Today, the first pikes entered the water to compete with the pumpkinseed sunfish.

At LIFE Resilias, the strategy to break down the dominance of pumpkinseed is done by using a natural enemy to help control this invasive fish population. This is the indigenous pike, Esox Lucius.

When releasing pikes, we consciously choose pikes that are of a certain age, so that they do not pose a threat to the species that we want to protect. This is because the introduced older pike no longer prey on amphibians but mainly on fish. The pumpkinseed is therefore a logical menu choice for the pike.

The first pikes of the project entered the water at Gooren and Krochten.

Over the next few years, we will carefully monitor how the pikes fare in the areas where we released them. Naturally, we will also monitor the pumpkinseed population