Minnesota and Wisconsin DNRs partner to capture invasive carp
On Thursday, November 30th, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources confirmed the capture of 323 invasive carp in Pool 6 of the Mississippi River, near Trempealeau, Wisconsin. They list the species captured has 296 silver carp, 23 grass carp, and 4 bighead carp.
This is the largest single capture of invasive carp that has occurred in Minnesota to date. The capture was made possible by tracking tagged invasive carp, which led agency staff and contracted commercial fishers to them for removal.
In a press release DNR Invasive Carp Coordinator Grace Loppnow said: “Tagging and tracking of invasive carp by the DNR and its partners is working and leading to the successful removal of fish in Minnesota,” Grace also added “Wisconsin DNR crews located six tagged invasive carp in Pool 6 last week. Those detections, along with observations by our contracted commercial fisher, led to the successful removal of these invasive carp.”
Increased reports of invasive carp and data from tagged fish indicate that fish were moving in the Mississippi River in spring 2023 during the extended springtime flooding. It is likely that the high-water conditions allowed invasive carp and other fish to move upstream past open dams. Invasive carp tend to congregate in the spring and fall and all the previous large captures have happened in these seasons. The previous largest capture of invasive carp was 51 in spring 2020, in similar conditions after an extended period of flooding in 2019.