s regional branches or the Departmental information line at 1 800 561-1616.
Web surfers can access the description at the following address: http://www.menv.gouv.qc.ca/biodiversite/nuisibles/gobi.htm
The nuisance species strategy is one of the initiatives launched under the "Biodiversity" component of the St. Lawrence Vision 2000 Action Plan.
Source:
Guy Gagnon, Communications Advisor
Communications Branch
Tel.: (418) 521-3823, local 4915
E-mail: guy.gagnon@mddep.gouv.qc.ca
Information:
Louise Lapierre, Biologist
Wildlife and Habitat Branch
Tel.: (418) 521-3940, local 4497
E-mail: louise.lapierre@mddep.gouv.qc.ca
Également offert en français
Date modified: 1999/04/17 – Important Notices
