The Oklahoma Division of Wildlife Conservation has made an enormous splash on social media with their witty captions and humorous remarks to followers, however a video they posted August 2 was met with additional enthusiasm from the water-loving crowd. In it, a big machine that may finest be described as an aquatic forklift putts round a small pond, scooping up algae and weeds which have collected alongside the water’s edge and dumping them on the financial institution.

There’s one thing oddly satisfying about watching the tooth on the entrance of the machine elevate the vegetation out of the water. What makes it extra satisfying is the impression the challenge may have on the pond’s aquatic life, in addition to each angler’s probability of avoiding a snag, ODWC says.

“This gear is used to clear aquatic vegetation round fishing places, opening up areas for anglers to simply forged in,” ODWC writes. “Eradicating weeds this fashion is healthier than spraying with chemical compounds this time of yr, so decomposing plant materials can’t trigger low oxygen ranges … Which can lead to a possible fish kill.”

The machine’s producer, Weedoo, calls it a “skid steer on water.” The mannequin used within the video is simply one of many firm’s choices, all of that are geared towards lake, pond, and wetland remediation. ODWC fisheries biologist Keith Thomas had been eyeing the product for years earlier than the company lastly gave him the OK to drive to Florida and buy one. As the person answerable for metro-Oklahoma Metropolis’s 20-something public fishing ponds, he welcomed the effectivity enhancements the Weedoo supplied.

“We’re managing these ponds the perfect we will, whether or not it’s stocking fish or clearing out weeds,” Thomas tells Out of doors Life. “We maintain numerous household fishing clinics and derbies at most of those ponds all year long to encourage folks to get out and use them.”

Within the video, the Weedoo is cleansing out what ODWC calls a “Near Dwelling” pond. The Near Dwelling program is ODWC’s model of an city angling initiative that manages and shares public ponds near extra populated areas of Oklahoma. 

“Fishing license gross sales have been slowing down and flattening out nationally, relying on what a part of the nation you’re in,” Thomas says. He factors out that the majority different states have some model of an analogous program and Oklahoma’s definitely wasn’t the primary. “We have been making an attempt to bump up our license gross sales and we noticed the necessity and the need for some locations to fish near house as a substitute of driving two or three hours with the household. So we began taking a look at these park ponds and different small our bodies of water within the city areas the place folks can fish.”

However when anglers tried to fish a few of these ponds from the shore, weed snags have been an enormous concern. Of us began complaining concerning the inconvenience. Thomas remembers making an attempt to drag weeds by hand whereas wading round within the ponds, however such makes an attempt felt futile. The company turned to chemical management for some time, however officers finally wished a less expensive answer with much less potential for environmental impacts.

“We have been getting drained and anxious about utilizing chemical compounds [to kill the weeds]. You may as well harm bugs and birds which can be residing shut by,” he says. “We wished a unique option to filter out a few of this aquatic vegetation and assist anglers fish.”

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In the end, the Weedoo got here to the rescue. Thomas hopes the company would possibly purchase one other one or two for administration at fish hatcheries and different our bodies of water throughout the state. However within the meantime, he’ll preserve utilizing the one to clear lanes so children can catch stocker bluegills and channel cats.

“Most of those ponds are concentrating on households with children,” Thomas says. “We would like them to have a very good expertise after they go to those locations, we don’t need them to simply preserve dragging in ‘seaweed.’”