ASIAN CARP !, Great Lakes in Danger ?

[Fishsniffer]

CTV British Columbia

Published Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012 6:45PM PDT

Last Updated Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012 6:58PM PDT
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans warns that an invasive species of Asian carp has made its way into the Fraser River near Lillooet and Lytton after several fish were caught during the Aboriginal fishing season.
The silver carp poses a threat because of its tendency to push out local species, including salmon, and are known to jump directly at people when they are disturbed. Many residents along the river worry the fish are travelling into the B.C. Interior where the salmon they rely on for food gather.
John Charlie, a worker on the Lytton cable ferry, spotted a fish while making a crossing.

"I saw one jumping out of the river about 50 feet up the land there. (It) looked like a catfish,” he said.
“But people have been catching them and they've been fairly big, too."
The local First Nations have also issued a warning for people to keep an eye out for carp in the Fraser River.
But Eric Taylor, a leading expert on the topic from the University of British Columbia’s zoology department, told CTV News the sightings may simply be a large example of a common carp.

“The common carp’s been in the Fraser River area, the Lower Fraser, the Thompson-Nicola area for decades,” Taylor said.
“Usually, in more sort of lake type environments or slow backwater, so if they were caught in the main stem Fraser River near Lillooet or Lytton, that’s a bit unusual.”
Although the fish may not be the invasive silver carp, its presence so far up the Fraser River remains a concern and potential threat for salmon.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Kent Molgat

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/invasive-carp-could-t...salmon-1.930255

Read more: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/invasive-carp-could-t...5#ixzz24kmyHZQp

[Fishsniffer]

Asian carp have yet to leap across Lake Erie


Updated: August 25, 2012, 11:55 PM

By now most folks have seen one or more videos of those bad-news leaping Asian carp that have invaded inland waterways.

The good news, for now, is that studies in the western basin of Lake Erie last summer and this past month have not discovered a presence of bighead or silver carp in every area tested.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have collected sampling results from electrofishing and setting gill nets in Sandusky Bay and the Maumee River, to major estuary areas where these foreign invaders would be likely to appear.

Tests conducted at six sampling sites resulted in the capture of no bighead or silver carp. Water samples are being tested for environmental DNA. The results of these tests have yet to be completed.

However, officials from all three agencies are encouraged by the lack of physical evidence of these exotic fishes that have caused property damage and injury to boaters unfortunate enough to encounter them in areas of the Mississippi River and other waters.

Additional samplings were taken this year; researchers gathered water samples July 30 to Aug. 4 in the two general areas tested last year.

Fish and Wildlife Services Midwest Deputy Regional Director Charlie Wooley noted that this year's tests provided no live samples of Asian carp. Ohio and Michigan officials await outcomes of all tests to gauge directions for future sampling and control efforts.

For now, boaters plying out of Buffalo and other ports at the eastern end of Lake Erie might have waves, cold fronts and river currents to contend with. However, leaping carp will not hamper a fishing trip or sightseeing cruise through the remainder of the boating season in Erie's Western New York waters.

[minnkota]

Those fish are bad news! Keep those damn carp out of Ontario.