A round goby that was recently caught in the Fox River in Neenah is displayed, Sept. 4, 2015. PC: Fox 11 Online
KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Fox River Navigational System Authority are working together to evaluate the spread of invasive round gobies in Oshkosh.
It comes a few months after an angler reported a round goby sighting, which led to the DNR confirming the presence of round goby in Lake Winnebago, near Oshkosh’s Bowen Street Fishing Pier.
Round gobies are an aggressive invasive fish species that reproduces quickly and can survive in poor water quality, leading to the displacement of native fish populations. They have the potential to impact Lake Winnebago’s sport fish and panfish species through competition for prey and by eating their eggs.
“This may be a long process between when we have first findings of a localized goby population and when the DNR would consider them as established throughout the system,” said Patrick Siwula, an aquatic invasive species biologist with the Wisconsin DNR. “How long that will take, what that will look like — we just don’t know at this time. From our perspective, we continue to view that as a critical barrier to additional movement of gobies into the system.”
The DNR stresses that prevention is the best way to help protect Wisconsin’s waters. Round gobies are nearly impossible to eradicate once they have been established. Anglers should never use round gobies as bait, release fish from one lake into another or throw unwanted bait into the water.
Round gobies have been present in the Great Lakes since the early 1990s, including associated tributaries, such as the Lower Fox River, up to the first impassable dam or barrier.
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