An interesting news item from Burnsville this week recounts the problem of lunker-sized goldfish taking over Keller Lake. Apparently people have been dumping their no-longer-wanted pets into the lake and the cute little finny friends are growing into football sized pests that tend to root up bottom vegetation, roil the bottom sediment, releasing phosphates that lead to algae growth and compete for food with native species of fish.

It is against state law in Minnesota to release goldfish or any other fish into domestic waters; it’s called illegal stocking.

We’ve seen what has happened with the release of non-native carp species in U.S. waters, which have spread through rivers and lakes and are threatening to move up the Mississippi into Minnesota. We wouldn’t want to see goldfish lumped into the same category.

Goldfish infestations are expensive to clear out and could do great damage to our ecosystem.

We shouldn’t have to say it, but please don’t put anything into our lakes and streams that don’t belong there.