SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS) — The Illinois Department of Natural Resources removed 750,000 pounds of silver carp from the Illinois River between Nov. 27 and Dec. 6.
This is the largest single removal effort IDNR has undertaken and is believed to be a record for freshwater harvest within the United States.
These efforts help prevent invasive carp from becoming established in the Great Lakes by reducing the population pressure on the electric dispersal barrier system near Romeoville.
IDNR uses funding support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to contract with commercial fishers.
These fishers, under supervision by IDNR staff, annually remove more than 1 million pounds of invasive carp from the Starved Rock, Marseilles, and Dresden Island pools of the Illinois River, especially targeting the Starved Rock and Marseilles pools.
Contract commercial fishing is an annual event that begins in the spring following ice-out and continues to mid-summer when temperatures become too warm to harvest fish effectively.
The seine operation used in on the Illinois River is an experimental effort to expand removal of silver carp. A seine is a fishing net that surrounds fish on the sides and underneath and brings them to the bank. It’s most effective in cool water when silver carp cannot jump out over the net.
Source : KHQA
