Unlimited Invasive Species...

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

There is a huge different between an alien/introduced species, and an invasive species. All alien species are like getting new neighbors.  Some neighbors are horrible, and some are just fine.

Rainbow trout at the east coast are horrible.

Brook trout out west are horrible.

Brown trout are problematic, but they are quite neighborly at Stone Mt. park.  The brookies can hold their own there.  Temps are what determine their fate. 

It is best to only introduce species that are somewhat local. Stocking smallmouth in the James or Yadkin is not horrible. They exist in adjacent watersheds.  Details such as this matter.

I know of many streams that have introduced fish that are not assholes like Alabama bass.

The smallmouth in the Uwharrie and Little, Rocky River (Pee Dee watershed) are not invasive, neither are the Roanoke bass stocked in the Deep, Uwharrie, and Little. They occupy a very limited space.

The stocking of Kentucky Spots in Avents, Parkers, and Little River (Cape Fear watershed) was boneheaded. There was already a full established population of largemouth.  The Cape Fear is also the most nutrient poor watershed in NC.  Now, 90 percent of the black bass in the Cape fear are small Kentucky Spots.  Make no mistake, Kentucky spots are INVASIVE and so are Alabama bass. The fear of these two species is not arbitrary or irrational.
 

Interesting, and thought provoking, analysis of the dilemma.

Had a lot of time to ponder 'aliens' over the last 2 weeks, encountering the inundation of Autumn Olives in unmanaged old wildlife clearings.  Damned if they ain't some real aggressive growing introduction to our part of the world. 

Perhaps every single nonnative is truly an invasive, if we had the time, resources, and expertise to examine every ecosystem. 
 
Words like "neighbors", "horrible", "assholes", "boneheaded", might prove very meaningful if we spoke and understood the language of each ecosystem.  Human construct is most often a bitch.

Tarheels, please inform:  I thought the Cape Fear watershed was very eutrophic, nutrient rich, not nutrient poor.  Has NC cleaned it up? 

[trout-r-us]

Native, alien, invasive,  are terms used by biologists, ecologists, numerous other scientists and groups, including fishermen. I guess the terms mean something different to different people for one reason or another.
Anglers differ in their preference of target species, with some opportunistic fishermen like myself happy to fish for whatever is available anyplace and anytime.
Others only want to pursue what they believe to be native species.
Luckily, most of us get to make our own choice. Life is good.

[Onslow]

Tarheels, please inform:  I thought the Cape Fear watershed was very eutrophic, nutrient rich, not nutrient poor.  Has NC cleaned it up? 

It may be in spots.  I don't recall which governmental agency declared the Cape Fear basin the most nutrient poor in NC, or what metrics were used to arrive at that conclusion. I was under the impression the discussion was about intrinsic soil nutrient(s), and not city sewer, or ag runoff. The Cape Fear is a very large watershed with much diversity within it in terms of geology.  I honestly think the Catawba watershed deserves the piss poor award.