An omnivorous African fish that has become a dominant species in Lake Nicaragua, the largest tropical lake outside of Africa, has
legislators debating whether to prohibit the introduction of exotic species in all Nicaraguan waters.
Nicaraguan biologists say the non-native fish, known by the common name of tilapia, have been pushing other native species out of their natural habitats and that mass processing of the fish for export has resulted in thousands of tons of fish poop a year polluting one of the world's unique freshwater ecosystems.
The lake's natural predators – from the freshwater bull shark to the sawfish to the massive sabalo real, or tarpon – have been dwindling in recent years.
But Alex Gutiérrez, production manager of NICANOR, a foreign-owned operation on the volcanic island of Ometepe that exports 3,000 tons of tilapia a year, says environmentalists have been exaggerating the tilapia's environmental impact upon the lake.
"Environmentalism is a trend right now," Gutiérrez told The Nica Times at the company's production site, where it manages dozens of floating tilapia cages off the shore of Ometepe Island.
Read more about Lake Nicaragua's tilapia controversy Friday in a series on the country's lakes in The Nica Times, an eight-page publication of The Tico Times. |
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