The carp invasion has occurred quickly, so some impacts are speculation, but there are peer-reviewed papers. Of course, any fish with a population of 1,200 per river kilometer impacts the river ecosystem. Miller / TNC What Are The Impacts to Native Fish? Gizzard shad, an important forage fish, are one of the species most negatively affected by Asian carp. In particular, their jumping often results in them vaulting onto boats, and even injuring boat passengers and water skiers.
This jumping habit has undoubtedly made the silver carp a media star (or perhaps, villain). A boat motor or even a flock of geese landing can make them jump as high as 10 feet in the air. The carp that famously jump are silver carp, which feed on zooplankton near the water’s surface.
While any grass carp released are supposed to be sterile, that has not always proven to be the case. Grass carp are established across the country and continue to be introduced to ponds and canals to control algae and aquatic vegetation. Black carp feed on mollusks, which makes it of particular concern as many Midwest rivers have imperiled native mussels. This species is fairly new and their spread (and potential for spread) needs more study. In many waters, silver and bighead carp quickly became the dominant fish species.īlack carp were also imported to aquaculture facilities to control parasites. They proliferated in the lower and middle Mississippi and many of its tributaries. That ability to jump aided the carp in clearing small dams and spreading rapidly. Fish farms flooded, releasing the carp into rivers and canals. In a recurring invasive species story, the carp were difficult to contain. Much of the focus has been on silver and bighead carp, which were intentionally imported to U.S. The invasive fish known collectively as Asian carp represent four species: silver, bighead, black and grass carp. Here’s an overview of the Asian carp invasion and what it means for other freshwater fish and river ecosystems. “The novelty of jumping fish is completely gone for me,” says Lamer. Today, the central section of the Illinois River is home to more than 1,200 carp per kilometer. And then they spread and proliferated, like a fire raging up the river. Asian carp were first captured in the Illinois River in 1998. The Illinois River Biological Station, a part of the Illinois Natural History Survey, is one of the longest-running biological monitoring programs on the continent. This area has some of densest populations of the most notorious invasive fish.Īnd these fish are studied extensively. It’s a spectacle at once spectacular and horrifying. Many serious fish nerds come to this stretch of river to see the Asian carp invasion firsthand. “It is one of those things that you have to see live to get a real sense of it. “It’s always fun to see the looks of someone who’s seen the carp show for the first time,” he says. Photo © Thad CookĪfter 30 seconds, the jumping fades, leaving a few floaters on the surface that Maxson dips into a net. I have my phone out but realize I’ve mainly just been gawking at the sheer number of fish. One flies over my shoulder and lands with a thump in the boat. And then: pandemonium.Īll around me, silver carp leap into the air, a detonation of water and fins.
#BASS FISH JUMPING GENERATOR#
He nods at Lamer as the generator kicks on. Maxson moves to the front of the boat, putting electrofishing gear in place. But Lamer promises a bit of a different experience today. I’m familiar with the stunned fish on the water’s surface when researchers survey the river with electric current. I’ve been electrofishing in a number of habitats, from Idaho spring creeks to Louisiana bayou. Lamer and fisheries ecologist Kris Maxson have brought me to this section of the Illinois River for a morning of electrofishing. “You ready for your first carp show?” asks Jim Lamer, director of the Illinois River Biological Station. The boat drifts to a stop near some submerged trees, the river quiet and tranquil.
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