Posted on 07/30/2011 2:40:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- California officials have released thousands of insects in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta to combat an invasive weed that has clogged the waterway.
The state Department of Food and Agriculture let more than 5,000 water hyacinth plant hoppers go at several locations in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties this month.
Officials hope the insects, which are native to South America, will establish self-sustaining colonies and begin chomping down on water hyacinth. The invasive plant forms a dense carpet on the surface of waterways, impeding boat access and clogging water intake systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
is that like that foreign beetle that is orange and looks like a lady bug, that bites, and swarms in your house and stains things?
Perhaps they can be crispy-fried and chocolate-coated? Yummy.
Don’t they have green cars in California that run on that?
Anything could happen LoL
I don’t think a smelt is big enough to eat a hopper, but fish LOVE grasshoppers and crickets.
I often used them this time of year for bait when I was a kid.
I am curious what was the process involved to approve this......you can’t start a construction project without going through tons of red tape, lawsuits, bureaucrats, etc.
Cleveland.
.
Rhat’s because as they ferment they become acidic and that tends to stop decay. Try sprinkling a bit of lime on them and see what happens, say a handful of lime per wheelbarrow full to start.
The Beginning of the End.
Haven’t we learned yet that this always backfires?
Don’t ya wonder what they will haver to do to get rid of the insects in a year or two??
Don’t ya wonder what they will haver to do to get rid of the insects in a year or two??
Yah, because things went so well with the Africanized bees....
50 years ago the Government sprayed the Hydrilla that grew naturally in the Potomac River.
It has never returned yet,and now we have a river that is dying. The crabs have no place to shed, the oyster get a disease and die, there is no grass and no oxygen in the water, the water is o dirty we are afraid to swinm in it. Commercial Crabbers have sores all up and down their arms from the cuts and crab popts getting infected. Some people have lost limbs from infections, The water looks like mud,with a grease slick on it. Leave you boat in it overnight and the bottom will never look the same .
Beware of unintended consequences.
Some John Lennon bespectacled, birckenstocked, former hippy college professor who oughta know Water Hyacinth are also exotics and how they were introduced from a non-native habitat.
Again, no worries.
King Cobras are chiefly snake-eaters. If the rake snakes get out of hand, we could simply import thousands of King Cobras into California.
See how everything works out?
Thanks for the tip. This year I stuck with water lettuce, though.
The best bait I ever used was black blood suckers...pick them out of the bucked with needlenose plyers and you can catch fish all day with only one or two...they don’t pull apart like worms and other bugs...catfish love them...
"Tell me this isn't a government program." Line spoken by Ed Harris in Apollo 13 when told they had to jam a square CO2 filter in a round hole.
It didn't end well.
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