Don’t dump live fish in community water bodies, say wildlife officials

SALT LAKE CITY — State wildlife officials are pleading, don’t ditch your fish, after finding illegally introduced fish in Utah waterways.

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Faith Heaton Jolley with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said they discovered three instances of illegally dumped fish. They found perch in Palisades Reservoir, Utah chubs in Millsite Reservoir, and goldfish in Cove Pond.

“They don’t want their goldfish anymore, but they don’t have the heart to kill them, and so they think, ‘Well, I’ll just release it at this local community pond. That’s a great place for it.'”

However, that is not the case. Jolley said it’s never a good idea to dump live fish into waterways because it could cause so many problems.

The fish could carry diseases, become predators, or outcompete the fish already in the water body for food.

“And this is impacting the sport fish that people are trying to fish for when they go out, but also some of our native fish species which, unfortunately, some are endangered here in the state of Utah.”

On top of that, you could face a class C misdemeanor. If you see any invasive fish or someone illegally dumping fish, contact a wildlife official.

Related: More than 100 animals poached in Utah since Aug. 1, wildlife officials say