Brewski
Registered
4
Complete article article here.
When carp fly: Invading fish so agitated they go airborne
Havana, Ill. - The Asian carp invasion has transformed lazy boat rides down the Illinois River into perilous games of aquatic roulette.
The jumping silver carp are like nothing biologists in this country have seen. The fish get so agitated by the whir of a motor that when boaters rumble by, the carp fire out of the water like mailbox-sized missiles.
"I can almost guarantee that you will get hit," Matt O'Hara, a researcher with the Illinois Natural History Survey, warned a visitor before a boat ride down the Asian-carp-infested river.<b
r>
Twenty minutes into the trip, a 7-pound silver carp ripped through the skin of the soupy brown water and whacked a
passenger in the thigh.
O'Hara cracked a tired smile.
"At first it was kind of cool," he said of the quirky manner in which the fish express their agitation. "Now the only time you really notice them is when they hit you in the face."
That has happened to O'Hara, despite the fact that he always drives the boat standing up. Despite the fact that he stands 6 feet 9 inches.
The biggest jumpers of the four Asian carp species that have invaded the region are the silver carp, though bighead and grass carp are also known to occasionally dart out of the water.
O'Hara said he's heard reports of boaters being knocked unconscious. He said one woman even lost a tooth. Silver carp can get as big as 70 pounds.
"I haven't heard of anyone being really seriously injured, except maybe a broken rib,"
he s
aid, "or a broken nose."
Havana barber Gary Bahl used to water ski on the river. He wouldn't consider doing it now.
"It's a risky deal," he said.
The jumping is especially i
ntense when researchers drop electrified booms into the water. The device is intended for use in population surveys; it makes native fish go limp, and they float to the surface and can be counted. But it drives the more sensitive Asian carp wild.
O'Hara pointed the boat nose toward the open water and put his finger on the generator switch. He flipped it, and in a flash there were about 100 carp arching as high as 7 feet above the water. The fish ranged in size from a kid's shoe to a skateboard.
Havana used to be a commercial fishing town. Locals say the little city northwest of Springfield had as many as a dozen fish markets at the turn of the 19th century. Boats pulled up with loads of catfish, common carp and smallmouth buffalo - a type of sucke
r with a
succulent white meat - as well as largemouth bass.
Those fish still exist here, but they've been greatly diminished since the Asian carp arrived just over a decade ago.
As O'Hara rode the river, researchers pulled up a co
mmercial fishing net they'd set two hours earlier. It was thick with bighead, and held not a single native species.
"I find it depressing," said O'Hara. "It's like - where does it end?"
Extended article about invasive fish species here: "Intruders at the gate"
------------------------------------------
The Asian carp - truly the nigger of fish.
This series in the Milwaukee Journal is so ironic that I wonder what would happen if they turned their journalistic attention towards the parallel "invasion" and parasitism of America by the mud races that has alread
y had such d
isasterous conseqences?
- Brewski
Complete article article here.
When carp fly: Invading fish so agitated they go airborne
Havana, Ill. - The Asian carp invasion has transformed lazy boat rides down the Illinois River into perilous games of aquatic roulette.
The jumping silver carp are like nothing biologists in this country have seen. The fish get so agitated by the whir of a motor that when boaters rumble by, the carp fire out of the water like mailbox-sized missiles.
"I can almost guarantee that you will get hit," Matt O'Hara, a researcher with the Illinois Natural History Survey, warned a visitor before a boat ride down the Asian-carp-infested river.<b
r>
Twenty minutes into the trip, a 7-pound silver carp ripped through the skin of the soupy brown water and whacked a
passenger in the thigh.
O'Hara cracked a tired smile.
"At first it was kind of cool," he said of the quirky manner in which the fish express their agitation. "Now the only time you really notice them is when they hit you in the face."
That has happened to O'Hara, despite the fact that he always drives the boat standing up. Despite the fact that he stands 6 feet 9 inches.
The biggest jumpers of the four Asian carp species that have invaded the region are the silver carp, though bighead and grass carp are also known to occasionally dart out of the water.
O'Hara said he's heard reports of boaters being knocked unconscious. He said one woman even lost a tooth. Silver carp can get as big as 70 pounds.
"I haven't heard of anyone being really seriously injured, except maybe a broken rib,"
he s
aid, "or a broken nose."
Havana barber Gary Bahl used to water ski on the river. He wouldn't consider doing it now.
"It's a risky deal," he said.
The jumping is especially i
ntense when researchers drop electrified booms into the water. The device is intended for use in population surveys; it makes native fish go limp, and they float to the surface and can be counted. But it drives the more sensitive Asian carp wild.
O'Hara pointed the boat nose toward the open water and put his finger on the generator switch. He flipped it, and in a flash there were about 100 carp arching as high as 7 feet above the water. The fish ranged in size from a kid's shoe to a skateboard.
Havana used to be a commercial fishing town. Locals say the little city northwest of Springfield had as many as a dozen fish markets at the turn of the 19th century. Boats pulled up with loads of catfish, common carp and smallmouth buffalo - a type of sucke
r with a
succulent white meat - as well as largemouth bass.
Those fish still exist here, but they've been greatly diminished since the Asian carp arrived just over a decade ago.
As O'Hara rode the river, researchers pulled up a co
mmercial fishing net they'd set two hours earlier. It was thick with bighead, and held not a single native species.
"I find it depressing," said O'Hara. "It's like - where does it end?"
Extended article about invasive fish species here: "Intruders at the gate"
------------------------------------------
The Asian carp - truly the nigger of fish.
This series in the Milwaukee Journal is so ironic that I wonder what would happen if they turned their journalistic attention towards the parallel "invasion" and parasitism of America by the mud races that has alread
y had such d
isasterous conseqences?
- Brewski
