Holmes solves fauna crime.
The case of invading smelt –
Released with intent
‘Translocation of freshwater fish… to new localities where they do not already exist’ is illegal in Norway. Understanding how a population of smelt has rapidly appeared in Lake Storsjoen is therefore important for population management. By using microsatellite markers Hagenlund et al (2015) were able to determine that it is likely that a large number of individuals were translocated at one time, potentially to create a population of large-sized trout, a species that feeds on smelt and is popular for fishing.