By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter
Authorities may have to kill fish that were placed in a Southampton Common lake due to the risk they pose to a protected species.
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The issue in the Boating Lake at Southampton Common has arisen after “well meaning” members of the public moved carp from the Ornamental Lake during the prolonged hot and dry summer weather.
These fish are a “great threat” to young great crested newts.
Cabinet member for environment and net zero Cllr John Savage said some of the carp might need to be euthanised.
Cllr Savage said: “During the drought period one of the things that was a real problem was the impact on the great crested newt and the threat to that species in the boating lake.
“The boating lake has water in it during the summer but it is drained in the winter.
“However, during that drought period some well meaning people took fish from the ornamental lake that were struggling in that situation and put them into the boating lake.”
Speaking at a council meeting on Wednesday, September 24, Cllr Savage said an Environment Agency licence is needed to move fish from one location to the other.
He said: “Those carp that have been put in there are a great threat to the young newts which have just come out of their tadpole condition, shall we call them, and there is a real threat there.
“There is all kinds of action that is taking place right now to try to work with the Environment Agency to remove the carp from that location.
“Unfortunately, some of them might have to be euthanised because they pose such a problem to a very special endangered species.”
The Wildlife Trusts describe great crested newts as looking like mini dinosaurs.
Known as the ‘warty newt’, the amphibian is protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, while it is a priority species under the UK Post-2010 Diversity Framework.
The great crested is the largest and rarest of the three species of newt that can be found in the UK.
They can be identified by being almost black in colour, with spotted flanks and an orange belly, the Wildlife Trusts say.
The city council issued a plea to residents not to move fish to the Boating Lake.
They warned that moving fish and disturbing habits was a criminal offence.
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