The District is currently undertaking a three year study with the assistance of WSB & Associates to determine where and when the invasive carp congregate in Spring and Prior Lakes. This information will be used to maximize success in population removal efforts and to identify strategic locations for carp barriers in order to block them from spawning areas.
So how do the radio-tags work? During the first week of November, carp from Spring Lake were caught for tagging. The carp were first sedated with clove oil and then a radio-tag was surgically implanted into the fish before it was released back into the lake. You can watch a radio-tag being implanted into one of the carp in the video below. The radio tags used for this study have a battery life of about 3 years and consist of a 2.5 inch long cylinder which is inserted inside the body of the fish and a foot long antenna which extends outside the body of carp. A radio-transmitter is then used to locate the fish as they move throughout the Spring and Prior Lake water systems. More information regarding the carp management project can be found here.
As the carp management project continues there will periodically be opportunities to volunteer. For example, the District will be having a seining event later this winter where we will need volunteers to help sort, measure, and weigh the fish. If you are interested in volunteering or receiving more information about the winter seining event and future carp related events please contact either Kathryn Keller-Miller (kkeller-miller@plslwd.org) or Maggie Karschnia (mkarschnia@plslwd.org).
***If you catch a carp with a radio-tag, please release it back into the lake. If you are unable to do so, please contact Maggie Karschnia at 952-447-9808 or mkarschnia@plslwd.org to return the radio-tag to the District to be recorded and potentially used again.
Funding for this project was partially provided by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency through a Grant from the State’s Clean Water Partnership Grant Fund.