They say if you can't beat 'em…turn 'em into fertilizer. At least, that's what one part of the world is doing.
Australia's Mary River has been infiltrated by highly prolific, invasive tilapia fish. And now, a collaborative group of researchers and traditional owners teaming up for an 18-month study are looking to put the species to good use by harvesting them and using them as fertilizer to grow native plants, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.
The Mary River is home to a group of species that conservationists describe as "scientifically important, totemic and iconic," including the rare bum-breathing Mary River turtle, Mary River cod, white-throated snapping turtle, and Australian lungfish.
Several of these species are already endangered or critically endangered, and their lives are put at further risk by the rapid growth of the tilapia. The ABC reported that in a comprehensive survey, researchers found that the tilapia had "proliferated and expanded" through the entire 181-mile river in just two years.
"They're competing for habitat, they're competing for food, they're sometimes predating on the smaller size classes and juveniles of our threatened species," said Tom Espinoza, CEO of Burnett Mary Regional Group, leader of the joint study.
The ABC also spoke with Reece Pianta from the Invasive Species Council, who said that the scope of the tilapia issue was too vast to imagine completely eliminating them. Instead, he said, "it becomes about mitigating their effects on native fish and the natural environment."
And an excellent way to do just that, Espinoza said, is by harvesting the tilapia to turn into fertilizer, in order to grow native plants for revegetating and replenishing the river basin.
This precedent has been set already, after demand for invasive carp skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic with more people gardening at home, per the ABC. It's just one of many creative ways communities have managed invasive species — others include eating them, paying fishers for them, and hosting competitions with prizes for catching them.
And while these aren't a complete fix, they can help reduce populations as conservationists work on more sustainable, long-term ways to bulk up populations of native species, which don't just support the health of ecosystems but also provide money-saving benefits when incorporated into community parks and private yards.
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Pianta approved of increasing the number of native species in the area, saying, "Something like this can be a long-lasting project that could actually achieve some local control of the tilapia population in the river."
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