Southern Illinois University And Others Host Asian Carp Tourny

[Tim Smith]

From KFVS and the AFS newsfeed:

Saint Andrew School, SIU Fisheries Society and BASI to host Carp-a-thon
2012Carp-A-Thon coming in August. (Source: Mike Miles)

CARBONDALE, IL (KFVS) - Saint Andrew School, the SIU Chapter of the American
Fisheries Society, and the Bowfishing Association of Southern Illinois will
be hosting an inaugural Carp-A-Thon August 10-11.

Only Big Head and Silver Carp (Asian Carp) will be weighed. The society says
their goal for this event is to raise an awareness of infiltration of the
Silver and Bighead Carp into our local waterways; promote recreational use
of the Big Muddy and Mississippi and the sporting opportunities created by
the accidental introduction of these exotic species; and raise funds for
Saint Andrew School in Murphysboro, the SIU Chapter of the American
Fisheries Society, and the Bowfishing Society of Southern Illinois.

Suggested donations will be $10 for adults, $5 for children 15 and under.
There will be prizes for Top Ten Heaviest Fish, and four categories of
Biggest Fish: Biggest Overall; Biggest Fish caught by device (arrow, spear,
line or net), Biggest Fish to jump in boat or land, Biggest Fish caught in
the air with a net. Participants will be on the honor system. The prizes may
be nominal and determined by the total donations received.

All state and federal laws and regulations must be followed. Pursuant to
state and federal laws, they say it is critical that no one transports any
live silver or bighead carp.

Sign in will be at the Saint Andrew School Festival 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on
Friday, August 10. The event will be limited to 200 entrants. Weigh-in will
start Saturday, August 11 at 2 p.m. on the grounds of the Saint Andrew
School Festival. Leady's Feed Store in Murphsyboro will convert the
carcasses to livestock feed.

Participants may fish any river, creek, ditch or stream within the Big Muddy
waterway below the Rend Lake Dam, or the Mississippi waterway from the mouth
of the Kaskaskia to Cairo. Additionally, Silver and Bighead Carp may have
likely moved into impoundments near the waterways, such as Lyerla Lake,
Horseshoe Lake, Grand Tower Chute, and Turkey Bayou, which will be open to
fishing as well.

Only legal methods may be used to harvest fish. Legal methods include but
are not limited to:

* Bow
* Spear
* Gig
* Pole and line
* Catching the fish in the air with a net
* Cast net

To receive the official Rules or discuss sponsoring a prize, please contact
Mike Miles at miles42@msn.com, John Bowzer (AFS member, '08) at
bowzer.john@siu.edu or Eric Giles, at e.giles@mchsi.com.

[Mitch f]

Seems like they could perform a mass electrocution of the river and only leave the non invasive species.

[fishinwrench]

When you hit'em with the juice they jump clear of the electrical current, so I'm not too sure that shocking them would allow capture of that many of them. Most will just keep jumping until they are far enough away from the probes.

[Outside Bend]

And shocking isn't targeted- you get both the invasive carp and the native species.

[Mitch f]

And shocking isn't targeted- you get both the invasive carp and the native species.

Isn't that what I said? I thought the electro fishing didn't do permanent damage to fish!?

[Outside Bend]

Isn't that what I said? I thought the electro fishing didn't do permanent damage to fish!?

Sorry, I thought you were saying they should try and selectively shock the carp. On the whole electrofishing doesn't usually cause many problems, but it's tougher on some fish species than others. Low DO, high temperatures, and other factors can also push fish to the point where they won't recover from the electricity. I'd be hesitant to do much of it on our large rivers in the summer, especially with a couple federally threatened and endangered species potentially swimming around.

[Tim Smith]

Seems like they could perform a mass electrocution of the river and only leave the non invasive species.

One reason to do this in the form of a tournament is that if someone is making cash off the deal, they're more likely to show up later and do it again next year...or a few weeks later.

Putting market forces to work for mother nature. Win, win.

[Jerry Rapp]

there are so many of them in so many bodies of waters, that anything related to trying to eliminate them is a waste of time and dollars (see Chicago story and all the millions spent thus far). The only real hope is if they can be found useful in some way such as a food supplement, livestock feed, etc. Then there could some incentive for commericial fishermen to get them in mass quantities. Now this would be something very worthwhile as a government subsidy.

[Tim Smith]

there are so many of them in so many bodies of waters, that anything related to trying to eliminate them is a waste of time and dollars (see Chicago story and all the millions spent thus far). The only real hope is if they can be found useful in some way such as a food supplement, livestock feed, etc. Then there could some incentive for commericial fishermen to get them in mass quantities. Now this would be something very worthwhile as a government subsidy.

That's pretty funny that we're on opposite side of the fence here, Jerry, although I think you are probably right about the Cal-Sag electrical fence. It was a long shot for that thing to work and we're still years from sealing the Great Lakes off from the Mississipi drainage to a level the fence could have mattered.

If a private tournament and animal feed companies and commercial anglers can make a dent in these guys, there's no need for the government to be involved at all outside the normal regulations. No need to worry about crashing the fishery...no one wants it anyway. Once corn prices blow through the roof in the months to come, these Asian carp are going to get a second look as a feed source. They were already marginally profitable, it's just that other fish meal sources were available.

[Jerry Rapp]

yes, but if a sensible govt subsidy would speed up the "need" of these fish, then, IMHO, that would be a hell of a better bang for the tax dollars than a lot of other subsidies. Commerical fishermen would increase, processing plants would need to be built (laborers to build it, then workers to man it), etc. It is just a common sense, win/win solution that would benefit the entire country, from environmental to job creation to increasing commerce.