ALL CHOKED UP!
PREVENT POND PESTS CAMPAIGN

What is the campaign about?

Prevent Pond Pests is a Water for Wildlife campaign (supported by The Wildlife Trusts, The Environment Agency, Water UK, The Centre for Aquatic Plant Management, Plant Life and British Waterways) to try to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species, both plant and animal, which are sold in aquarium, pet and gardening shops across the UK. These are currently freely available, despite the immense damage that they can do when released into the wild. We are asking the public, and suppliers, to stop dealing in these plants, and where they are already in ponds, to ensure that they are disposed of properly.

Why are pond pests a problem?

For some time now, a large range of exotic plants and animals have been available to the public in aquatic stockists. The majority of these species are not able to live in the UK outside of gardens or highly sheltered environments. However, some species escape or are deliberately released from cultivation, and have become pests in the wider environment. With no natural predators and a benign climate they can out-compete our native plant and animal species.

Invasive non-native plant species occupy the habitats of native plants, block up waterways and rapidly reach nuisance proportions, requiring expensive remediation works.

Which species are pond pests?

These include Myriophyllum aquaticum, Myriophyllum brasiliense, Myriophyllum propium (Parrot’s feather), Hydrocotyle ranunculoides (Floating pennywort), Crassula helmsii (Australian Swamp Stonecrop), Azolla filiculoides (Water fern), Ludwigia grandiflora (Water primrose, Jussiaea sp.) and others.

Animal species have also escaped and predate native species, or become competitors. These include Grass Carp, Sturlets, Sturgeon, Zander, Chinese Mitten Crabs, American Signal Crayfish, and American Bullfrogs.

What about the law?

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to plant or otherwise cause to grow certain invasive plant species. Defra is committed to an early review of the list of these plants, a consultation was carried out in early 2008, which could include a ban on sale of certain invasive aquatic plant species, as has happened in Scotland already.  Click here for the WfW response.

How can you help the campaign?

We have created a POSTCARD which you can download as a PDF by clicking on it, that raise the message that invasive aquatic species are a problem, and allows suppliers and buyers to recognise which are the main species causing problems. If you are visiting a nursery, pet shop or other supplier, please take the postcard with you, and if you see the species on sale without proper labelling or warnings, ask the supplier if they are aware of the potential dangers. To get a hard copy of the campaign postcard, please send an A5 SAE to your local Wildlife Trust.

Please DO NOT BUY the species listed above, and if you are a supplier, then please stock alternative plants and pet species. Once they are in your garden, it is very difficult to stop the spread of these species into the wider countryside. Visiting birds for instance, that fly into your garden and only have to pick up minute particles of these pond pest plants on their feet and they will soon find their way into rivers and other waterways. When buying other plants or pets, be vigilant that they are not contaminated with even a small part of one of these plants. A fragment of plant is enough to allow it to regenerate, and it will quickly take over its new home, crowding out everything else. Find out more by downloading our free Prevent Pond Pests INFORMATION SHEET by clicking here.

We have also  produced an A4 poster, which we would like garden suppliers to display to ensure that the public is aware of the threats involved when buying these species. If you can provide suppliers with the poster, this will have greater impact. The POSTER can be downloaded by clicking here.

If you already have these plant species in your pond or aquarium, make sure that you dispose of them properly. Do not put them into local rivers, canals or ponds. The safest way of disposing of them is by burying, composting or burning. You should also avoid moving anything from one pond to another, including frogspawn, other pond plants or even just pond water. These plants can regenerate from a tiny fragment.

What can you buy instead?

There are many alternative oxygenating plants, and aquarium pets, that are not potential dangers, available at most suppliers. These include water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum or Myriophyllum alterniflorum); Curled pondweed (Potamogeton crispis); Water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis).

Further Information
The horticultural code of practice


www.britishwaterways.co.uk
www.environment-agency.gov.uk
www.english-nature.org.uk
www.water.org.uk
www.capm.org.uk
www.plantlife.org.uk
www.pondstrust.org.uk