Goldfish threaten to cloud Lake Tahoe

Goldfish weighing as much as 4 pounds and measuring up to 1-1/2 feet in length have recently been caught in Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada border, and scientists say the influx threatens native species while posing a potential waste pollution problem.

“These fish are competing with the native fish, and that's a big part of the problem,” said Heather Segale, spokeswoman for the Tahoe Environmental Research Center at the University of California at Davis.

A group of researchers from Davis, the University of Nevada at Reno, and the fish and wildlife departments of both California and Nevada were the first to study the presence of goldfish in Lake Tahoe, beginning an annual survey in 2006.

In 2011, the group began a project to reduce the number of goldfish and other non-native fish from the lake through “electrofishing,” dangling metal wires from the bottom of a boat to stun fish with electrical current, then capturing the fish as they float to the surface.

Researchers then sort the fish, releasing native species and sport fish such as trout, and removing the rest.

The project has rid the lake of 50 to 60 goldfish a year since 2011, but their foraging abilities and potential to multiply means removal efforts must continue to keep populations under control, said Christine Ngai of the University of Nevada.

The influx at Tahoe, at the base of a world-class ski area in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range, is believed to have originated from specimens dumped from a fish bowl by pet owners who no longer wanted them.

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