10-22-2010, 04:03 AM
I found this article, its ok. I got this from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Though eliminating more than 7 million carp from Utah Lake seems a daunting task, two University of Minnesota professors say it can be done.
Peter Sorensen and Przemek Bajer told the Utah Lake Symposium at Utah Valley University on Tuesday that the carp population can be significantly reduced through a combination of harvesting and interrupting the fish’s ability to reproduce.
The two should know: They’ve conquered carp infestations in a couple of lakes in Minnesota.
“Keep at this,” Sorensen said. “Take a look at it and be flexible.”
The annual symposium was sponsored by UVU and the state’s June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program.
Eradicating the carp — or at least culling their population by 75 percent — is vital to the June sucker’s survival and the lake’s health.
Carp, introduced in 1879 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, destroy underwater vegetation that creates habitat for June sucker larvae and keeps sediment in check.
Sorensen said the carp’s bodily wastes also foster algae by increasing the amount of nutrients in the water.
In Minnesota, Sorensen and Bajer used several measures to keep carp from reproducing, such as barricading the spawning grounds and finding native fish that would eat carp eggs.
They also put tracking devices on carp so they could find the fish in the winter, allowing commercial fishermen to pull most of the fish out of the lakes at once.
Reed Harris, director of the June sucker recovery program, said the program is about more than saving a fish.
“It is about protecting the lake,” he said.
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Though eliminating more than 7 million carp from Utah Lake seems a daunting task, two University of Minnesota professors say it can be done.
Peter Sorensen and Przemek Bajer told the Utah Lake Symposium at Utah Valley University on Tuesday that the carp population can be significantly reduced through a combination of harvesting and interrupting the fish’s ability to reproduce.
The two should know: They’ve conquered carp infestations in a couple of lakes in Minnesota.
“Keep at this,” Sorensen said. “Take a look at it and be flexible.”
The annual symposium was sponsored by UVU and the state’s June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program.
Eradicating the carp — or at least culling their population by 75 percent — is vital to the June sucker’s survival and the lake’s health.
Carp, introduced in 1879 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, destroy underwater vegetation that creates habitat for June sucker larvae and keeps sediment in check.
Sorensen said the carp’s bodily wastes also foster algae by increasing the amount of nutrients in the water.
In Minnesota, Sorensen and Bajer used several measures to keep carp from reproducing, such as barricading the spawning grounds and finding native fish that would eat carp eggs.
They also put tracking devices on carp so they could find the fish in the winter, allowing commercial fishermen to pull most of the fish out of the lakes at once.
Reed Harris, director of the June sucker recovery program, said the program is about more than saving a fish.
“It is about protecting the lake,” he said.
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