Silver and Bigheads found in P2

[DTro]

(Released July 18, 2014)

Commercial fishermen under contract by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources netted two adult invasive carp in Pool 2 of the Mississippi River in the Cottage Grove area on Thursday, July 17.

One was a bighead carp that weighed approximately 40 pounds. The other was a silver carp – silver carp are the ones that leap from the water when disturbed – that weighed about 20 pounds.

Pool 2 is the portion of the Mississippi River above the dam at Hastings and extends upstream to the Ford Dam. Backwater lakes included are Baldwin Lake, River Lake, Spring Lake, Mooers Lake and Grey Cloud Slough.

Bighead and silver carp had not been found this far north in the Mississippi River. Until now, bighead carp had not been detected above the mouth of the St. Croix River near Prescott, Wis.; silver carp had not been detected above Pool 5A near Winona.

“The fish were caught as part of our invasive carp detection program,” said Brad Parsons, DNR regional fisheries manager. “This is disappointing but not entirely unexpected.” Parsons said while it’s unknown how long these fish were in Pool 2 it is known that invasive carp migrate upstream during high water conditions. “Such conditions existed for many weeks this year,” he said.

Parsons said the discovery of these fish does not necessarily mean a breeding population of invasive carp exists within Pool 2. Still, he said both fish were females that contained eggs. “That’s concerning,” he said. “Invasive carp pose a threat to our native fisheries, water recreation and ecosystems.”

The DNR will continue its invasive carp sampling efforts next week in an effort to determine if more or smaller invasive carp are in the Grey Cloud Slough area. They will do this by setting additional gill nets and trap nets that are designed to catch smaller fish. The sampling nets used by commercial fisherman catch larger fish.

The DNR has been intensively sampling the Minnesota, St. Croix and Mississippi rivers for more than two years to assess the presence of all life stages of invasive carp. It is increasing sampling efforts in extreme southern Minnesota later this year (Pools 6 and 8).

Silver and bighead carp are two of four species of invasive carp threatening the Mississippi River and other native ecosystems. They can grow to 60 pounds, and they impact the base of the food chain by consuming large amounts of plankton that native fish also rely on.

Populations of bighead and silver carp are established in the Mississippi River and its tributaries downstream of Pool 16 in Iowa. Bighead carp have been found in Lake Pepin and the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, and as far north as the mouth of the St. Croix in Prescott, Wis. But there is no indication bighead or silver carp are reproducing in the Minnesota waters of the Mississippi or St. Croix rivers.

The DNR continues to take a multi-pronged approach to managing Asian carp including:

Monitoring for invasive carp by using targeted surveying and contracted commercial fishing.

Partnering with the University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center, which is researching ways to prevent the spread and to manage populations of invasive carp.

Improvements to the Coon Rapids Dam to make it a better fish barrier.

This discovery of invasive carp highlights the importance of recently passed federal legislation that will close the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock by June 2015.

The agency maintains that this is the best approach to keeping invasive carp out of the upper Mississippi River watershed. Gov. Mark Dayton has been a strong supporter of closing the lock.

For more information on invasive carp in Minnesota, visit

www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasive-carp/index.html.

[delcecchi]

They are waiting a year to give the carp time to prepare? To make it a fair contest?

[PurpleFloyd]

Need....

More....

Stickers.....

[theharvester]

And tighter slots

[Northlander]

They have know this for years.

[fisherman-andy]

This is disappointing to hear. But it was as guessed only a matter of time?

If you cant stop, may as well cook it. They arent bottom feeders, If I had to eat one I would eat them first before I would eat a common carp, bullhead, or catfish. Its too bad their invasive otherwise word is they taste pretty good.

Accordingly to these guys honest opinion in the video taste as good as Crappie, Blue Gill etc. Very white flaky meat. Smoked, fried or bake. Just filet off the Y bone.

http://youtu.be/W_Wcy-xILSQ

[Down Deep]

China exports them to 70 countries, however they are getting scarce due to the pollution of their native rivers and over consumption. Sooner or later the food industry will exploit the food market value for the US population, change the name and they will be in your local grocery store right next to the "Slimehead" I mean "Orange Roughy".

[NKLCOLT1911]

Improvements to the Coon Rapids Dam to make it a better fish barrier.

This discovery of invasive carp highlights the importance of recently passed federal legislation that will close the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock by June 2015.

The agency maintains that this is the best approach to keeping invasive carp out of the upper Mississippi River watershed. Gov. Mark Dayton has been a strong supporter of closing the lock.

For more information on invasive carp in Minnesota, visit

www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasive-carp/index.html.

i still dont understand why they are going to close that lock, they will be able to get to every river, why not close one farther down stream and try and stop them from getting this far north, another reason dayton needs to go this fall.

[eyedr]

Before they do anything, they should change the name of the bighead carp, as not to offend anyone who may have an abnormally large dome.

[corncob]

All the forces that be have been contemplating a multitude of actions to take to prevent these carp from advancing FOR MANY YEARS....Apparently no rush, even tho shocking horror stories have been put forth fearing the ruination of our fishing resourse,and,of course the carp beat the fix....DAH!...Talk about a day late and a dollar short....Hurry up and wait!......