SCUBA Diving and Hanging Out With The Fish
Scuba diving in the Comal river removing an invasive plant species called Hygrophila. The fish learned pretty quickly when we uprooted the plants we were making it easy for them to find all kinds of critters to eat.
Hygrophila is a popular aquarium plant that originates from China/Indonesia area. It is now in many of the river systems in the southern united states. Hygrophila grows rapidly and fragments easily which allows it to take over an area very quickly and clog the waterway.
Invasive species of plants or animals are a headache. Eradicating them can sometimes be nigh impossible.
You got that right. The area where that video was taken is over 4 years of effort and still a working process.
My home country, Australia, is riddled with invasive species, both plant and animals, and within my own lifetime I have seen the disasters it has brought.
Is clearing the streams out part of your job, or is it done out of passion?
It is part of my job. I have a degree in aquatic science and I was working on a project for a company that does most of the biological work in the environmental sensitive areas. Since no chemicals are allowed we had to go through and do a lot of manual removal. Our work has been very effective in most of the areas so it does feel good to see the environment improving.
That would be the best feedback for your efforts, seeing the environment recover.
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