03-31-2008, 12:44 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Like many of the things done to Utah Lake, introducing carp was not a good move. And, like a lot of the other things, it was not based upon knowledge or environmental impact surveys. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Modern Utah folks are spoiled. We generally have a decent standard of living and get our food from our choice of mega markets. When we eat fish, it is either trout or some other species more highly favored than carp. Again, we have a choice.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The early settlers in Utah nearly starved to death in the first few years...more than once. Without the fish from Utah Lake they probably would not have survived at all. But, because many of the settlers overdid it and harvested the fish commercially...and farmers dammed the streams and killed many more fish that were never utilized...Utah Lake was soon running out of fish. Didn't seem possible, but it was.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And, while we turn up our noses at carp, as a food fish, many of the newly arrived settlers were recent immigrants from European countries where carp were a standard food fish. All they could see was a chance to have plenty of good eating fish to replace the dwindling trout and suckers. They were totally unaware of the carp's potential for destroying the ecosystem of the lake. Too bad for us.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I also agree about the carp impacting the sport fish. Directly, they do not physically crowd out the "sport fish". And the carp contribute millions of fry each year that add to the food base for the predators...but only for a short time, until they rapidly grow too large. However, it is a biological fact that there is a limited amount of space and food resources in any body of water. Whenever one species (like carp) becomes so dominant they DO affect the whole scheme of things...both directly and indirectly.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In the Utah Lake of "olden days", chubs, suckers, sculpins, shiners and other small species were the primary food source for the predators. And, in those days there was only one top predator...the cutthroat. There was a balance and it worked very well. The carp completely destroyed it all...making it impossible for the forage species to spawn and survive and thus eliminating a food source for the trout. There are several references in the LEGACY DVD and book where officials observed the size and health of the cutts plummeting after carp were introduced. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Today the forage base is comprised mostly of "young of the year" of all the other species. Since there are no "minnows", like chubs, dace, sculpins or shiners, the predators feed on each others young...along with the carp. White bass, bluegill and crappies all contribute to the food chain each year when they spawn. Indeed, small white bass are probably the number one source of protein for walleyes and big catfish. Whenever the white bass do not have a good recruitment, all of the top predators suffer too. Poor spawning is usually a factor of low water levels or poor flows, but when prey species try to spawn in unvegetatated and open areas their eggs are vacuumed up by carp...or the eggs smothered by siltation. The end result is the same. Poor survival.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And so it goes. Simple solution. Get rid of the carp. Not a simple problem.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Modern Utah folks are spoiled. We generally have a decent standard of living and get our food from our choice of mega markets. When we eat fish, it is either trout or some other species more highly favored than carp. Again, we have a choice.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The early settlers in Utah nearly starved to death in the first few years...more than once. Without the fish from Utah Lake they probably would not have survived at all. But, because many of the settlers overdid it and harvested the fish commercially...and farmers dammed the streams and killed many more fish that were never utilized...Utah Lake was soon running out of fish. Didn't seem possible, but it was.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]And, while we turn up our noses at carp, as a food fish, many of the newly arrived settlers were recent immigrants from European countries where carp were a standard food fish. All they could see was a chance to have plenty of good eating fish to replace the dwindling trout and suckers. They were totally unaware of the carp's potential for destroying the ecosystem of the lake. Too bad for us.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I also agree about the carp impacting the sport fish. Directly, they do not physically crowd out the "sport fish". And the carp contribute millions of fry each year that add to the food base for the predators...but only for a short time, until they rapidly grow too large. However, it is a biological fact that there is a limited amount of space and food resources in any body of water. Whenever one species (like carp) becomes so dominant they DO affect the whole scheme of things...both directly and indirectly.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In the Utah Lake of "olden days", chubs, suckers, sculpins, shiners and other small species were the primary food source for the predators. And, in those days there was only one top predator...the cutthroat. There was a balance and it worked very well. The carp completely destroyed it all...making it impossible for the forage species to spawn and survive and thus eliminating a food source for the trout. There are several references in the LEGACY DVD and book where officials observed the size and health of the cutts plummeting after carp were introduced. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Today the forage base is comprised mostly of "young of the year" of all the other species. Since there are no "minnows", like chubs, dace, sculpins or shiners, the predators feed on each others young...along with the carp. White bass, bluegill and crappies all contribute to the food chain each year when they spawn. Indeed, small white bass are probably the number one source of protein for walleyes and big catfish. Whenever the white bass do not have a good recruitment, all of the top predators suffer too. Poor spawning is usually a factor of low water levels or poor flows, but when prey species try to spawn in unvegetatated and open areas their eggs are vacuumed up by carp...or the eggs smothered by siltation. The end result is the same. Poor survival.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]And so it goes. Simple solution. Get rid of the carp. Not a simple problem.[/#0000ff]
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