Tilapia

[roughbarked]

Professor Possingham said tilapia were imported into Australia for the aquarium trade.

"It wasn't deliberate, it wasn't for food, it was an accidental introduction," he said.

"They seem to be inexorably spreading across subtropical and tropical Australia."

Professor Possingham said total eradication of tilapia in Queensland is impossible.

"Do we try and slow them down?" he asked.

"It would've made sense to find the southern edge of their range 10, 20 or 30 years ago and try and hold a boundary."
People still helping tilapia spread... http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-12/t ... nd/7690180

[Teleost]

Tilapia were deliberately released into FNQ waterways. There's no question about it.

Exactly the same as Guppies, Swordtails, and other 30 odd species of introduced fish. Almost every introduced fish in Australia have come from aquaria. Recently Oscars were found in the NT and a local kid caught a silver dollar in Cairns.

You don't just "accidently" release exotic species from aquaria.

[Teleost]

The Queensland Government's strategy for Tilapia control is pretty much an abject failure. Their stance is that if people are allowed to catch and eat them, people will continue to deliberately relocate them. It's happening anyway.

Tilapia are the second most cultured fish in the world as they are an excellent table fish that can tolerate poor water quality.

Open season, no size or bag limits. Let people fill their freezers. It'd give the natives a bit of a break and bring localised populations down significantly.

The thing I find most interesting is that under the new Qld Biosecurity act, Tilapia which are completely ineradicable and far more widely spread than say, yellow crazy ants are prohibited matter, subject to a fine for possession and required to be destroyed. While YCA have containable localised populations and are eradicable (we're doing pretty well BTW) have now been downgraded to the same status as Singapore Daisy. There's some dodgy priorities here.

[roughbarked]

Tilapia were deliberately released into FNQ waterways. There's no question about it.

Exactly the same as Guppies, Swordtails, and other 30 odd species of introduced fish. Almost every introduced fish in Australia have come from aquaria. Recently Oscars were found in the NT and a local kid caught a silver dollar in Cairns.

You don't just "accidently" release exotic species from aquaria.

So where have our quarrantine restrictions gone on illegal immigration? Where is the offshore detention for introduced species?