The River Alliance of Wisconsin Forum

The River Alliance of Wisconsin hosted the first Wisconsin Asian Carp Summit March 15, 2013 in La Crosse, WI. This was the first comprehensive meeting on the topic in Wisconsin attended by local, state, and federal agencies, including Wisconsin DNR, USGS, USFWS, National Park Service and local citizens groups such as Friends of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway (FLOW), the Friends of the Black River, and the St. Croix River Association.

According to Deb Ryun, Executive Director of the St. Croix River Association, “This summit was a great first step toward developing meaningful, coordinated monitoring and public outreach programs in Wisconsin. Our waters are too important to ignore the threat Asian carp pose, for the economy, the environment, and human health.”

Experts from the state and federal agencies presented on the current status of Asian Carp in the Mississippi River and Wisconsin’s rivers; surveillance and control techniques in development; and laws and policies that help to prevent the illegal movement of live fish in the aquaculture, bait industry, live food trade and by anglers.

Asian Carp are in the Upper Mississippi River and several of Wisconsin’s rivers, such as the St. Croix and the Wisconsin River.   This is not a new finding, nor is it unsuspected.  Asian Carp, those that did not take a right at the Illinois River towards the Great Lakes, have been swimming up the Mississippi River towards Wisconsin since they escaped fish farms in the 1970s and 80s.  They are also popping up around the country in the occasional stocked pond or live at fish markets.

“While it is arguably too late to prevent these fish from arriving in Wisconsin, it certainly is not too late to contain these fish to the lower reaches of these rivers and other infested waters, limit the impact through bolstering the rivers’ resiliency, and prepare to implement the cutting edge control efforts being developed by the United States Geological Survey,” according to Laura MacFarland, Invasive Species Project Director at the River Alliance of Wisconsin.

PDFs of all of the presentations are now available online: https://www.wisconsinrivers.org/conservation-projects/asian-carp

St. Croix River Association Forum

The St. Croix River Association hosted an Asian Carp public forum at the Water Street Inn in Stillwater on May 16, 2012. Many people have asked for the information that was presented at this forum. We are happy to make this available to you:

Asian Carp Talk

Carp impacts on recreation