Carp are wonderful???

[ddolph]

Posted: Jul 12, 2004 - 12:01 PM

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... une_sucker

[romayer]

...I think it's incomplete.

[ddolph]

Sorry here is the article:

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... une_sucker


Science - AP


Utah Seeks to Save June Sucker Population

Mon Jul 12,11:20 AM ET Add Science - AP to My Yahoo!



PROVO, Utah - Wildlife officials may begin removing carp from Utah Lake as early as next spring in an effort to save endangered June sucker populations.



Carp are devastating Utah Lake, said Chris Keleher, conservation biologist with the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program.


"All indicators are that the carp population is extremely large," Keleher said. "At this point, we don't see any natural control of that population."


Averaging about 2 feet and weighing 8.7 pounds, the fish have reduced the lake bed to mud in the 123 years since they were introduced by settlers.


They eat vegetation, stripping it away from the edge of the lake, making it all but impossible for the spawn of the endangered June sucker to hide from predators. As the carp forage the mud, they churn up years of trapped phosphorus, feeding algae that deplete the water of oxygen.


Scientists have just completed a 15-day, $130,000 study in which more than 34,000 carp were captured, tagged and released during the first phase of the study. Another 10,000 carp were then captured. Of those, only 2 percent — 208 carp — had tags, Keleher said. Over the next few weeks, experts will use that information to determine a statistical carp population.


Because so few tagged carp were found in the second phase of the study, a precise number of carp in the lake will be hard to define. Researchers will recommend to June sucker officials that another survey be done next spring, with carp removal beginning at the same time. A final decision will be made in December or January.


"If we want to get a more diverse community of fish in Utah Lake, we have to control the carp," Keleher said. "That means more fish, including the June sucker. You would get restoration of aquatic plants, and you get habitat complexity that provides cover for young fish and aquatic bugs, and with that comes more diverse bird species and things like that. There is an entire ecosystem response if we can get control of the carp."


After a second study next year, researchers could determine, depending on the data gathered, that the carp population is so pervasive that no human effort to control them will succeed, he said.


The June sucker Recovery Program has an annual budget of $1 million, which must be split between research, water quality enhancement, water and habitat acquisition and carp control and other habitat management efforts. It is not clear how much money would be available for carp removal next year.


If removing carp is deemed too expensive or unlikely to succeed, experts may try to turn small parts of the lake into a June sucker sanctuary.


Another option would be to wait for several research projects being done in Australia and other parts of the world where scientists are trying to implant a gene into carp that would kill them after they have bred, Keleher said.


In the 1800s, Utah Lake was home to at least six native species of fish, he said. Today, the June sucker and the Utah sucker are the only two remaining.


In 1994, the federal government named the June sucker an endangered species, allowing its habitat to be protected by law.

[pikedevil]

Hmm they want to control the carp and they caught 44,000 of the things....and then LET THEM ALL GO!!!! :dizzy:
That makes a lot of since.

[live2fishdjs]

Sounds like Green Giant should sponsor a contest, and someone else should jump on board for the fertilizer end of it. :p

In all seriousness, it would be a great way to get Utah kids into fishing! :fish: