# Asian Carp



## reelmichigan (Nov 24, 2009)

They are comin,

They are not doing enough to keep these fish out and it is spelling a soon to be disaster. Do you think they will have a significat impact in our lifetime?

Go to freep.com and search Asian Carp for the latest of several articles. I cannot post links yet.


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## GaryFisherman (Jan 9, 2009)

Be careful not to fall into the media created frenzy...I think it will not make serious in roads


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

I see there could be a huge impact, but do the bios know how cold water affects their metabolism and spawning success?

Southern Lake Michigan will more than likely be hit the hardest. (at first...Duh) Crossing the Straights with the influence of Lake Superior water may create a natural barrier temp wise and slow the spread. Weedy areas around Hessel will be a tell-tale. Once in Saginaw Bay - Look out

Lake St. Clair and Erie are more than likely perfect conditions, but the young could also end up as bait for our numerous perch, walleye, bass and pike and keep them in check. 

Scary long-term stuff


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## MERGANZER (Aug 24, 2006)

When they arrive we are screwed! It will ruin the watersports industry as well as alot of fishing. If they are anything close to our carp they will reek havoc on smaller streams as well!

Ganzer


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## Silver Panner (Apr 15, 2009)

I guess I don&#8217;t know why all parties (Indianan, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Ontario, etc) are not attempting to help or at least offering monetary support to IDNR to help stop the fish from getting into the GL's? Helping Illinois would be far less expensive then the effects of this fish getting into the GL's (cost to control, lost recreational revenue, etc.)


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## psycodad (Jul 17, 2004)

Check out this link here

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/70637997.html

Hopefully the DNA came from the butt of a seagull that was pecking on a dead carp.


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## ART (Jul 7, 2004)

If it is that important to everyone that they don't get into the lakes, why don't they adopt a dead river scorched earth policy in the twenty miles below the barrier.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

ART said:


> If it is that important to everyone that they don't get into the lakes, why don't they adopt a dead river scorched earth policy in the twenty miles below the barrier.


Exactly! THAT is the $64,000 question - and has been asked for years. The shipping canal that connects the Illinois river, and lake Michigan carries a lot of shipped goods. Filling it in, so it no longer connects, is the only 100% solution. And nobody seems able to get that idea considered seriously. It has been proposed for years. But government is not proactive in any real way. Government acts reactively -which means that the problem will not be properly addressed until it is too late. That time could be right now!! Electric barriers, and periodic poisoning of the waterway, are stop-gap measures. I put zero faith they will stop the invasion of these fish. And, once they are established, I can't think of any way to get rid of them. The government learned NOTHING from the invasion of Zebra and Quagga Mussels. 

Sport fishing, and commercial fishing, are multi-billion dollar industries for the States and Countries surrounding the Great Lakes. Unless someone can find a market for Quagga Mussels, and these Carp, the revenue loss will be catastrophic for the Great Lakes area, when they completely overwhelm the ecosystem.


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## Steelmon (Mar 30, 2009)

This sucks beyond description. My friend and I were discussing this issue a few days ago and the poor attempts to stem the progress of these fish. Does anyone know what their temperature range is? Maybe the colder waters of Lake Superior will be a natural barrier. I would suggest that we all contact the US Wildlife Service and the EPA about this issue. Tell them to act NOW. If we just sit here and complain about it, we're no better than the people that are supposed to be controlling this problem but aren't. I've sent emails to both agencies.


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## GaryFisherman (Jan 9, 2009)

Just read in the Freep.com that electro shocking produced..now get ready...NO Asian Carp near the weir or upstream in the Chicago canal

Everyone should know by now that when something is hyped and the scare tactics are used by the media that the story is false....

come on people!!


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## GaryFisherman (Jan 9, 2009)

http://freep.com/article/20091202/N...ian-carp-found-in-canal-before-poison-efforts

heard that the next scare is going to be the arrival of great colonies of Bigfoot in the woods up North...


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## Queequeg (Aug 10, 2007)

This issue is as big as they all say or bigger. This fish has ruined every fishery that it has touched and there is no reason to believe it wouldn't do the same or worse in the Great Lakes. Granholm has been proposing closing the gates in to the Gr Lakes for over a year, but of course that won't happen as shipping will stop (money talks). But, when these fish arrive we'll see the economic impact. 

Scorched earth policy has to be implemented. There is evidence to suggest that the fish have made it past the electric barrier, so something drastic has to happen.

We'll see what the next few days bring. Sunday the IDNR should be done with the fish kills and we'll see how many of these sloth-like fish bubble up to the surface.


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## Steelmon (Mar 30, 2009)

The article said that a handful may have made into Lake Mich. already.That's all it takes to start a population. Look at what happened when a few gobies got into the lakes. We just don't learn from history and that's very sad.

.


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## Silverexpress (Sep 6, 2006)

Taking the worst cast scenerio in hand, can these fish be used as the foundation for a new fishery, commercial use - industry?

Such as....

1. Fertilizer
2. Food source
3. Ingredients in commerical/industrial items
4. Fuel

Etc...

There maybe opportunities here.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Silverexpress said:


> Taking the worst cast scenerio in hand, can these fish be used as the foundation for a new fishery, commercial use - industry?
> 
> Such as....
> 
> ...


Yes, there may be opportunities to use them in some beneficial way. BUT, it would be at the expense of all other fish in the ecosystem. I realize you are looking for the silver lining in this cloud, but the cloud still remains. Who really wants to trade Salmon, Trout, Whitefish, Perch, Walleyes, Bass, Muskies, Pike, Suckers, etc for Carp? Once they are established, it will be all but impossible to kill them off. This isn't like the 50's and 60's, when Alewives dominated the Great Lakes. Alewives are little fish, which serve as food for larger fish (although they still overtook the ecosystem). What is going to prey on a 60# - 110# fish? And since they feed on algae, they can't be taken by conventional fishing methods.


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## Silverexpress (Sep 6, 2006)

Fishndude said:


> Yes, there may be opportunities to use them in some beneficial way. BUT, it would be at the expense of all other fish in the ecosystem. I realize you are looking for the silver lining in this cloud, but the cloud still remains. Who really wants to trade Salmon, Trout, Whitefish, Perch, Walleyes, Bass, Muskies, Pike, Suckers, etc for Carp? Once they are established, it will be all but impossible to kill them off. This isn't like the 50's and 60's, when Alewives dominated the Great Lakes. Alewives are little fish, which serve as food for larger fish (although they still overtook the ecosystem). What is going to prey on a 60# - 110# fish? And since they feed on algae, they can't be taken by conventional fishing methods.


You're right, what I'm looking for is a silver lining - in this case commercial "over fishing" of Asian Carp to keep them in check.

Total eradication may become impossible and keep in mind it's only one way of looking at things. There's an opportunity in every situation - you just have to learn to think out of the box. Right now we are looking thru the eyes of sportsmen.


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## wanderboy (Sep 24, 2008)

I heard (unoffical) stories that people that were working on those waters effected by the asian carp, did turn to catch those commerically and sell them. Facts are those fish will be here eventually, nuke the whole water for 10 miles is not going to kill them all (let alone killing all other fishes). People might start thinking out of box, grag a heavy rod & reel w/ 30# line (or use bat if you perfer), give it a shot. I would love to fight those fish on the other end of the line. :corkysm55

One question remains, if they feed on algae/weed, why so worry about our perch/bass/walleye? it's not like they'll turn (maybe, maybe not) to fish after seeing a few swiming around....

another thing, I don't know if they can survive in this cold waters of Great Lakes. LSC might be OK at near shore, but Huron, MIchigan, SUperior? Back home, they went belly up whenever a cold front hits hard. Remember, this "Asian" carp, is more like "Southeast Asian" carp, not "Mongolia Asia" carp.


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## wanderboy (Sep 24, 2008)

Silverexpress said:


> If we can convince the Chinese that 'American' caught Asian carp have magical medicinal properties when ground and mixed with green tea, I think we could literally be sitting on a gold mine.
> 
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: Not everything has medicinal properties, and not everything goes well with green tea. however, they do make good eating. If you can work the bony trouts, you can do carp.


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## Steelmon (Mar 30, 2009)

They also feed on suspended matter [plankton], which the smallest baitfish eat, which larger fish eat. That's why they are such a threat. One 80 lb. Asian Carp eats about 20 lbs of plankton per day.

It's only the Silver Carp that may go belly up in cold water. The other types have been reared and harvested by the Chinese for 1,000 years. It gets very cold in China. They are used for Chinese Medicine too Silver Express. That info came from Wikapedia.


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## Queequeg (Aug 10, 2007)

Close the locks, shock the river, and poison twice a month. Do whatever it takes. Not worth it to do nothing. The shipping industry, however, will make all the decisions on this and in a year we'll all be fishing the Asian Carp run instead of Salmon and steelhead run because nothing else will be left to catch.


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