DNR Braces For Arrival Of Destructive Asian Carp

November 4, 2007

Release from: Associated Press

State outdoors officials are bracing for what they believe could be another invasion of Asian carp, a voracious fish that can gobble up a lake's food supply.

The Department of Natural Resources released a report to the Legislature last week on the impending arrival of the non-native fish. To keep the fish out, the agency is recommending barriers of light, sound, bubbles or electricity on Minnesota waterways to keep them from going upstream.

The agency is also proposing tightened restrictions on importing carp; more vigilance on individuals releasing carp into local waters; and investigating whether Asian carp are sold in local ethnic stores.

Although no figures were released in the DNR report, it says the cost for such systems to block the fish is "high." In 2004, agency proposed similar solutions that were estimated to cost from $8 million to $25 million.

Even then, the latest report says, the effort would not keep the Asian carp out and it is only a matter of time before the fish populate Minnesota waters. "Preventing the introduction of Asian carp ... is a daunting challenge," the report said, "and unlikely to be successful in the long-term."

Doing nothing would allow the fish to migrate more quickly into the area and give them more time to destroy the ecosystem of the state's lakes and rivers, the report says.

Bighead carp, one of the Asian varieties, can grow to 100 pounds and are so voracious they leave nothing for native species to eat. Another variety, the silver carp, is a safety hazard because it leaps out of the water as boats pass.

One of the voracious plankton-eating carp was caught in the St. Croix River in 1994 and another in Lake Pepin in 2004 in southeastern Minnesota. Then last month a commercial fisherman caught a 29-pounder in Lake Pepin.

The sighting unsettled DNR officials because Asian carp usually don't come as far north as Minnesota. The fish are common in places such as Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and the southern United States. But they have not been spotted in Minnesota for nearly three years.