Carp Catastrophe!: How and Why Exotic Carp Are Destroying Our Fisheries and What's Being Done About It

How did Asian carp get into our fisheries, how are they damaging them, and what is being done to fight back? This book contains articles that I've written during the past decade, as they've spread up our rivers and into our reservoir fisheries, and resource manager have studied their habits and the damage they cause, as well as sought solutions to slowing the invasion and minimizing the damage. Although Asian carp--- notably silver and bighead carp--- invaded the nation's fisheries decades ago, only recently have citizens and governmental officials seemed to grasp the severity of the threat. That's happened mainly because of a 2018 silver carp explosion on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes that garnered national attention, prompted formation of War on Carp, an activist grassroots coalition, and spurred both state and federal agencies to take aggressive action. In turn, the awakening has alerted the nation to the threat of carp spreading up the Ohio and down the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, as well as added urgency to the effort to keep the exotic fish out of the Great Lakes, where they could severely damage a multi-billion-dollar sport fishery. As Senior Writer/Conservation for B.A.S.S., I've been writing about the dangers that Asian carp pose to our waterways and fisheries for more than a decade. This book provides a look at what I learned about the invasion from 2010 to 2019, including how and why these fish have spread like a plague through our waterways. It also reveals strategies developed to slow the invasion and minimize the damage. Silver and bighead aren't the only problematic Asian carp either. Grass and black carp pose a growing threat. And the common carp continues to damage many waterways more than a century after it was intentionally introduced by the federal government. Finally, the goldfish, also an Asian carp, is crowding out native fish in some waters. This book documents those dangers as well.