S.F. creating an ‘amnesty pond’ for unwanted goldfish
San Francisco’s Mountain Lake was recently poisoned to kill off any non-native fish. Turns out, there were a ton of them. The final death tally included over 850 carp, two catfish and many bass — none of them native to the spot.
The Presidio Trust isn’t blind to how the fish ended up there in the first place. As long as people buy fish as pets, some will end up in toilets, lakes and ponds.
So in order to keep Mountain Lake free of non-native species in the future, an “amnesty pond” will be set up for fish dumpers.
The amnesty pond will be located near Mountain Lake to deter dumpers from contaminating the lake, which will soon be repopulated with three-spined sticklebacks, Western pond turtles and chorus frogs. Hopefully it’s well-marked — it’s going to be tough to get people to stop using the big watery dumping ground over a smaller goldfish-friendly pond.
http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/11/25/s-f-creating-an-amnesty-pond-unwanted-goldfish-dumping/
Officials at San Francisco’s Presidio purposely poisoned the pond earlier this month. Officials said the plan is to restock Mountain Lake with native creatures after the foreign fish are gone.
Workers retrieved 842 poisoned goldfish, carp and other fish that San Franciscans had dumped into the pond over the years.
Park officials plan to test the waters in May and then start restocking the pond’s original three-spined sticklebacks, Western pond turtles and chorus frogs.
The so-called amnesty pond is planned nearby so people can keep dumping their goldfish, carp and other fish.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/11/22/amnesty-pond-for-dumping-unwanted-goldfish-planned-after-deadly-restoration-of-sfs-mountain-lake/