From the Minneapolis Star Tribune website.
Jon J.
IDO » Forums » Fishing Forums » Mississippi River » Mississippi River – General Discussion » Asian Carp – Interesting Story.
If you get prompted to register, just got to:
The story is on the main page….
J.
This goes back to that convo we had a while back about killing doggies/sheepies/carp etc… I still consider them all a problem……..
the hell out of them…then toss em back for the turtles/crayfish…
Doggies are native………….like mosquitos. We shouldn’t be thinking about getting rid of them. Unsure of the sheepies but those buggers are almost global and do have ecological benefits. Carp? Good fighters but I have no love for them.
Looks like I need to start wearing the old brain bucket while moving from spot to spot!
Hitting a carp at 60mph would not be pretty!
*sigh*… there is no stopping the incursion of these fish… they have invaded the rivers ecosystem and any measure such as this is only stop gap to slow them down… they wont come upriver in a wave… just a trickle… some carp lover may dump some above the barrier… or some minnow bucket with carp minows may be dumped, or some flood will give them access…. or some barge will suck fry in and bilge them out above the barrier….or some breakdown on the barrier will let them up…. there is just too many ways for failure to happen, therefore it will….
then theres the problem that if its a barrier to them, its a barrier to all fish… I wonder how that will affect the populations? Im sure the barrier will be place to minimize it…. as they say.. at a dam which is already a barrier…..
but maybe it will buy us enough time to come up with a more effective solution….. thats about all we can hope for!…
I’ll stop them!!! w/my Bow and Arrow… ….my hammer ….and my filet knife through their brain
Ken, the dams will only detain them until a flood occurs. As soon as the water starts over the spillway they’ll take advantage of the situation as do all fish.
Hey look at the bright side of it. If these things attack speeding boats, then maybe I wont get rocked everytime when some inconsiderate ——— gets to close. Ya know they might get whats coming to them. Maybe I can even teach a few of these carp to train these speeders into slowing down., heh,heh,heh FISHINFOOL
I have to laugh at the term that everyone is useing about these fish, about how they “attack” speeding boats, cant help but laugh, i view it the same as how the deer “attack” attack our speeding cars. Just seems to me a somewhat clever use of words to get people wound up on how we must stop these evil fish that are out to get us, perhaps we should call them the kamikazi fish, they jump out of the water in single grand planned move with the intent of harming us and killing them selfs in the same process???
Cattin_Addict
Deer attacking cars? I always thought they were commiting suicide.
Never in my life have I ever heard anyone claim that a deer attacked their car. Can’t recall even one time. I can, however, refer you to a good number of people that have had trees jump in front of them!
I was fishing the RCL last week and we were sitting in Brewers cut and a boat caught one of these. I overheard the “Pro” Say that it was a buffalo. I told my partner there was no way that was a Buffalo! That’s one of those Asian Carp! I could tell from a distance even, because of that snoot they have.Heard of a couple caught last week.
ooops… to late then… if they are already here….. there goes the neighborhood….. guess they moved WAY to fast….
I’ve been keeping a close eye on this story… the furthest north an Asian Carp has been collected appears to be Pool 9 (this was a big head carp). No positive IDs have occured further north. This doesn’t mean that a fisherman didn’t catch an Asian Carp in this northern area. However, if they did, it should have been kept and reported to either Wisconsin or Minnesota DNR for identification. This is an important issue and such a sighting should be confirmed by a knowledgable biologist.
good point big E… confirmation of the arrival of those asian carp in this area is critical for our fisheries programs to know… so if anyone can help confirm that asian carp were caught during the tourney on pool 3 or 4 let us know, I can get you a number at the DNR to contact… or I will do it myself
Here is the DNR phone number listings by county for WI…don’t know any of the MN numbers.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/cs/ServiceCenter/ssbycounty.htm
More on the cost of this project. See link to the WCCO website:
http://wcco.com/localnews/local_story_296102218.html
J.
I see in the Star Tribune this morning that a commercial fisherman caught a big head carp in one of his nets on lake Pepin . Not good news!
Holy Crap Batman! They are here.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/4174486.html
Jon J.
============================================================
Invasive carp now in Minnesota
Tom Meersman, Star Tribune
Published October 25, 2003 CARP25
A commercial fisherman caught a 23-pound bighead carp Thursday in Lake Pepin, apparently the first time the invasive species has been confirmed in Minnesota waters. The discovery surprised state natural resource officials because the location is about 100 river miles above the previous northernmost sighting of bighead, near the Iowa-Minnesota border.
Bighead carp, which can grow to be 50 pounds, have been described as a “virtual eating machine” that consumes much of the food needed by other fish.
“It’s not good news,” said Walt Popp, aquatic biologist at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources office in Lake City, referring to the latest discovery. “It doesn’t mean that we can’t stop them, but it makes things more urgent.”
Ironically, the discovery in Minnesota came just one day after two dozen state and federal officials met in St. Paul to discuss trying to stop the carp by building some sort of underwater electric or acoustic barrier across the river.
Officials at that meeting said that time was crucial and made plans to conduct a study of the problem within the next few months.
The bighead and silver carp, another invasive species of Asian carp, have been moving north in the Mississippi and its tributaries since they were released or escaped from commercial catfish ponds in Arkansas in the late 1970s or 1980s.
In portions of the Illinois and Missouri rivers where they have become established, tens of thousands of bighead and silver carp have changed the aquatic food web drastically and displaced native fish species.
They have also left a trail of unhappy anglers and boaters, because silver carp, which can grow as large as 110 pounds, routinely leap out of the water when they are disturbed by motors, sometimes landing in boats and injuring people.
Popp said a commercial fisherman captured the bighead carp in a large net in the lower portion of Lake Pepin. DNR officials picked it up Friday morning and took it to their Lake City office for identification. After examining the carp, workers froze it and shipped it to St. Paul for further study next week.
Until this week, the Iowa-Minnesota border was the farthest north that a bighead carp had been found in the Mississippi. Silver carp, the other invasive species, were last reported to be much farther south in Iowa.
Popp said both species pose a large potential problem because they eat the same food that virtually all native fish need in their first year of life, including northern pike, bass, walleye, sauger and gizzard shad. The carp also compete for food with some larger, older fish such as paddlefish. Silver carp can live as long as 20 years.
Popp said that if Asian carp establish themselves, it could take a few years for the local fishery to be noticeably affected. Eventually the small forage fish may disappear if they cannot find enough food, he said, and bigger fish such as walleye might become thinner.
In the lower Missouri River, bighead and silver carp became the most abundant large fish just a few years after they arrived, according to U.S. Geological Survey officials.
Popp said it’s possible that the bighead that was caught in Lake Pepin was a stray rather than an indicator that the species has invaded Minnesota. “The big question is are they moving up in Minnesota in any numbers and are they reproducing?” he said.
DNR officials will check with other commercial anglers in Lake Pepin this weekend to see if more bighead were netted, said communications director C.B. Bylander. Fisheries officials will probably do some of their own sampling next week to see if other bighead can be found in the area.
Asked whether the discovery means that it’s too late to try to stop the fish with an electric barrier or other technology, Bylander said the DNR still expects to conduct a study with other states and federal agencies to identify possible control options. “This will have an impact and affect our discussions on prevention, but the feasibility study is going to go forward,” he said.
Tom Meersman is [email protected].
Just for information, has any one seen any of thease critters jumping in their boat yet!!
Quote:
Bighead Carp Caught
The invasive bighead carp are now in Minnesota. And that’s not a good thing.
A commercial fisherman caught a 23-pound bighead carp Thursday
in Lake Pepin. It’s apparently the first time the invasive species
has been confirmed in Minnesota waters. State natural resources officials are surprised because the location is about 100 river miles above the previous northernmost sighting of bighead, near the Iowa border.Bighead carp can grow to be 50 pounds. They’ve been described as
a “virtual eating machine” that consumes much of the food
needed by other fish. A D-N-R official says the carp can still be stopped, but Thursday’s discovery makes things more urgent.The D-N-R is considering a plan to place an electrified fence across the Mississippi River to stop the carp from moving northward. One spot being discussed for the fence is just below Lock and Dam Six at Trempealeau.The cost has been estimated at up to 25 million dollars
I guess we all knew they would make it up here sooner or later but I was hoping for much later.
Gator Hunter
From what I have been reading about phytoplankton, enviromental conditions (water temp.,oxygen,nutrients)are the major control of the numbers of phytoplankton. And that when conditons are favorable they will reproduce very fast. I am thinking that if bats,birds and dragon flies cannot keep up with mosquitoes. Can it be the same with the new carp and phytoplankton. Those smaller life forms are good at reproduction, usually overpopulation is their problem
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.