Decades-Old Fish Removal from a Colorado Pond Uncovers Nationwide Fishing Hotspot Problem

Last week, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials removed 14 massive, invasive carp from a pond at an Arvada park after introducing the fish as part of a national study.

While the impacts of the bighead carp are unknown at this time, they are an invasive species that rely on plankton for food, which could lead to reductions in populations.

“We are grateful when the public reaches out to tell us about invasive species in their neighborhoods. We want to know about the presence of invasive species.”

Officials said (via Tribune News Service) that the 14 carp appeared to be leftovers from a 1992 study to see whether the fish could reduce nuisance algae.

The carp, which are part of the Asian carp family, typically live for about 16 years, but they can live longer, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

CPW found the massive carp by using electrofishing methods, which emit electricity into the water, stunning fish into a temporary stupor.

The size of the fish indicates that these individuals, which did not reproduce, are the leftover carp from the 1992 study, which ended in 1995.

“The size of the bighead carp removed indicates natural reproduction has most likely not taken place, which was the best case scenario,” said Kyle Battige, senior aquatic biologist for the northeast region of CPW, in a statement.

Walters continued: “Once established, these fish can outcompete native Colorado species for food and resources.”

“Jaws” follows a group of anglers who are on the hunt for an abnormally large, man-eating shark that could bring more harm to the beach town as summer approaches.

Sorensen continued: “We are grateful when the public reaches out to tell us about invasive species in their neighborhoods. We want to know about the presence of invasive species.”

Van Hoose continued: “This is a good example of what can happen to fish which don’t have any natural predators in the area and an endless supply of food.”

Invasive carp, formerly known as Asian carp, threaten South Dakota’s lakes and rivers by limiting the food supply for native fish inhabiting the waters.

But how did this invasive species of carp become such a problem in the first place? It is due to a mixture of flooding and commercial stock ponds.

Eventually, floods allowed these fish to escape into nearby rivers and ponds. By the 2000s, the Mississippi River basin, the Missouri River basin, and the Ohio and Illinois rivers all had established invasive carp populations mixed in with their native carp populations.

Established bighead and silver carp populations can quickly consume a majority of plankton, which squeezes out native fish populations.

“You will then have poorer feeding conditions for the native fish and eventually that will affect the native fish populations.”

Coupled with their ability to breed quickly, these carp can wreak ecological havoc on waterways once they become established.

“They’re not a problem anywhere else in the state yet, but if people don’t know about them and what they can do, they could become a growing problem,” Coulter said.

This is why Coulter and her team are working to create preventative measures to halt carp invasions.

Officials are eager to implement this preventative measure because they fear the carp could cause more than $7 billion in damage to the commercial fishing industry and $10 billion to the tourism industry if they become entrenched in the Great Lakes.

Coulter and her team have created projects to address both challenges.

“For example, in South Dakota, you are not supposed to catch live bait for yourself at one waterbody and move it somewhere else. Nor are you allowed to release live bait.”

Many people catch invasive carp but often do not eat them because they mistakenly identify them as common carp, which are considered to have very poor taste. Coulter believes that anglers would keep the invasive carp, which taste similar to tilapia if they knew what was on the other end of their line.