Carping about carp may be over, Utah Lake
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:20 amWhy does this matter? Lots of reasons. Carp are what turned the lake from crystal clear (can you imagine?) to chocolate milk muddy brown but devastating the bottom flora. They have overwhelmed the trout population until it is virtually nonexistent. And they're such lunkers they can break a fin box at 30mph. (They are the main reason I don't sail formula at UL.) I kinda like seein' em breach but maybe the trout will return to carry on that function.
btw PCB's make me nervous.
Carping about carp may be over, with Utah Lake removal plan in place
By Donald W. Meyers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/28/2008 11:10:20 AM MDT
Posted: 11:10 AM- PROVO - Two months ago, Michael Mills said lack of profitability was making it difficult to get anyone to remove carp from Utah Lake.
On Thursday, Mills, the June Sucker recovery program coordinator for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, told the Utah Lake Commission that a contractor is willing to take the job - for free.
Mills said Aqua World Unlimited offered to eliminate six million pounds of carp from the lake. The Orem company now has a state license, with a condition that they remove 1.6 million pounds of carp - between 300,000 and 400,000 fish - by January.
"They feel the carp are valuable enough to cover their expenses," Mills said.
The plan is to use two boats pulling a 200-yard-long net between them. Mills said someone from the state would be monitoring to ensure that any June suckers caught in the dragnet are thrown back.
The state wants to eradicate the lake's carp population to preserve the June sucker - a threatened species that occurs only in Utah Lake. Carp pull up plants from the lake bottom, destroying the sucker's habitat.
But commission member Steve Densley asked whether elevated PCB levels found in carp would pose a problem in marketing them as food.
Mills said Utah Lake carp have high PCB levels, but they are within the
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federal limits for seafood, and are lower than those found in carp marketed around the country. He pointed out that Utah Lake's fish are the only ones in the state that have been tested for the pollutant at this time.
btw PCB's make me nervous.
Carping about carp may be over, with Utah Lake removal plan in place
By Donald W. Meyers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/28/2008 11:10:20 AM MDT
Posted: 11:10 AM- PROVO - Two months ago, Michael Mills said lack of profitability was making it difficult to get anyone to remove carp from Utah Lake.
On Thursday, Mills, the June Sucker recovery program coordinator for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, told the Utah Lake Commission that a contractor is willing to take the job - for free.
Mills said Aqua World Unlimited offered to eliminate six million pounds of carp from the lake. The Orem company now has a state license, with a condition that they remove 1.6 million pounds of carp - between 300,000 and 400,000 fish - by January.
"They feel the carp are valuable enough to cover their expenses," Mills said.
The plan is to use two boats pulling a 200-yard-long net between them. Mills said someone from the state would be monitoring to ensure that any June suckers caught in the dragnet are thrown back.
The state wants to eradicate the lake's carp population to preserve the June sucker - a threatened species that occurs only in Utah Lake. Carp pull up plants from the lake bottom, destroying the sucker's habitat.
But commission member Steve Densley asked whether elevated PCB levels found in carp would pose a problem in marketing them as food.
Mills said Utah Lake carp have high PCB levels, but they are within the
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federal limits for seafood, and are lower than those found in carp marketed around the country. He pointed out that Utah Lake's fish are the only ones in the state that have been tested for the pollutant at this time.
