Science Facing Aliens - Invasive Alien Species in Belgium - Belgian ...

≥19 by the UK assessors and are considered high risk invasive species in FISK (Copp et al,
2008).
Two non-native fish species to be expected in Flanders, Amur sleeper and round goby,
were categorized as potentially invasive and are thus on the Harmonia alert list (A0category)(Harmonia
database, 2009).
Despite the fact that both tools use different scoring systems, they manage to
categorize the fishes more or less in the same ‘invasiveness classes’. FISK and ISEIA
therefore both represent useful and viable tools to aid decision- and policymakers in assessing
and classifying freshwater fishes according to their potential invasiveness.
References
Branquart E. (Ed.), 2007. Guidelines for environmental impact assessment and list
classification of non-native organisms in Belgium, http://ias.biodiversity.be/ias/, last
assessed 5 May 2009.
Copp G.H., Garthwaite R. & Gozlan R.E., 2005a. Risk identification and assessment of nonnative
freshwater fishes: a summary of concepts and perspectives on protocols for the UK.
Journal of Applied Ichthyology 21, 371–373.
Copp G.H., Bianco P.G., Bogutskaya N., Erős T., Falka I., Ferreira M.T., Fox M.G., Freyhof
J., Gozlan R.E., Grabowska J., Kováč V., Moreno-Amich R., Naseka A.M., Peňáz M.,
Povž M., Przybylski M., Robillard M., Russell I.C., Stakėnas S., Šumer S., Vila-Gispert
A. & Wiesner C., 2005b. To be, or not to be, a non-native freshwater fish? Journal of
Applied Ichthyology 21 (4), 242-262. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2005.00690.x
Copp G.H., Vilizzi L., Mumford J., Fenwick G.V., Godard M.J. & Gozlan R.E., 2008.
Calibration of FISK, an invasiveness screening tool for non-native freshwater fishes. Risk
Analysis (online: DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01159.x).
Harmonia database 2009, Belgian Forum on Invasive Species, accessed on 5 May 2009 from:
http://ias.biodiversity.be
Louette G., Anseeuw D., Gaethofs T., Hellemans B., Volckaert F.A.M., Verreycken H., Van
Thuyne G., De Charleroy D., Belpaire C., Declerck S., Teugels G.G., De Meester L. &
Ollevier F. (2001). Ontwikkeling van een gedocumenteerde gegevensbank over uitheemse
vissoorten in Vlaanderen met bijkomend onderzoek naar blauwbandgrondel. Eindverslag
van project VLINA 00/11. Studie uitgevoerd voor rekening van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap
binnen het kader van het Vlaams Impulsprogramma Natuurontwikkeling in opdracht van
de Vlaamse Minister bevoegd voor Natuurbehoud. D/2002/3241/136. [In Dutch]
Pheloung P.C., Williams P.A. & Halloy S.R., 1999. A weed risk assessment model for use as
a biosecurity tool evaluating plant introductions. Journal of Environmental Management,
57, 239-251.
Verreycken H., Anseeuw D., Van Thuyne G., Quataert P. & Belpaire C., 2007. The nonindigenous
freshwater fishes of Flanders (Belgium): review, status and trends over the last
decade. Journal of Fish Biology 71 (Supplement D), 160–172.
Verreycken H., Vandenbergh K., Vilizzi L. & Copp G.H., (in prep). Initial application of the
Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) to freshwater fishes in Flanders.
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