KDFWR Asian carp info.

Synopsis of West KY Boat Show Asian Carp presentation January 13, 2018
• Five research projects in West KY
o Silver Carp Telemetry
 This study improves the understanding of Silver carp movement and habitat use in large reservoirs
• Data collected will help steer removal efforts and estimate mortality rates
 To date KDFWR has tagged 135 fish with internal acoustic transmitters
 Continuing to expand the network of receivers in the lakes used to monitor fish tagged in this study
 KDFWR conducts weekly manual tracking studies, to refine locations of individual fish tagged
 KDFWR conducting monthly 24-hour tracking studies on individual fish
• This yields precise habitat-use and movements over a 24-hour period
 This project is collaborative between many universities and state and federal agencies
o Tail-Water Sport Fish Assessment
 Consists of a creel survey conducted every other year and a fish community survey conducted annually across seasons
• Began in 2016
 Creel Survey
• 3,730 Angler interviews, 240 Angler attitude surveys
• 95,643 angler hours in Kentucky tail-waters
• 75,048 angler hours in Barkley tail-waters
• Catfish were the most targeted species in both tail-waters
• Bow-fishing recorded as a new method of fishing that was not used in prior creel surveys
• Asian carp captures have increased from ~10 years ago when the last creel survey was conducted
• Anglers cited Asian Carp as a top reason for dissatisfaction
o Silver Carp Demographics
 This study is used to establish several metrics for the Asian carp populations in Barkley (2017) & Kentucky (2016) reservoirs, thus allowing KDFWR to monitor changes in the population from harvest
• Kentucky lake 2016, Barkley was sampled in 2017 and the data is still being analyzed
• Data collected yields age structure, growth/mortality rates, as well as condition of the population
• Began as joint study with Murray State University in 2016
• Mean length for fish in Kentucky lake ~35 inches
o Kentucky lake fish are larger than fish from the Illinois, Middle Mississippi and Wabash rivers
• Silver carp in Kentucky Lake grow faster and reach the maximum length more quickly than in systems such as the Illinois and Middle Mississippi rivers
• Kentucky Lake Annual Silver carp mortality estimated to be 53%, compared to 63% on the Illinois and Middle Mississippi rivers
o The Illinois and Middle Mississippi have a more effective commercial fishery
o Asian Carp Harvest Program
 Program began in 2013
• Allows Commercial fishing access to Barkley and Kentucky reservoirs year round
o $0.05 per pound subsidy available for Asian Carp harvested in this program
• Fishermen on this program are required to submit daily and monthly harvest logs
o Harvest logs are used to monitor removal efforts and monitor by catch
• KDFWR completes ~30 ride-a-longs per year with Commercial anglers to collect additional data
o Sportfish account for 6% of bycatch and have a survival rate of 93%
• Commercial harvest totals have been increasing since the program was established 2.5 million pounds harvested statewide in 2016, 1.5 million pounds in Lake Barkley alone
o Fish processors in the state could handle up to 10 million pounds per year
• KDFWR is continuing to facilitate the growth of the industry, which is the best resource available at this time to reduce the population of Asian Carp
o Achieving this through increasing public awareness, sharing research findings and developing a Public-Private-Partnership
o Experimental Gear Testing
 This project is investigating new fishing methods to increase the removal of Asian Carp from Kentucky waters
 Partnering with public and private entities
• Working with Two Rivers Fisheries when they want to try new netting systems
• Communicating with Whooshh Innovations about the potential of a removal system in the Barkley and Kentucky tail-waters
• Collaborating with the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to test new gears on Barkley and Kentucky reservoirs
o Paupier netting system
 Electrified butterfly trawl
 Has been effective at removing Silver carp less than 25 inches from the reservoirs
o Merwin & Iruka nets
 Very large net systems
o Black Carp
 KDFWR collected and verified a Black carp in Barkley lake in November of 2017
 Not documented upstream of Brookport, Illinois in the Ohio river drainage prior to this
 The Black carp looks similar to a Grass carp
• Black carp have an overall dark coloration
• The head is more cone shaped than a Grass carp
 Black carp feed on Snails and Mussels
o Relative Abundance of Asian Carp Study in Barkley and Kentucky Lakes
 This study will be initiated in 2018
 The study will establish an estimate of the population size of Asian carp in the lakes
• This data will be valuable as the Commercial fishery grows, KDFWR will be able to monitor changes as a result of increased effort
o Testing of Sound Barriers
 This study would be a field trail to determine the effectiveness of sound to limit the movement of Asian carp through lock structures
 KDFWR is collaborating with U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Army Corps of Engineers
 Considering Barkley lock as an ideal testing location
• Target installation of 2019

Apologies for the somewhat confusing formatting. I had one of our Asian carp biologists, Josh Tompkins, put this together this morning. Post any carp questions you might have below and I will try to answer them.

WOW a lot of info, keep up the good work Martin, it is appreciated by all fishermen everywhere

Any ideas on what this cold weather and ice will do to the Asian Carp?

Nice read. Thanks for your hard work.:notworthy

Amartinbio, Martin, Really, really nice info. I focused on the Tail Water Sport Fishing info in your report. I used to come down in May and fish the calm lock area below Barkley dam for Bluegill. We fished off the bank(rip-rap) and had a pile of luck catching nice Bluegill for a few days there. This was a few years ago, (about 10 years). I would like to make another trip this spring in May to see if they still come into this rip-rap area in May. I don't know if the Asian Carp has affected(have moved out or eliminated) the Bluegill fishing below the dam during this period. I am hoping the Asian carp do not compete with the Bluegill on the food supply. From what remember, the Bluegill we caught had algae from the rocks in their stomachs. Let me know if you think the Asian carp will drive out the Bluegill from the areas around the rip-rap below he Barkley dam.

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Originally Posted by perchjerker108

Amartinbio, Martin, Really, really nice info. I focused on the Tail Water Sport Fishing info in your report. I used to come down in May and fish the calm lock area below Barkley dam for Bluegill. We fished off the bank(rip-rap) and had a pile of luck catching nice Bluegill for a few days there. This was a few years ago, (about 10 years). I would like to make another trip this spring in May to see if they still come into this rip-rap area in May. I don't know if the Asian Carp has affected(have moved out or eliminated) the Bluegill fishing below the dam during this period. I am hoping the Asian carp do not compete with the Bluegill on the food supply. From what remember, the Bluegill we caught had algae from the rocks in their stomachs. Let me know if you think the Asian carp will drive out the Bluegill from the areas around the rip-rap below he Barkley dam.

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I don't fish there for bluegill very much, but here is a monthly breakdown of the catch in 2016 for sunfish. looks like most fish are caught in may.

Table 21. Monthly Panfish angling success at Lake Barkley Dam tailwater during the February - November 2016 creel survey.
Month	Total catch of panfish by all anglers	Total panfish harvested by all anglers	No. of trips for panfish	Hours fished for panfish	Number caught by panfish anglers	Panfish caught / hour by panfish anglers	Number harvested by panfish anglers	Panfish harvested / hour by panfish anglers
February	57
March	69	20	29	95
April	759	427	27	87	489	3.29	262	1.76
May	10,376	5,146	254	818	8,415	13.32	4,040	6.39
June	2,293	983
July	143	111
August	50	50
September			16	51
October	29	15
November	913
Total	14,690	6,752	368	1,181	8,904		4,302
Mean						9.19		4.46

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fishincrazy

Any ideas on what this cold weather and ice will do to the Asian Carp?

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Very little effect unfortunately. They have a pretty wide range of temperature preferences.

Martin, unbelievable information/detail, many thanks for the reply. Looks good for my possible trip this May to fish the tail waters at Barkley for Bluegill. Looks like May is the month to come. It's some work moving up and down the bank/rip rap, but if they are there it's worth it. We kept fish from 6 '1/2 to 7 1/2 and returned everything else. Used wax worms. We Stayed at Hillside cottages when there. Great place, set up for fisherman with cleaning faculties. He plowed open one row in his garden and told us to put the fish remains in the ditch of the row. He then plowed another row shortly after to cover them up for his garden. I'm sure his garden did well with this and no nasty smell off fish. Don't know if the still do this, but seemed to be a good use of the remains. Again, many thanks for the information.