The recent interaction I had with Titan50 over his drainage pipe has raised a few questions for me. I have mentioned before, that I equate the fish in my ponds as livestock. Probably due to my background. As a boy, we ran Angus cattle, as did many of our neighbors. A great deal of my time was spent building and mending fence. If some of our cattle got out over on the neighbor, it didn't matter what the value of that cow was, or that the neighbor had the same breed of cattle on the same type of ground. What mattered to us, was that we had failed in our task to properly contain our animals.
Yes, cattle get out occasionally. Accidents happen, usually in the form of a tree blowing over on the fence. That didn't mean that it was alright to leave the gate wide open, and hope they didn't go through it. We were still bound to do the best job we could to restrain them.
I've read a lot on here about taking care of YOUR water, YOUR fish, and providing the best environment for them as possible, all while striving to be a good steward of the environment.
Well, what happens when YOUR fish escape through YOUR spillpipe and find their way into your neighbor's pond, or, even a public BOW? Black Crappie, anyone?
Certainly I am not aware of any method to prevent fry from escaping, while maintaining adequate water flow out the spillpipe. And yes, Mother Nature seems fond of handing out 100, and even 500 year flood events here in recent years. But I still don't believe that gives me the right to leave the gate open.
As an example, here in Indiana, triploid GC are legal for stocking into private waters. You must have a permit to stock them into public water. By law, the hatchery must come to your pond, and place the fish themselves. The state mandates that you should "take every precaution possible", to prevent their escape, and "Do not use grass carp if there is a high likelyhood of escape". They even go as far as to recommend an aquatic herbicide over the fish.
So what happens if they swim out through your spillpipe? Even though the fish are sterile, could the state make a case against you?
Again, I'm not talking about a flood event, that is out of anyone's possible control. I'm talking about a good hard rain that lasts for awhile, and puts 8" of water out through your unprotected spillpipe. As the pondowner, could you be held responsible, in any fashion, for the escape of your fish?
Just because a fish is native to your area, doesn't mean that it has to exist in every BOW does it?
Are there, or could there be, any legal issues possibly at work here?
