Possible FA controls:
1) Pond Dye - must be applied early in the year, not useful if lots of water flows through
2) Tilapia - must restock every year
3) Herbicides
4) Nutrients used by other plants
5) Nutrient sequestration (supposedly there is a way to permanently lock up excess phosphorus in a pond)
Somewhere in there needs to be added:
X.) Remove from the pond 20 to 30 percent of nutrients that are sequestered in the fish biomass each year. (these nutrients are highly concentrated and good to eat)
Note: This is something you probably do Theo as you remove 400 or so 6" to 9" lepomis annually from your less than 1 acre pond. Generally this level of harvest is appropriate for population management anyways.
Y.) Reduce or abstain from intentionally adding nutrients like feed and or fertilizer (fertile water needs less feed).
Note: if one is harvesting sufficiently ... fewer added nutrients accumulate.
There probably should be a Z added but I don't know what it would be without restating in some form number 4 above.
I am not sure I agree with the order if it was intended to be a preferred order. At the top of the list I think that thoughtful control of added nutrients should placed. Then I think biological control, which would include tilapia, some species of shiner, crayfish, etc. Then competing plants. These will control fish production and so then harvest comes next. At the very bottom of my list are Pond Dye, Nutrient Sequestration, and Herbicides.
I've seen how Pond Dye can greatly limit the natural fertility of a pond. The effects I have observed are extreme because the application is extreme and persistent throughout the growing season. They no longer have FA problems but have completely destroyed the best trophy BG water I have ever fished in DFW. Add to this making the pond bottom oxygen deficient as well as other detrimental effects. I would want to find solutions that leverage natural production in beneficial ways. I would not want to limit natural production in any way. I would want that energy directed to community members to increase the health and diversity of the entire system.
Nutrient Sequestration. Where would one begin? They push feed for "nutrientition" then say you must eliminate the nutrients you paid for. Really? Sounds like a great way of taking you both coming and going. Who would want a sterile pond where the only nutrition is from feed?
Herbicides. It can't be done in a vacuum where only FA is controlled and affected. What about kids, grandkids, friends, and even oneself. I would rather not eat that stuff.
