First, before we talk about where specifically they are, we have to know what it means. The Bighead and the Silver, because they are driven to move upriver, are known to send out "scouts", When you first hear of catches of Asian Carps it is usually in small numbers, the Scouts. The next stage of infestation is usually when we see a reproducing population, while each female has been known to carry 2 million eggs and spawn three times a year, as with all fish, they don't all survive. Studies show that Bluegills are voracious consumers of Asian Carps' eggs and fry. The next step in their infestation is when they are a self-sustaining population and are on their way to overwhelming stretches of River. It has been estimated that on the Lower Illinois River, in some areas they make up 95% of the River's biomass.

The environment that the Carps enjoy is fast moving water, like Spring high water, for spawning and then they like to move to the slow water of a River and/or backwater lakes and channels to feed.
Since the accidental release of the four species in the South in the 1970's, they have been inexorably moving upriver. The first real impact on the public's knowledge of them was, when the reports started coming out of the Illinois River. I remember that it was about 15 years ago when I heard of a female jet skier on Peoria Lake who was hit by a Silver Carp resulting in being knocked unconscious and inflicting a broken jaw. The popularity of this video brought the issue to a whole new audience.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN2gMP3Q2Z4
These are the Silver Carp, which are disturbed by boat noise and leap out of the water. Some researchers say that boat noises may mimic their predators in Asia, the fresh water dolphins and their survival instincts cause them to jump at noise.

The Lower Illinois River is heavily infested with both Bighead and Silver and the big concern is that they will enter the Great Lakes at Chicago and threaten a $7 billion dollar fishing economy. The upriver movement has been stalled about 80 miles south of Lake Michigan. The sustaining population hasn't moved upriver in 26 years.

The Wabash River in Indiana is heavily infested. The Carps have begun to establish a presence on the Ohio River and are moving up the Ohio's other tributaries, the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.

The Missouri is also heavily infested and the Carps have moved up the James River as far north as Jamestown, ND, where they are stopped by the Jamestown Dam. For those that have thought that the Carps won't survive in colder waters, know that Jamestown is on the same latitude as Fargo.

As far as the Rivers we care about, the Upper Mississippi is heavily infested, though not as bad as the Illinois, as far north as Lock and Dam 19 at Keokuk, IA. The 42 ft high dam has slowed them down with the only way they can move upriver is through the Lock. Reports of a reproducing population in the Quad cities area seem plausible. What we have been seeing, when reported by commercial anglers, seem to be those aforementioned Scouts. The St. Croix, from what I have been able to ascertain from netting and eyewitness reports seems to have a reproducing population, there are too many sightings to think that we are just seeing Scouts. It would be very difficult to properly ascertain the level infestation of the St. Croix because it's extreme depth would mean bringing in deep water netting gear to accurately gauge the extent of their numbers. The biggest fear in the State of Minnesota for potential infestation is the Minnesota River. The biology of the Minnesota, a slow moving River with many backwater lakes and nutrient rich waters that are prevalent in the agriculture dominant Valley. The same environment that the Minnesota River has is very similar to the Illinois River's.

​Next: What is being done and what will our future look like.

In honor of the now annual dog and pony show called the Invasive (Because MN can't call them Asian like the rest of the world) Carp Forum, Being held on March 10th at the US Fish and Wildlife Center in Bloomington. I will be providing tidbits of information on this much publicized Aquatic Invasive Species. There is too much information to provide and digest in one sitting, so I will dribble out bits and pieces of the information I have gleaned over the last few years. While I have been a member of the MN Asian Carp Action Plan Working Group, I got most of my information from an individual we all call the Carp Guy.                                                                                                                               Ric Carlson, from Hanska, MN, dedicated his life over the last few years to finding out everything he could about the Asian Carps. His endeavors took him from Arkansas fish farms that breed Grass Carp for commercial sale, to the muggy hot summers commercial fishing on the Illinois River, and to the cold of MN winter commercial fishing to get information. Ric, at great cost, personally, financially, and health wise, he traveled the country to find answers and possible solutions for MN. He believes science and action is better than politics and rhetoric.We all owe him a debt for his efforts.

Below are pictures of the four Asian Carps that make up the invasive species we are worried about. The Silver Carp is the one most are familiar with and that is because the have innate reaction to noise and leap out of the water when confronted with noise. The 2nd picture is of a Bighead Carp. They have the ability to grow to 90lbs +. The Silver and the Bighead are plankton filter feeders. They dine on the food at the bottom of the aquatic food chain, that all other aquatic species utilize. An interesting point of history about these fish, especially in light of little federal help is, that they were all brought in either by or with the support of federal and state agencies. All four species were brought in to the US in 1972. When the Clean Water Act came about in 1973, there were a lot of sewage treatment facilities with ponds that weren't going to pass the new regulations. The federal EPA actually funded projects in AK to utilize the Silver and Bigheads to clean the water. They went so far as to threaten facilities with a $5,000/day fine if they didn't use them. NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Marine and Fisheries Service marketed them to fish farmers as a way to clean up ponds and as another product revenue source.Truck after truck hauled them to Illinois, sponsored by the Illinois Natural History Survey, to experiment with them cleaning out hog manure ponds.
The Grass Carp are underwater vegetation eaters and were labeled as an "underwater cow", they did an extremely efficient job in controlling out of control  aquatic plants in fish farm ponds.There threat to us is that they are voracious plant eaters and they could affect the aquatic vegetation that are utilized by our fish and waterfowl.
Black Carp were also efficient in controlling another nuisance at fish farms, snails. Black carp are mollusk eaters and pose a great threat to the recovering freshwater mussels of the Upper Mississippi.

Next up: Where are They?

I wrote this in response to the City of St. Paul Park's plan for Lilydale. I am glad I don't have to pay taxes in St. Paul so that they can "beautify" transportation trails in a floodplain park.

I have watched, over my many years on the River, the progression of Lilydale,
both as City and "Park". I first was sad to see the houses/trailers and the
residents that occupied them leave. I have always appreciated the many facets of the River's community, whether it was floodplain dwelling River Rats, shanty boaters, or live on boaters. I have always treasured those parts, even if the MNDNR and the new "guardians" in town, the National Park Service didn't accept them as part of the culture of the River. As long as I didn't pay for the consequences of their decisions, let them stay. I especially enjoyed the
ambiance of Wayne and Dolly's watering hole at the marina. Even as a young man, I enjoyed the irony of having people quaffing cold ones in two such distinct establishments as the Pool and Yacht Club and the Lilydale Marina, almost within hollering distance from each other. But alas, people with grander plans for Lilydale moved those residents out and we all waited for what was to come.

And we all waited and waited. At the same time, I filled my time railing
against the those same people who stripped Lilydale of its' character and life,
because they were now calling for eliminating the commercial side of the River, another piece in the fabric of the River culture, from the Riverfront-my life. I
remember chastising those people, in public meetings, how their plans for the
rest of the Riverfront smelled a lot like the Lilydale Plan. Eliminate and
stagnate. As the years passed and the minimal "improvements" crept in to
Lilydale, I started appreciating the fact that we almost had a "real" floodplain park with minimal touches of the St. Paul Parks' heavy-handed planners intrusion. I had seen their touches on other so called "Flood Plain Parks" like Harriet Island and the Upper Landing. I had seen how they took a community friendly park, like Harriet Island, where at any time you could see families picnicking, soccer games(And I am old enough to say, I proudly played against the Aztecas, on their home field-Harriet Island), and summer softball games, into an event park for carpet bagging event promoters to enjoy the tax provided venues and take their money and run. I watched the Upper Landing morph from a long awaited restoration to its' natural form as a floodplain into some technicolored Euro styled housing mass, just waiting for the next big flood.