04-04-2014, 10:36 PM
[#0000FF]I have been both on the ice and in the water during carp seining hauls. My personal evaluation is that some non-carp catching is unavoidable. But from what I have seen it is not enough to seriously impact populations of any of the non-carp species. As has been mentioned, no more than a very few walleyes, largemouths, crappies or other species are caught up with the carp. Even when there are quite a few white bass in any given haul the kill is far less than what a few fishermen harvest on a good day fishing. And typically, there is only one or two net sets on any given day and rarely every day of the week.
It is illogical to point any fingers of blame at the carp seining operation. Just as pointless to point at angling pressure. There are vastly more inroads made on various fish populations by the rise and fall of water levels, seasonal variations, shoreline enhancement or degradation, etc. In short, people have very little actual impact on the fisheries of any species.
Unfortunately, I think that is true of the carp too. Some of us can remember past years in which it seemed that the commercial carp operation was removing even more carp than they are today. The main difference is that now they have assigned quotas and they get paid to net them...regardless of market price.
An average sized female carp can spew out hundreds of thousands of eggs. It only takes a few successfully spawning female carp to entirely replace every carp netted in any given year. Thankfully there are other carp killers at work too.
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It is illogical to point any fingers of blame at the carp seining operation. Just as pointless to point at angling pressure. There are vastly more inroads made on various fish populations by the rise and fall of water levels, seasonal variations, shoreline enhancement or degradation, etc. In short, people have very little actual impact on the fisheries of any species.
Unfortunately, I think that is true of the carp too. Some of us can remember past years in which it seemed that the commercial carp operation was removing even more carp than they are today. The main difference is that now they have assigned quotas and they get paid to net them...regardless of market price.
An average sized female carp can spew out hundreds of thousands of eggs. It only takes a few successfully spawning female carp to entirely replace every carp netted in any given year. Thankfully there are other carp killers at work too.
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