The importance of recognizing and interpreting changes in behaviour in both wild and captive situations
When Carp and Trout are in a Captive situation such as a fishery or fish farm, it is important to notice and recognize any changes in their behaviour. It is easier to keep an eye on the fish, especially in fish farms as they are all compact and easy to view . This makes noticing changes in behaviour easier, whereas a fishery might be slightly harder as you could only examine fish once caught. But noticing changes in behaviour on a fishery would be noticing changes in fish movements, fish feeding and also catch rates. Fish behaviour can change with weather. The environmental factors have a monumental effect on fish behaviour. This makes it easy to interpret as fish behaviour and also any problems you may encounter when weather changes. For example in the summer, we can say that Carps activity will increase leading to more catch rates, however the increase in weather may also liven up bacteria or parasites which means they could get infected easily and more severely. If the weather is warm and there Is very little movement from the carp, this means they should be checked once finally caught to check for disease or any kind of infection. Especially if disease has worked its way into your water as with disease, it can spread very quickly in warmer weather and wipe out large amounts of fish quickly. Whereas healthy fish in the warmer weather will be very active and feeding heavily. In the warmer weather this would be different for Trout. Carp, can cope with a low level of Dissolved Oxygen, however Trout cannot. So the lack of movement of behaviour from the Trout in the summer months can be predicted, so forms of aeration will be required in warmer weather so aerators will often be found in trout lakes. This would be the same for Carp and Trout in both fisheries or fish farms. As with trout, infection needs to be noticed early and in farms it is much easier, as the fish can easily be removed and isolated from the other fish until it is healthy and doesn't pose a risk to other fish in the system. As one unhealthy fish can wipe out the entire stock of the farm in both Trout and Carp farms, ensuing that the farm does not get any kind of profit and will lose a lot of money. This Is why recognizing changes in behaviour are important.
River systems are usually up kept and looked over by clubs or managers. The fish in these rivers are wild but doesn't mean they cannot be looked after. Again interpreting changes in temperature will give a general idea of how the fish should be behaving at certain times and this gives us something to go off when trying to see abnormal behaviour. Little movement from trout in the winter would be abnormal as the colder weather usually means a higher dissolved oxygen level within the water, making them more active however something such as a parasitic infection could cause a change in the fish's behaviour. The lack of movement by these fish in the right conditions could be caused by something such as infection meaning it is important to ensure it is noticed at dealt with immediately. As on rivers, it is all one system and all the same water running right the way down the system, it means disease and infection are very easy to spread down river and when fish move due to fish to fish contact. This means recognizing a problem early and dealing with it properly could stop the entire river from getting infected and losing a lot of fish. Entire River systems could be wiped out by disease or parasites or even infection. The risk of parasites effecting river trout in the summer are very high. As Trout tend to slow down in the summer, parasites metabolic rate increases and they are a lot more efficient at finding hosts' (Fish to feed off). So doing checks on all fish caught when the season commences again would be necessary to check fish for parasites as these can cause a lot of stress and create an abnormal behaviour cycle for both Trout and Carp in river systems and wild (River or Lake) situations. If a wipe out were to occur, each owner of certain stretches of the river or wild environment in question would have to contribute to restocking the river and this would be very expensive for the clubs and the EA. |
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