Crazy Carp Have Invaded Missouri's River

NW Cable News ^ | 08/28/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Crazy carp have invaded Missouri's rivers. Two species of nonnative carp have been jumping into boats, injuring occupants and damaging the watercraft.

A state fisheries biologist motoring near Columbia had a filling knocked out of his tooth by a high-flying fish that struck him on the side of the head. Another state biologist in the St. Charles area was seriously hurt when he was hit by a giant carp.

Brian Todd of the Missouri Department of Conservation said the big head carp and silver carp were brought to private fish hatcheries from Asia by the aquaculture industry. They were intended to eat excess algae and waste in aquaculture ponds - which grow fish for food as well as bait and tropical fish. But they escaped in floodwaters in 1993, 1995 and 2002.

"This could be an indefinite problem," Todd said. "They are safe to eat, but ecologically they could damage the mussel population and are competing with native fish for food. We are going to hear more and more over the next few years about the problems these fish are causing, especially injuries to boaters and anglers."

Todd said the carp have been spotted in many of Missouri's rivers, including throughout the Missouri River.

"The sound of a propeller under water makes these fish go crazy," Todd said. "The fish don't jump if you're sitting there without the motor on, but the higher the RPMs, the greater the noise, the higher these fish jump."

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[carptracker]

Shooting the fish has actually been tried here, but it is illegal to shoot fish with a firearm in Missouri. There have been some tickets handed out.

[carpio]

I am writing an article on instructions for cleaning and eating the Asian carp

Where might I find the article. Eating things that "City People" find fit only to throw away is one of my hobbies.

[carptracker]

It will be in the Missouri Conservationist, most likely published in March.

[Oberon]

Or a shotgun - if you can lead them just right!:)

Be careful... you'll get arrested for owning those "carp-killer" bullets...

[4mycountry]

Welcome to FR.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[bert]

Welcome to Free Republic and thanks for your very informative post.

The process is slow but thorough.

[bert]

Thanks for resetting the stripes in my mind.

[Johnny_Cipher]

Ewwwwww. New keyboard, please. :)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

ping...

[monocle]

Rabbits in Australia? Isn't this generally the case with imported species multiplying out of control because of the absence on natural predators?

[Gritty]

Why is it most of these pestilent imports come from Asia?

[tiki]

They should put a bounty on them and let fishermen compete to get the most.

[carptracker]

A bounty means tax-payer dollars. Better to encourage market forces, in most cases. The fish are, after all, good to eat.

[carptracker]

The conditions have to be just right for an invasive species to take off and become prominent. In general, very adaptable species do the best. And sometimes (the Perna perna mussel invasion of the Gulf Coast is the best example I know) an invasive species takes off and reaches huge abundances, and then later the native species figure out how to deal with the newcomers and then the newcomers can be driven down to manageable levels or in some cases they completely dissappear. Then there are other cases, like the rabbits, in which the oldtimers never learn to deal with the newcomers. In the case of Australia, most of the mammals are marsupials, which is a strike against them competitively to begin with, I think. Note that kangaroos and wallabys are not taking over anywhere new.

[cajun-jack]

hell, we all can...if we can catch it or kill it, we can pretty much eat it....a good place for free receipes for fine cajun cuisine is www.jfolse.com he is a very well known cajun chef...owns a couple of upscale extablishments (4 i think)...has a cooking show on PBS.

you can get free receipes from his website...i don't have paul prudhomme's web addy right at my fingertips, but google does.

[mtbopfuyn]

But they escaped in floodwaters in 1993, 1995 and 2002.

So they didn't add safety measures after the '93 flood. Or the '95 flood. Or, most likely, the '02 flood. Heck by now, are there any silver carp still in captivity?

[carptracker]

Why do many invasives come from Asia? Asia is a big place (lots of different animals to start with) and they are on the same latitude with us (pre-adapted to our climate). Also, we have a lot of trade with Asia, so there is a lot of chance for the things to come over in ballast water, or hiding in with whatever shoes and toys and food that we bring in. Also, in the last hundred years or less, there have been a large number of Asian people coming over, and they want the foods that they are used to in Asia. Many of the plants (almost most of small flowering plants around here)and animals (horses,razorback pigs, rats, house mice)that we are used to came over from Europe a lot earlier. It doesn't mean that there haven't been negative consequences, it is just that the system and the people have adapted to the new set of circumstances, and we don't remember or know what it would have been like before. If rats had just come in recently, we'd be going crazy figuring out what to do. maybe in 100 years, Asian carp will be the favorite sport fish and commercial fish in our rivers. But that would be a sad thing, because most people who know the difference would much rather catch a flathead catfish or a paddlefish.

[carptracker]

There are silver carp still in captivity in at least one aquaculture facility that I know of in Arkansas. There are bighead carp in aquaculture facilities all over the place. It might be too late to worry about those - (closing the gate after the horses got out, and there are people making part of their livlihood from them), but it would be wise at a minimum to keep them out of drainages where they have not established a population.