grass carp are coming

[Guest skeeter99]

was reading this on the OFAH site very interesting

 

Carp catch an alarming sign

Author: Sharon Hill

Source: The Windsor Star July 31, 2007

 

 

 

 

Carp catch an alarming sign

A metre-long carp caught near Sarnia last week will be sent to the Royal Ontario Museum this week to confirm if it's an invasive grass carp.

 

"If we get something like this in here it could completely collapse the system," Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist Becky Cudmore said Monday.

 

Cudmore, the manager of the department's centre of expertise for aquatic risk assessment in Burlington, said that on a worry scale of one to 10, she rated the grass carp catch an 8.5. She said any of the four species commonly called Asian carp, including the grass carp, is a top concern because the fish can push out native fish by reproducing and growing quickly. Grass carp eat aquatic plants that native fish need as habitat, she said.

 

Of the four kinds of fish commonly called Asian carp -- the grass carp, the bighead carp, the silver carp and the black carp -- the silver carp is the one that jumps out of the water, and along with the bighead carp it has taken over the Mississippi River. These are the two that so worry experts that an electric barrier in Chicago was built to keep them from reaching the Great Lakes.

 

The grass carp, caught last week by commercial fisherman Milford Purdy on Lake Huron, looks like an isolated situation and not part of an established population, said Beth Brownson, a senior invasive species biologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The fish can live 30 years and could have been released before the province passed legislation in 2005 banning the buying and selling of the live invasive carp.

 

The Asian carp were introduced into the United States for the aquaculture industry, used in fish farms to eat up vegetation. Somehow, some have been released into watercourses leading to such major tributaries as the Mississippi.

 

Brownson said Ontario is very concerned about Asian carp getting into the Great Lakes.

 

Peter Meisenheimer, executive director with the Ontario Commercial Fisheries Association, said other catches of grass carp, especially in Lake Huron, suggest they could be breeding or that they are escaping so frequently that Ontario should be more concerned. He said grass carp that are released are supposed to be sterile but he's not convinced all are.

 

Meisenheimer said the Asian carp should have never been allowed into North America and are part of a larger story of an "extreme lack of response" to stop invasive species. He said a new exotic gets into the Great Lakes every nine months. He called for stricter controls such as inspecting the ballast water of every ship coming into the Great Lakes, a common invader route.

 

"This is the thing that's so deeply frustrating to me. Every time we see one of these things it's a reminder of what's coming down the pipe and the reminder of the extreme irresponsibility of lawmakers in this country towards this kind of problem."

 

He said he doesn't see a way to keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, where Ontario's commercial fishing industry is worth $40 million a year in landed catch and $100 million to $250 million once processed.

 

Tests on an inner ear bone called an otolith will tell scientists more about the age of the fish and perhaps whether it lived in the lake or came out of an aquarium recently.

 

In 2003, a grass carp was found in the Don River near Lake Ontario. Three were caught in Lake Huron in 1989 and 1998. One was caught in 1985 in Lake Erie west of Point Pelee.

 

FISHERMAN'S TALE

 

Milford Purdy's family has been in the commercial fishing business for 107 years, so the Purdy Fisheries owner says he rarely catches a fish he doesn't recognize.

 

But last week, the 69-year-old Point Edward resident was taken by surprise when he was fishing on Lake Huron near Sarnia.

 

"We pulled the net out and I said, what's that strange fish in there?" Purdy said with a laugh. "Because it was almost four feet long -- I thought it must be one of those jumping carp."

 

Purdy said there have long been rumours of Asian carp infiltrating the waters of Lake Huron, so he immediately called the Ministry of Natural Resources to come and examine the fish.

 

"It looked like a carp only it was slimmer and a lot longer and bigger," said Purdy. "It was also more of a silvery colour than gold."

 

The ministry concluded that it was a grass carp, a worrisome invasive species but not the jumping silver carp that so worries experts.

 

"If they get in --they're going to affect my business in some way," said Purdy. "They will change the whole ecosystem."

 

 

 

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[Greencoachdog]

OMG! OMG! The sky is falling The sky is falling!!! I'll bet they said the same things when the Common Carp was introduced to North America...

[Crazyhook]

Grass carp are not that bad

[fishindevil]

This is not good....the dam govnerment better wake up ,we are in trouble if those asian carp get in here,to the great lakes .....

[OhioFisherman]

They sell the for stocking in ponds here for weed control, triplod white amur or something like that. They are supposed to be sterile? LOL roll them over and spread their fins to check? Seen some in ponds 30-40 pounds, like a pig rooting on the bottom.

 

Cool segment on the news here last week, extreme bow fishing on the Illinois river, hit the carp in the air with a bow.

[Greencoachdog]

This is not good....the dam govnerment better wake up ,we are in trouble if those asian carp get in here,to the great lakes .....

 

They taste like chicken!!!

[Crazyhook]

White bucket fishing association are very happy with the great news

[Photoz]

HEY Y Y Y !!! 'THE SKY IS FALLING . . . . THE SKY IS FALLING' . . . . That's MY Line, eh? We ALREADY had this guy's fish story posted a while back . . . . 20+ years in the commercial fishing business . . . got a grass carp . . . . didn't know what it was?? SLOW news day?

[redx]

Nature has its way to sort things out. I mean zebra mussels were the big "OMG" in the Lake St. Clair +10 years ago but eventually fish started to eat them. The Lake St. Clair used to be like glass thanks to them then, filtering the water and swimmers had to wear shoes. But now... the only big problem I can think of is low water levels...

 

I'm sure grass carp, big head carp and other invading species are just around the conner. And few others will eventually come in anyway. No big deal I say since most of the fish in Canada are introduced anyway. I'm sure there will be a way to even it out.

[Canuck2fan]

The carp will be a problem assuming that there is still any water left in the Great Lakes once the U.S of A decides that treaty ban or not they will just take bulk water exports from the lakes. If the drought situation persists throughout much of the south west what choice will they have? So, I am more worried about seeing that happen than I am about an invasive species that can most likely be killed off if necessary in the future, we would just to need to target that carp killer virus the ministry was playing with on Scrugrog earlier this year.

 

Once the level of the Lakes drop another 5 feet or so many spawning beds of fish we now enjoy will be gone forever...