Two days ago the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources was notified that a bighead carp was captured at the mouth of the St. Croix River by a commercial angler under MN DNR contract. This is the farthest north bigheads have been captured. The fish was about 35 inches long and weighed 21 lbs 5 oz. It was shipped to the Missouri USGS office for further testing and to determine gender. DNR invasive carp specialists will be gill netting the area of capture today. Additionally, DNR will also be gill netting the St. Croix River next week in conjunction with another project. Bighead carp have been previously captured in this general area of the St. Croix in the past; one each in 1996, 2011, and 2012. Between 2003-2009, six bighead carp were caught in the Mississippi River between Lake Pepin and the Iowa border. A bighead carp was netted by commercial fishermen March 2012 in Pool 6 of the Mississippi River near Winona. Non-native invasive carp species can cause serious damage to Minnesota’s native fish and aquatic systems by filter-feeding vast amounts of plankton, a key foundation of a river or inland lake ecosystem and food chain. AIS is not good for Minnesota. Read more about carp on the MN DNR website below.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:05:45 +0000