BOEUN, May 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The Songnisan (Mount Songni) Office of the National Park Service in South Korea is launching a major operation to eliminate largemouth bass from a reservoir in the park, as the non-native fish species has displaced native fish and the population is rapidly flourishing.
The park has been trying to reduce the population of largemouth bass by searching for and removing egg nests and mobilizing divers to capture them, but these efforts have not been fruitful.
To increase the effectiveness of its efforts, the park has been inviting anglers to catch largemouth bass and has been rewarding them with local currency for their catch since 2021.
This year, the park plans to reward 40 anglers every Saturday for five months with 10,000 won (US$7.55) in local currency for every kilogram of largemouth bass they catch.
Anglers must apply online and pick up a notice and life jacket at the park office on the same day to participate in the cull, which will take place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The park also plans to create a distribution map of invasive species, recording the location and size of the fish that are caught.
In the past two years, more than 6,000 largemouth bass have been caught by the 1,282 participants in the fishing program at Mount Songni.
Image Credit: National Park Service / photonews@koreabizwire.com
