Conservation
Wild populations have declined significantly, especially in upper reaches of rivers, due to dams and weirs blocking migration, mitigating floods and freshes, regulating flows and releasing unnaturally cold water ("thermal pollution"), all of which interfere with migration, spawning and recruitment. Golden perch are extremely migratory and migration appears to have been important in maintaining populations in some reaches of river, usually the upper reaches.
Weirs are proving to be a more significant threat to golden perch than first thought, with a recent studying proving that about 90% of golden perch larvae passing through undershot weirs are killed (Baumgartner et al., 2006).
The species is however bred in hatcheries in large numbers and stocked. Concerns over genetic diversity issues are growing however.
Read more about this topic: Golden Perch
Famous quotes containing the word conservation:
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