The District has come a long way over the last few years in managing carp in District lakes. Prior to 2015, there have been sporadic commercial seines over the years, particularly on Spring Lake in the past, but efforts were sporadic and not done in concert with other control efforts. Thus they did not effectively control the carp population over the long term.
Beginning in 2015, the District starting addressing the carp problem holistically, and put together an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan in 2017. In addition to using carp seines to remove carp, the IPM plan called for obtaining baseline population estimates for District lakes, beginning with Spring and Prior Lakes; radio-tagging carp to track their movements throughout the lakes and connected waterbodies and identify when & where the carp were congregating to improve the success of carp removals; and installing carp barriers to prevent the carp from reaching their preferred spawning areas.
This year the District is embarking upon the second phase of its carp management program. Phase II will build on Phase I management efforts and the knowledge gained during the first phase. Phase II will also expand our carp management efforts to other lakes and connected waterbodies including Buck Lake, Fish Lake, Pike Lake and the Geis wetland.
For more information on the District’s Carp Management program and IPM plan, visit the Carp Management page.
Wondering what a carp seine is and how it works? Check out this cool video on our YouTube channel.