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StumbleBottom feeders muscling other species out of way
Invasive carp not content to just swim in the mud; they’re destroying other fish habitats
Carp go on a feeding frenzy for a tourist’s popcorn next to the docks of the Lake Mead Marina.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Catching carp
Carp fishing is common in Europe and is growing in popularity in the United States. According to carp-usa.info, the fish are attracted to whole-kernel sweet corn, both thrown into the water as chum and on the end of a small hook.For more
For more information on the Carp Rodeo, log on to getoutdoorsnevada.org. One-day fishing permits are available at the Nevada Department of Wildlife licensing webpage here.
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In the depths of Nevada’s streams and reservoirs lies a voracious bully of a fish bent on becoming king of the bottom feeders.
Carp — ugly brown fish from Europe and Asia that can grow to more than three feet long and 35 pounds in Nevada waters — are eating most of the food and damaging the nesting habitat for native fish and birds in waters across the state.
By some estimates, tens of thousands of this invasive species have made Nevada home.
State and federal wildlife managers want to bring that number to zero, and this summer they’re asking the public for help.
The fish “eat whatever is available to them. They’re opportunists,” said Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex Manager Cynthia Martinez. “They tend to compete with native fish and even waterfowl for food availability, and they’re very aggressive in pushing out other species.”
Among those fish getting pushed around is the Pahranagat round tail chub, an endangered species that is native to the upper stretches of Pahranagat Creek in Lincoln County.
This greenish-yellow, black-splotched fish is among the most endangered in the state. It’s threatened most by development and irrigation in the area, but also by the carp’s constant scavenging, which muddies the water and impedes chub breeding. And carp regularly prey upon chub babies, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
After being planted in Pahranagat-area irrigation canals decades ago to clear the waterways of aquatic detritus, the carp made their way into the Pahranagat Lake reservoir and eventually began making their way up the Pahranagat Creek to chub habitat.
Wildlife managers there are working to reduce the population of carp.
The best way to do that is with line and pole.
This is where the public comes in. Rather than pay staff to fish all day, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Nevada Wildlife Division will host a party — a Carp Rodeo, in fact — at the Upper Pahranagat Lake campground July 17.
Inexperienced anglers are encouraged to make the hour-and-a-half drive from Las Vegas to the campground, where staff can supply reel and tackle if needed and offer basic fishing lessons. The state Division of Wildlife is offering a single-day fishing license for the event. A license is required for all anglers 12 and older.
There will also be face painting and other activities for those whose patience or luck can’t withstand four hours of fishing.
The plan is to get as many carp as possible out of the lake while teaching families about native species and the joys of outdoor activities.
“We thought this would be a good chance to get families out into the refuge for some fun,” said Dan Balduini of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, noting that carp are fun to hook because they often put up a good fight.
And while not a fan of carp, either stuffed and mounted on his wall or served up on his plate, Balduini acknowledged that some anglers do eat the fish, which is often compared in taste to catfish.
In fact there are entire Web sites dedicated to turning this muck sucker into an edible meal.
Most suggest copious quantities of butter.
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casinos now start serving bargain fish carp....
no reason why this carp cannot be used for food, feed the homeless have a big BBQ
lake michigan had a similiar problem years ago and they fought it w/ another predatory fish, the coho salmon. although voracious, it wasnt speedy so they bred it with a walleye and called it a cowal; much improvement but lacked stamina so they bred the cowal with a muskie and called it a cowalski, but unfortunately they couldnt teach it how to swim.
Pat Mullroy has a solution to the fish problem.
be happy they are not flying asian carp like they have in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLFe8xfgx... they just jump right in the boat
Comment removed by moderator. Off-topic.
I watched the tape WEDO.....that's incredible.Too think you'll need a helmet,chest pad,elbow pads and knee pads just for a day of boating on the river. Time to sterilize some carb.This happens with everything and everytime people introduce something to the water or land...it takes it over.
Comment removed by moderator. flaming
These carp are nasty and when they've eaten everything in the lake they eat their own. Nuke em all....
They should be harvested with nets and made into fish meal which can be sold.
If there from Europe and Asia how did they end up here in such great numbers? In other words, what's to keep this from happening again?
Uddeboda,
as it says in the story, they were purposefully introduced by farmers who needed to clear the plant detritus out of their canals.
"... are eating most of the food and damaging the nesting habitat for native fish and birds", sounds like they might be related to Harrah's. Are they Harrah's Carp?
When I lived Florida in the late 70's, the state advocated killing the Gar fish. The Gar fed on the Bass so the state wanted you to just throw them on land by the canals so the gators could eat the Gar.
They also had a problem in some areas with walking catfish. They would actually get out of the water and walk along the land looking for food. There are some of these in Nevada. At one time I remember reading about the discovery of Tilapia in the Overton Arm area. The state advocated killing these also. In would think the state could at least thin the population on Lake Mead but never completely rid them.
Hey listen,the day a walking catfish taps me on my shoulder.........I'm leaving!!
Carp are disgusting! I remember as a child feeding those gross fish on the Lake Mead docks. Yuck! Get rid of them!
So a gnat or an endangered fly can stop development, but thousands of "ugly brown fish from Europe and Asia" should die according to state and federal wildlife managers?
I could care less about the fish but I bet if they were cute there would be a lot of protesting going on here.
Selective enforcement I suppose, like the folks who go insane if a dolphin gets caught in a fishermans net...but they don't say a word about all the tuna or shrimp in the nets.
What are you babbling about?
It's called sarcasm geena, calm down.
So if I don't want to eat the carp, or otherwise take one home, is there some other way to dispose of whatever you catch? Since this is an event designed to help rid the waterways of these invasive pests, catch and release isn't a good idea. Nor is killing the fish and throwing the dead meat back into the water to rot.
And why is there "face painting" for kids? Exactly how will a child learn to become an angler let alone an avid, young, outdoorsman or woman if they're waiting in line simply to wear goofy paint so they can act like fools? Kids won't ever grow into being responsible, mature adults if you keep retarding their development with face paint and participation awards.
Carp is good fertilizer for your plant and trees.
I heard people smoke it (in a smoker).
They are bottom feeder and eat everthing.
The Asian fish markets are full of carp for sale, so there is very obviously some market for them as a food.
I think Utah had a problem similar to this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/us/27c...
make a joke about the article being about union workers = comment deleted.
make an identical joke about illegal immigrants and the comment stays up.
Once carp get established they breed like crazy and drive out other more beneficial fish. Being bottom feeders they stir up the mud and generally make a mess if you have enough of them. Delavan Lake in southeastern Wisconsin used to be riddled with carp until they poisoned the whole lake and killed everything. Every few years, before the poisoning, they would come in and drag the lake and haul away truckloads of carp. Other lakes and waterways in the area also have carp problems. I mention Delavan Lake as it is not a very large lake and the amount of carp harvested there was huge.
Whenever we would go to Laughlin and do the river walk there was always an abundance of carp in shallows where the current wasn't too swift.
As for what will be done with the fish people catch but which no one wants to eat, the Refuge is looking into selling them for other uses or just throwing it out (but not throwing it back into the lake).
Allowing fishing for one day at one location wont even make a dent in the population, how about free carp fishing all year long? Also, lets have someone take a big net to all of em' dumb enough to come right to the surface at the dock.
carp are starting to take over some of the great lakes, too.
ThisOneGuy, I am calm but sometimes you just honestly ramble and bitch about nothing. You have some really good ideas, just make em concise and clarify.
I guess sarcasm is not allowed when it goes against the leftist agenda of the sun...Carp, like illegals, are bottom feeders whose only hope is to take what is not theirs and make it their own.
@dipstick: ROFLcopter! I suspect that if more people got the joke your comment would have been removed by now because people here tend to be deficient when it comes to humor. Still, excellent job!
@thisoneguy: Unfortunately, picking up on sarcasm requires a certain amount of cognitive activity--rather than read/see-and-react--that a majority of people definitely lack.