Editor's note: The video above first aired on March 24, 2023.
Wildlife officials have captured hundreds of invasive carp from the Mississippi River near Trempealeau, Wisconsin.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced Friday that fisheries crews caught 296 silver carp, 23 grass carp and four bighead carp Nov. 30 in what the agency called the largest single capture of invasive carp in Minnesota to date.
Agency officials said the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources tracked six tagged invasive carp in that area of the river the week that led officials to even larger schools moving upstream. Observations from commercial anglers also helped officials pinpoint the fish.
The carp were imported to the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s to help rid southern aquaculture farms of algae, weeds and parasites. They escaped those farms through flooding and accidental releases, found their way into the Mississippi River and have used it as a superhighway to spread north into important rivers and streams in the nation’s midsection.
Carp are voracious eaters — adult bigheads and silvers can consume up to 40% of their body weight in a day — and easily out-compete native species, wreaking havoc on aquatic ecosystems. There are no hard estimates of invasive carp populations in the U.S., but they are now believed to number in the millions.
Wildlife officials are battling to keep them out of the Great Lakes and protect the region's $7 billion fishing industry.
Invasive carp have been moving upstream since escaping into the Mississippi River in Arkansas in the 1970s. These fish compete with native species and silver carp can jump out of the water, posing a risk to boaters.
Individual invasive carp have been caught as far upstream as Pool 2 of the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities metro area (bighead, grass and silver), the King Power Plant on the St. Croix River by Oak Park Heights (bighead and silver), and just downstream of Granite Falls in the Minnesota River (bighead).
Grace Loppnow, the Minnesota DNR's invasive carp coordinator, said the large number captured Nov. 30 is concerning but it's likely they moved upstream and didn't hatch in Minnesota waters.
“Tagging and tracking of invasive carp by the DNR and its partners is working and leading to the successful removal of fish in Minnesota,” Loppnow shared in a news release. “Wisconsin DNR crews located six tagged invasive carp in Pool 6 last week. Those detections, along with observations by our contracted commercial fisher, led to the successful removal of these invasive carp.”
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