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Petition Tag - carp
Cyprinus carpio was supposedly first introduced into the United States in New York during the 1830's while others report the first carp were brought into California in the early 1870’s. In 1871 the U.S. Congress authorized President Ulysses S. Grant to appoint the U.S. Fish Commission to oversee the nation's fisheries interests.
Among the first tasks was to consider what species to introduce to bolster the nations supply of food fishes. By 1874 the commission after long study issued a report entitled "Fishes Especially worthy of Cultivation" It went on to say that no other species except the carp, promises so great a return in limited waters. Cited were advantages over such fish as black bass, trout, grayling and others. In 1876 the commission enumerated other good qualities such as high fecundity (a count of ripe eggs in the female fish), adaptability to artificial propagation, hardiness of growth, adaptability to environmental conditions unfavorable to equally palatable species, rapid growth, harmlessness in relation to fish of other species, ability to populate waters to it's greatest extent, and fine table qualities.
Within several years many states were involved in the propagation and stocking of millions of carp. The Ohio State Fish Commission stocked tributaries of Lake Erie. Every major river in Illinois was stocked. Fish rescue missions from 1890-1920 conducted by various states and the US fish Commission stocked hundreds of lakes and rivers, particularly into the Midwestern region of the US. In a few short years the effort to introduce the resource of carp had been successful. By 1897 the Commission discontinued the stocking because carp had been distributed nearly everywhere and many states assumed the task of propagation and stocking of carp.
History demonstrates that the federal and state governments of the US undertook a massive effort to install the carp in all of our waters from coast to coast in an effort that no other country has ever embarked upon. History also indicates that American anglers in great numbers lead the world today in the history of carp angling since the earliest turn of the century.
Generations of anglers have enjoyed the carp as a sport or food fish. History also indicates that the carp found in our many waters did not escape the ponds of long ago carp farmers, as the myth is told, but were placed carefully for our angling benefit by thoughtful government agencies.
Is Cyprinus carpio still an invasive species today? Federal and state government agencies and conservation groups do continue to list the common carp among invasive species, and the fish remains disreputable among a majority of anglers. Fishermen should ask themselves if they’ve ever chased brown trout in the U.S. If so, they’ve fished for and admired a species that came from Europe and is not native to North America – an invasive species. The National Park Service notes that native species can be invasive also.
Consider largemouth bass in California and Mexico, smallmouth bass in Oregon, walleye pike in South Dakota, northern pike in Colorado, salmon in the Great Lakes, and so on. These are examples of enormously popular sport fish enthusiastically pursued in waters outside their native ranges – invasive species.
These hard to ignore facts dictates that Cyprinus carpio is not an invasive species anymore but a deliberately introduced fish that has been swimming in our lakes, rivers and streams for close to 181 years. This should move them into a classification of a non-invasive fish. How can Cyprinus carpio be considered invasive when they can be found in almost All Indiana waters already. They were here before us and will be here for decades to come.
If you agree that Cyprinus carpio and its sub-species should be removed from the Indiana Aquatics Invasive Species list, then please make your opinion known by signing this petition. When complete, this petition will be delivered to the Indiana Natural Resources Commission and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Department for their consideration.
In the state of Indiana no other species of fish is as widespread and as abundant than the common carp. “Carp are found in virtually every Indiana watershed, lake and stream. Where carp are common, they typically account for more than half the fish biomass.” (As cited in a 2008 written document by Bill James Chief of Indiana Fisheries Division of Fish and Wildlife).
Their formidable size and explosive fighting power are but just two reasons why they are gaining popularity not only in Indiana but nation wide. Most “sport” fisherman will tell you that pound for pound, carp are one of the hardest fighting freshwater fish. “They clearly have a sport fishing value.” (As cited in a 2008 written document by Bill James Chief of Indiana Fisheries Division of Fish and Wildlife)
Carp fishing is gaining more and more fishermen every day through publicity and education thanks to groups like Carp Anglers Group of America (CAG) the American Carp Society and our own Hoosier Carpers organization. Fishermen in the U.S. and Indiana now seem to realize how challenging and exciting carp fishing really is. This gaining popularity is having many states taking a second look at this misunderstood fish. Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, and West Virginia have carp specifically listed under their sport fish species, while Tennessee, Maryland and Minnesota lists carp among there sport fish species but do not specifically state they are.
In Austin Texas on Lady Bird Lake, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has imposed regulations allowing anglers to only keep one fish over 33 inches a day, but no daily limit on anything under that size. This proposed rule change would promote carp as an untapped fishing opportunity, particularly for bank fishing in an urban area. The first of its kind in Texas.
As you can see from these facts, carp fishing has the potential to add a new dimension to the sport of angling in Indiana and could someday rival bass as the most popular freshwater sport fish. So I ask why hasn’t this fish been recognized as a sport fish in Indiana yet? After all the chief of Indiana Fisheries Division of Fish and Wildlife stated that they clearly have sport fishing value. That should be reason enough.
If you agree that Cyprinus carpio and its sub-species should be classified and recognized as a sport fish in Indiana, then please make your opinion known by signing this petition. When complete, this petition will be delivered to the Indiana State Legislators and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Department for there consideration.
The private contractors were willing to carry out the works for a considerable charge, but would sell the fish as part of the process. British Waterways on the other hand are happy to rehome the fish in local waterways, but once rehomed, the fish will be owned by British Waterways and will not be returned to Chasewater.
Once the water levels and the ecology of the reservoir are back to acceptable levels, we could theoretically consider restocking the pools with new fish, but as we only make less than £500 from angling licenses a year, we won’t have available monies to do this. The lake’s SSSI status would also restrict how we could restock the reservoir, and no alien species or trout would be allowed back.
Stowe Pool – it’s an SSSI and Chasewater is considered to have a moderate risk of crayfish plague, so we aren’t allowed to put the fish into Stowe.
The Swag (or Jeffrey’s Pool and Jeffrey’s Swag) - it already holds a healthy population of fish, and when we are doing the works to the causeway we will have to lower the level of the water in this pool. If we put fish into the Swag now we would have to catch them again when we begin the works.
Slurry Pool - LDC doesn’t own it and its water quality is not certain. It does not have a water link with Chasewater so the fish won’t transfer from one to the other.
Anglesey Branch Canal – Many fish will have been washed through the valves to get into the canal so this area will already be heavily populated with fish. But when we close the valves to allow the reservoir to refill there will be no water feeding this part of the canal, and so its water levels are likely to fall.
4. Prevent Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan by closing the Chicago Sanitary/Shipping Canal 
Asian carp (Silver Carp and Bighead Carp) are now within 8 miles of Lake Michigan. The carp were originally imported from Asia to be used in for aquatic plant control in fish farms in Arkansas (1972). Floods allowed the carp to escape into the Mississippi river system in the early 1980’s and over the years have worked their way north, infesting much of this river basin as the dominant fish species in many of the rivers.
If the Asian carp are able to establish a population in the Great Lakes it will have devastating consequences to the ecosystem of the lakes. Further, it puts at risk the economies of the Great Lakes states centered on the salmon sport fishery -- $7 billion per year just in Michigan.
These species of carp grow to 100 pounds (average over 20 pounds) are a plankton feeder that eat 1/2 of their body weight per day in plankton. The Great Lakes are prime habitat for these carp species and likely will cause significant damage to the existing ecosystem.
Other invasive species such as zebra and quagga mussels are also plankton feeders and have already caused major damage to the Great Lakes fisheries – practically eliminating the alewife and subsequently salmon in Lake Huron since 2005. Plankton is critical as the primary food for small fish in the lakes (alewife, smelt, shad, and newly hatched game fish such as salmon, trout, and walleye). At the rate that the Asian carp feed on plankton it is feared that the entire predator/prey balance in the Great Lakes ecosystem will collapse. No food for small fish means that they are no longer available as food for large fish.
Once established, the carp often become the dominant species in the waters displacing native species such as bass, catfish, walleye, pan fish, buffalo... Significant areas of the Illinois River have 95% of their biomass comprised of Asian carp and have displaced nearly all of the native species. In addition to the Great Lakes themselves, the entire Great Lakes watershed will be at risk. Just as the carp have made it up the Mississippi river drainage (into the Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Arkansas, Cumberland and other connected rivers) as far north as Minnesota, the fish will also establish themselves in all tributaries of the Great Lakes. Some have theorized that Asian Carp will be more destructive in the rivers than the lakes themselves.
Any river in the shaded area is likely to get Asian Carp if they reach Lake Michigan.
The Asian Carp pose a very real danger to boaters using the waters they infest. When a boat motors though an infested area the fish jump out of the water, often right into the boat and potentially impacting people in the boat.
If you look close, there is a boat in there (right center of pic) causing all of the carp to jump -- Illinois River.
The only connections between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river drainage is the Chicago Sanitary & Shipping Canal and the Calumet-Sag Canal. Two electrically charged barriers have been installed by the US Corps of Engineers but recent tests have shown that the carp have breached the barriers and are now within 7 miles of Lake Michigan. The Sanitary & Shipping Canal was built in 1900 to reverse the flow of the Chicago river to prevent Chicago's sewage from polluting Lake Michigan. 2.1 billion gallons of Lake Michigan water is diverted into the river via the canal per day.
Unfortunately, the electric barrier has been breached by the carp.
The canal is also used for recreational boating and commercial shipping. Experts have determined that the additional cost of moving the shipped materials currently using the canal if the canal was no longer available would be $21 million per year. This pales in comparison to the $7 billion economic value of the Great Lakes sport fishery in Michigan alone.
The man-made Welland Canal was built to allow shipping to bypass the Niagara Falls and connected lakes Ontario and Erie. Because of this, sea lamprey and alewife were able to get into the other Great Lakes. Between the overfishing by commercial fisheries and the sea lamprey, the native Lake Trout were decimated to negligible levels in the 1940’s. The alewife population then exploded without any predators and the beaches of the lakes were littered with dead alewife that had to be removed by the truck load in the 1960’s. Lamprey were eventually controlled and salmon were planted to feed on the over populated alewife to bring the lakes back into a biological balance.
The potential for a similar ecological/biological disaster of the Asian carp entering the Great Lakes can be prevented by closing the man-made Chicago Sanitary & Shipping canal. But, with the carp so close to the lakes this must be done immediately. The electric barrier has apparently not worked (DNA evidence of the carp above the barrier found in Nov. 2009).
We request that all actions be taken to isolate the Mississippi River drainage from the the Great Lakes. The immediate action should include closing the locks/dams of the Chicago Sanitary & Shipping Canal and the Calumet-Sag Canal immediately and then subsequently filling in the canals to permanently. This is the only effective option remaining to prevent the spread of the Asian carp into Lake Michigan and then all of the Great Lakes.
Anglers of this country are fed up with the Eastern Europeans coming to our shores & plundering our waterways to steal carp for food.
We spend a great deal of time & money protecting these beautiful creatures & to see what is now happening is nothing less than a disgrace.
