Warning Lake Kurwongba Cabomba weed.

[rayke1938]

Just recieved an email from PRFMA about the presence of camomba weed in Kurwongba.

This weed was discovered by AFO and PRFMA member Shayned as a result training recieved at a workshop conducted by SEQ water for their own staff and PRFMA members last year.

Onya Shayne.

This weed is the same weed that is in Ewan Maddock and McDonald and the main reason that powered craft are not allowed in Ewan Maddock.

Interesting that it was missed by SEQ water staff who are at the dam on a daily basis.

I will attach portion of the email which discusses control and hygene methods.

"Seqwater has identified that there is cabomba weed (Cabomba caroliniana) at Lake Kurwongbah. In Australia, Cabomba is classified as a class one aquatic weed. It is native to South America, and is believed to have been introduced to Australia as an aquarium plant.

Cabomba is amongst the worst aquatic weed threats throughout Australia, and is considered to be one of the twenty 'Weeds of National Significance'. Cabomba infestations can become dense enough to drastically affect recreational activities - there have been drownings recorded due to people becoming entangled in cabomba weed while swimming in densely infested water.

In the next few weeks, Seqwater will be developing a strategy to seek to control the cabomba weed at Lake Kurwongbah. We currently use divers to control cabomba weed at other lakes, and we may need to employ divers at Kurwongbah as well. It may be necessary to temporarily close recreational use of the lake to give the weed management team control of the lake to ensure that they have the best possible chance of success. We will advise you once the cabomba management plan has been developed for Lake Kurwongbah.

Seqwater will be seeking the co-operation of each of your clubs in implementing the weed management plan for the lake. One of thebiggest problems with cabomba weed is that it can spread from one water body to another. The weed can reproduce from pieces of the plant being transferred from one lake to another. It is critically important that all boats and trailers are thoroughly washed down before leaving the lake. Attention should be paid to any part of the boat or trailer that might accommodate pieces of the weed, such as wheel wells of trailers. Any fragments of aquatic weed should be properly disposed of (away from the lake).

The following page from the Seqwater website ( http://www.seqwater.com.au/public/recreation/protect-our-waterways) provides information about aquatic weeds. I have attached a copy of our Aquatic Weeds brochure which also provides information. For additional information about cabomba, please see the following website - http://www.weeds.gov.au/publications/guidelines/wons/c-caroliniana.html With your co-operation, we will try to control the aquatic weeds and minimise the impact on activities at Lake Kurwongbah.

Please pass this information on to your members, especially in relation to the weed hygiene methods that should be employed to minimise the spread of weeds. If you have any queries, please contact us."

CHeers

Ray

[Scope]

Sounds like a nasty little piece of work.......

[Rocket75]

people using shrimp/redclaw traps in Kurwongba and then NPD may be a problem. what a bugger.

[ellicat]

rayke1938 wrote:

......

Interesting that it was missed by SEQ water staff who are at the dam on a daily basis.

....

CHeers

Ray

That's the difference between turning up for work and

turning up for the love of it

That stuff breaks up and multiplies quickly from what I've seen when I used to have it in aquariums. Surprised the redclaw haven't gotten on top of it.

[rayke1938]

Rocket75 wrote:

people using shrimp/redclaw traps in Kurwongba and then NPD may be a problem. what a bugger.

Prfma are across that issue the problem will be other people who catch their shrimp in Kurwongbah and then go and fish Mc Gavins and Bullockeys.

Cheers

Ray

[shayned]

ellicat wrote:

rayke1938 wrote:

......

Interesting that it was missed by SEQ water staff who are at the dam on a daily basis.

....

CHeers

Ray

That's the difference between turning up for work and

turning up for the love of it

That stuff breaks up and multiplies quickly from what I've seen when I used to have it in aquariums. Surprised the redclaw haven't gotten on top of it.

As Ray knows, I respect his opinions on a raft of matters, but this time I don't believe SEQWater dropped the ball. Last year the northern region manager had enough foresight to spend the dollars to offer up training on aquatic plants for PRFMA members.

While I have a love of learning about whole ecosystems regarding our fisheries, I have massive gaps in my knowledge and I happily attended the training day. Without this training I might have missed the specimen I stumbled across (I was looking for a different species of plant at the time). The manager was smart enough to recognise the strengths in PRFMA's member base and take advantage of these things.

Personally I back Ellicat's take on things, people like myself and Ray who care about our fisheries and spend the time at them often have a better chance of spotting an issue rather than someone who is worried about getting a range of tasks completed during a work period.

That said, this is one of the few times in my life that I really hoped I got something totally wrong, as this species of aquatic weed is absolutely disasterous. It buggers fisheries, with eels being one of the few things that like it. It can grow out to the 10m depth line screwing up bank fisheries, has caused drownings overseas, damaged engines and I believe, can significantly decrease the water holding capacity of a dam.

If we need someone to point a finger at, lets take a look at our aquarium industry, suppliers of some complete joy such as parrots feather, ambulia, cabomba, a couple of varieties of Tilapia, redfin and coming to a river near you soon Pearl Ciclads. Feel free to add the other species yourself.

[shayned]

On the good news front it just might be possible that the weed was identified early enough that this is the one time it may result in a happy ending. Here's hoping!!!

[wesfish]

good to see the training helped you id the pest weed!! do you think that a pamplet with all the weeds and noxious fish in fresh water should be combined on the one info sheet, as most people would only look at the pest fish one over the pest weed one.

[shayned]

Anything which helps communication is a good thing for my mind, people really don't know the the ramifications of these plants. Wait for your elevated water bill because of the money spent trying to control them.