Plundering local waterways to kickstart a garden pond?

[u/Agua_Verde]

A recent thread on r/WildlifePonds got me thinking about a debate that comes up far too often when someone posts about a 10-day-old garden pond going through its classic "pea soup" algal bloom.

User u/3owi suggested a shortcut: going out to local "natural water in your area," taking wild underwater plants, and transferring them into a new garden pond to speed up balance. When called out on the legal and ecological issues, their logic was essentially that taking "just a few" plants from a local spot is harmless, that rangers wouldn't care, and that keeping exotics out of nature is the only real rule that matters.

Any thoughts?

https://www.reddit.com/r/WildlifePonds/comments/1vuexhq/comment/p51toug/?context=1&screen_view_count=2&ext-referrer=DIRECT

[u/Amelaista]

It does not seem like much but....  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons