Last week, 1.3 billion fish were released into the Yangtze River by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA). The release took place in the provinces of Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangsu in the middle and lower reaches of the river.

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Bighead Carp

This past June a bighead carp was reeled in near Lake Michigan, and it seems highly likely that it spent just about its entire life in the Great Lakes.

This whopper of a fish, weighing in at 9 kilograms, was reeled in in Lake Calumet on the 22nd of June this year. This was the first Asian carp which was reeled in on the wrong side of the electric barriers placed underwater strategically near Chicago to help prevent this invasive species from moving up the Mississippi River system and make its way into the Great Lakes.

Scientists at the Illinois Aquaculture Center, in conjunction with researchers at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale Fisheries, were analyzing the chemical markers in the inner ear bones of the carp and just released their results this past Thursday.

As fish mature, their bones take in the chemicals from their ambient surroundings, and will contain the unique chemical footprint of where the fish had made its home.

“It is very plausible that this fish originated in the Illinois River and then moved or was transported to Lake Calumet or Lake Michigan during the early portion of its life,” the Illinois Aquaculture center’s director, Jim Garvey commented during a session..

The assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, John Rogner, has said that the results from the tests indicate that the fish may have been put into the Lake by humans.

It has been known that East Asian Buddhists sometimes let fish go as a practice of their religion.

For this reason, the sale of Asian carp has been banned in Ontario and many U.S. States, and their transporting them live across state lines is also prohibited.

bighead carp

Permanent barrier against the invasive species of fish, will not be constructed in the Chicago area.

Governor Ted Strickland is getting about half of what he pleaded the White House to do in a July 8th letter about the Asian Carp problem. As you know, the Asian carp are entering into Lake Michigan, and if not stopped, it could become a colossal problem!

“They are going to be naming a carp commander,” explained the legislative liaison for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Trish Lanahan. “It’s important to have someone in an executive-level position at the White House.”

Time is quickly running out, giving the upper hand to the devastating pair of invading fish known as Asian Carp. These two fish are more commonly known as the bighead carp and the silver carp, and have already taken over many areas of the Mississippi River drainage after craftily escaping their fish farms a few decades ago.

Something obviously needs to be done.. However the jury is still out as to what. Something which definitely is not being considered as a viable solution, despite the opinions of Ohio executives, is building a permanent barrier at Chicago, beginning no later than the 19th of August.

Ohio, in conjunction with other great lake States, got a lawsuit on the roll Monday, which is aimed at forcing the government along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to close off the canal without any further deliberation.

On Thursday, all the big players got together to announce their plans to sit down to analyze economic and environmentally friendly solutions to effectively separate the Mississippi basin from the Great Lakes at Chicago.

Neither species of the carp is though to have gotten a stronghold in Lake Michigan. If they did have a stronghold there, that would render any sort of barrier useless. If they do get themselves a stronghold, it could take a few years before the invading carp can get themselves set up in Lake Erie.

The major concern is that the carp, as with other invasive species, could spread like wildfire through ship bilge and ballast water. The dumping of ballast is not really monitored properly, and certainly not enforced.

However, Chicago isn’t the only one to show concern.

The Silver carp have been slowly creeping their way up the Wabash River in Indiana. There is a bit of wetland that separates the headwaters of the Wabash and the Maumee rivers in Indiana. Biologists from both Indiana and Ohio are examining whether or not if the flooding which occurs there, might just give the carp a chance to jump into the Lake Erie basin.

“I don’t think it’s the threat’s immediate, like Chicago,” the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s program administrator for Lake Erie, Roger Knight said. “It might be another avenue they can use to get in.”

Well if that is the attitude taken by all sides.. That the “threat is not imminent” then it will be too little too late to help get rid of this problem.. One can hope a plan of action is formulated quickly.

The sea monster - Photo by Larry Kenner

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the serene Lakeside Park, most specifically the exciting developments in its pond. This isn’t the kind of location where you would expect to find a lot of excitement, as it is quite tranquil and many people go there to get away from the stress of the day.

However, there is something strange lurking beneath the waters of the pond… It is unknown what exactly it is at this time, but it has been dubbed the “Lakeside Nessie”.

This mystery creature doesn’t really fit the bill of being a full fledged sea monster, however it is rather large and doesn’t seem to be too fish-like.

A lone dog walker a few weeks ago, Hannah Ramsey, was walking along the pond, when she saw a very large fish-like creature on the banks.
“It was really weird,” Ramsey said. “It had a snake’s tail. It was really long and really big in the middle and it had fish scales.”
Ramsey continued by saying that she was within arms reach of the creature, but that it didn’t make any sudden moves.
“It stayed there for a couple of minutes, but it wouldn’t turn so I could see its face. It was acting like it was strangling a fish or something.”

However, Ramsey’s mother, Laura, has said that she believes that the creature on the banks was a giant carp. Lots of people feed things to the local wildlife, such as ducks, and the food sinks attracting the fish to the shoreline. She goes on to state that in the last she has seen two really large carp close in to the shore of the pond.

However, that doesn’t explain the snake-like tail, or the other odd features of the creature… Is it possible that Nessie has a cousin? Or maybe its just on a well deserved vacation? Whatever the answer is, the populace of Lakeside is eagerly awaiting the outcome.

My money is on a carp or other large scale fish because, lets not fool ourselfs, that is what it looks like.

Alligator Snapping Turtle

A fisherman, Steve Bellion aged 23, was out at Earlswood Resevoir angling for carp when he caught a little more than he bargained for. He managed to reel in a 57 lb (27 kg) reptile!

He dragged it to shore where it was easily identified as an 80 year old alligator snapping turtle. This is a rare catch indeed, as these turtles are generally only found in the eastern corners of the United States.

This has solved a rather puzzling mystery for the local fishermen. There has been many a tale told for a decade, of a giant creature biting through lines and roughing up ducks.

Alligator snapping turtle

The ancient Alligator Snapping Turtle, identified as being female, was transferred to the West Midland Safari Park, where it is going to be held in quarantine for the customary 30 days and checked over by the veterinary team there.

Alligator Snapping Turtles can live to be 160 years old, making it one of the longest living creatures to be hauled to shore in the area.

Once it has finished being checked over, it will be transferred to a vivarium with a male of the species.

“They have been known to attack small domestic pets or children, but I don’t think this one would have drifted to far from the water.” stated the director of wildlife at the safari park, Bob Lawrence. At first glance it seems that the turtle is in perfect health, as it should be after gorging itself on the local wildlife.

He went on to add that this really brings to light the danger of introducing foreign species into Britain’s waterways, much the same way that American signal crayfish have created quite a dip in the UK’s national crayfish population.

The invasive Asian carps seem to have bypassed the electric barrier built to protect the North American Great Lakes from potential ecological disaster.

Bighead and Silver carp DNA has been found in the Calumet River, Des Plaines River and at the confluence of the Calumet Sag Channel and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, federal and state officials announced Friday.

U.S. authorities regularly test for Asian carp DNA in suspended particles floating in river currents in this region, and positive test results have now appeared less than seven miles from Lake Michigan.

The carps are believed to have jumped over the electrical barrier commonly referred to as the “last line of defense” for the Great Lakes.

Authorities are now trying to locate the carps and catch them.

Why are the Asian carps such unwelcomed visitors?

The Asian carps wreck havoc with the native ecosystem by outcompeting local species for food.

They were deliberately brought to North America by catfish farmers to keep farm ponds clean, but managed to escape into the wild during a series of powerful flooding incidents in the 1990s. Since then, they have gradually expanded their range up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

Massive fish death is planned for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, in northern United States.

Starting early next month, authorities will inject the powerful fish poison Rotenone into a five-mile stretch of the canal; from Lockport Locks to the electronic barrier system near 135th Street in Romeoville. The government wants to stop Asian carps from entering the Great Lakes while one of the electronic barriers is shut down for routine maintenance.

Completed in the year 1900, the canal is the only shipping link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system, and the aim of the mass killings is to save the Great Lakes ecosystem from the Asian invaders that have found their way into the manmade waterway.

Two species of Asian carp – the bighead* and the silver** – were imported by catfish farmers in the 1970’s to remove algae and suspended matter from the catfish ponds. During the early 1990s, large floods in the area made farm ponds overflow, giving the carps a chance to escape into the Mississippi River basin.

Since then, the carps have steadily made their way up the Mississippi river and are today the two most abundant species in parts of the system. They outcompete native species and cause starvation in large native game fish by devouring such large amounts of plankton.

Introducing rotenone to the canal will kill all fish, not just the Asian carps, and this has naturally stirred up some controversy. The poison is said to be safe to people, pets and other wildlife in the area, but no one should eat any fish killed by the chemical.

The plans to poison the canal were announced during a special telephone press conference Friday afternoon with members of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

“This plan has been developed with input from many biologists and scientists who all agree this is the best course of action,” said John Rogner, assistant director of the IDNR. “All of the (dead) fish will be removed and disposed of in our landfills. The clean up will take a couple of days and the cold water should remove any odours.”

Electro-fishing techniques will be used to remove and relocate as much game fish as possible from the canal prior to the release of the poison, and there are also plans to restock game fish in the area afterwards, as soon as chemical accelerants have been applied to remove the rotenone from the water.

* Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis)
** Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix)

Fifteen-year old Seth Russell was floating down Lake Chicot in Arkansas on an inner tube being towed by a boat when a carp suddenly leaped out of the water and crashed into his face. The impact was severe enough to render the boy unconscious and break his jaw, but the experience must have even worse for the fish because Russell was covered in fish blood and guts after the accident.

The carp in question was a Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). This fish is not native to the United States; it originates from north and northeast Asia. During the 1970’s Silver carps were deliberately introduced to U.S. waters to control algae growth in aquacultures and municipal wastewater treatment facilities. Specimens soon began to escape into other bodies of water and Silver carps can today be found in the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio and Missouri rivers and many of their tributaries.

This shows that invasive species doesn’t have to be a direct problem for animals and plants in the area only; some can actually cause direct harm to people as well. The Silver carp has earned the nick-name Flying carp for is propensity to leap from the water when frightened. It can leap 3 meters / 10 feet high in the air and is certainly not something you wish to crash into since it can attain a weight of 18 kg / 40 lbs.

The June sucker, Chasmistes liorus, is a critically endangered fish endemic to Utah Lake and the Provo River. The fish was once plentiful within its range but is now facing problems with pollution, turbidity, drought, alteration of water flow, loss of native vegetation, and the introduction of new species, primarily the European carp (Cyprinus carpio) and the walley (Sander vitreus vitreus).

Grass Carp

The European carp was introduced to the lake as a food fish during the late 19^th century and is causing severe problems for the June sucker by ripping out weeds while feeding along the bottom. Without these weeds, June sucker fry have no place to hide and end up in the stomach of predatory fish like walley and bass.

During recent years, about 100,000 June suckers have been raised in a hatchery and released into the lake, but the state of Utah are now saying that they have to do something about the carp problem if they want the June sucker population to survive in the long run. “It’s probably the biggest barrier to June sucker recovery,” says Mike Mills, the local coordinator for the recovery program.

Wildlife officials are now planning on removing roughly 1 million pounds of European carp from the lake each year during the next coming six years in an effort to make the environment more favourable for the June sucker. But what do you do with 6 million dead carps?

As of now, a substantial amount of dead carps has been turned into compost, and there is also talk about using them for international humanitarian missions. Other suggestions include converting them into bio-fuels and garden fertilizer, or use them as a protein source in imitation crab meat for the food markets of Central Europe and Asia. The old fashion solution of turning fish into fish sticks, canned fish, fish sauce, fish meal and pet food is naturally also an option.

Some have suggested that the carps should be tossed out to rot away in a landfill or placed in a hole in the desert, but Wildlife officials are not very keen on that idea. “It’s hard to see a fish wasted when there are people in the world that are starving and could use the food,” says Mike Mills. “It’d be great if we could find a market for these fish and that market could fund the whole effort.“

Source: msnbc.msn.com

Koi carp worth almost £40,000 (=80 000USD) was stolen from a garden center in Stapleford UK. The thieves cut their way into the facility through metal fences and stole the expensive Koi carps. The thieves are believed to have know carps and the facility well as they only stole the most valuable carps living the rest. All in all they stole 30 carps. They also caused 20 000 USD damage to the garden center.

The thieves drained the holding tank on much of its water to make it easier to catch the carps. The police says it was a professional well organized heist that would have taken a lot of time to complete. They also ask for help form the public and that anyone who knows anything about this to contact them.

The owner has given the police pictures of the fish so that they can be identified and the owner is sure that the fish can be identified if found.

If you live in the UK and see expensive Koi fish for sale in the classifieds it might be worth contacting the police to see if it is these carps however seeing as it seems to have been a professional job the likely allready had a new home in mind for the fish.