This handy, water-resistant card designed with fishing in mind is small enough to fit in a tackle box, wallet, or pocket. Wild baitfish harvesters, and fishery researchers and managers should also be on the look-out. Anyone who catches a round goby is urged not to throw it back alive. They should kill it and contact one of the agencies listed on their card. Over 100,000 cards were produced jointly with many agencies around the Great Lakes.
Single cards are free.
Individuals or organizations wishing to obtain cards should contact their state Sea Grant office or state resource management agency. It was originally introduced through ballast water discharge from transoceanic ships. Like the zebra mussel and Eurasian ruffe, the round goby is native to the Black and Caspian seas. Round gobies were first discovered in North America along with their cousin the tubenose goby in 1990 in the St. Clair River near Detroit. The tubenose goby did not thrive, but the round goby quickly spread into lakes Erie and Michigan where large infestations are now found.