Catfish eating birds.

[JohnLucas1316]

Some of you may have seen this story in the media.
An 11kg catfish has been eating birds at the Intu Lakeside shopping complex in Essex.
A fisheries officer for the Environment Agency said, 'its not great for kids to see large fish eating ducks', and that the catfish posed a 'serious threat to our native wildlife' and that invasive species costs the UK economy a massive £1.8 billion a year.
The paper I read stated that,'The EA is currently searching through waters where non-native fish could escape into rivers and lakes and endanger Britain's indigenous wildlife'.

Really? Does anyone know about this? Do the EA have the resources to 'search through waters' ? If so, what are they looking for?

The catfish that was eating ducks has been moved to another pond out of sight of the traumatised public.
Why does a non- native fish eating a few birds get publicity, but a non-native bird (sinensis cormorant) eating tons of fish every day gets none? In spite of the fact that native wildlife is suffering and thousands of jobs have been lost because of this bird.

[john currie]

Hallo John
I'm told this is mostly intelligence led,EA will not be out searching all likely spots.
Cheers.