(Quebec) The Quebec government announced on Monday the discovery in Lake Saint-François, in Montérégie, of a tube-nosed goby, an invasive species, and it fears that it could eventually be found throughout the fluvial portion of the river. Saint Laurent.
The Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks specifies that the observation made in the Saint-Zotique sector, near the Ontario border, is the first of this species. .
Authorities report that the tube-nosed goby can have negative impacts on biodiversity. It is a predator for the eggs or larvae of species native to the environment where it settles and it competes with other fish that feed on the bottom of the water.
Aquatic invasive species are difficult to control once they become established in an environment. In the case of the tube-nosed goby, its entry into the Great Lakes suggests that its abundance may gradually increase.
The ministry reports that the tube-nosed goby was introduced to North America during the 1990s in the St. Clair River at the Ontario-Michigan state border through ballast water discharge. ships from Europe. The most probable hypothesis as to its arrival in Quebec is the expansion from Lake Ontario downstream of the St. Lawrence River.
Authorities claim that the tube-nosed goby is still very rare in Quebec. They ask fishermen to report any sightings of this species to the department to better identify its presence in the St. Lawrence river system.
If a fisherman believes he has caught an invasive species, he must release the fish if he does not wish to keep it for his own consumption. The objective is in particular to prevent the unnecessary death of native fish that have been misidentified.