Because invasive carp management is so wide-ranging and complex, our ability to combine our expertise and resources is the main leverage we have to face the threat effectively. Coordinated management mainly falls under these inter-related categories:
- Conducting targeted mass removal efforts to reduce the abundance of invasive carp populations, decreasing the risk of expansion and inhibiting reproductive success
- Developing deterrent technologies and barriers to block or impede invasive carp movement
- Ongoing monitoring, including in areas invasive carp haven’t yet reached, to inform management strategies and detect their spread to new areas before they can become established
Experts from the Invasive Carp Regional Coordination Committee’s membership have formed specialized work groups to focus on certain aspects of invasive carp management, such as:
- Monitoring the Illinois River invasive carp population and reducing its abundance through mass removal in targeted areas for the most suppressive impact
- Developing, maintaining and evaluating fish deterrent technologies and barriers to block pathways between the Mississippi River basin and Great Lakes basin
- Preventing grass carp, which are present in all of the Great Lakes except Superior, from becoming established, with priority on efforts in Lake Erie
- Improving our understanding of the black carp’s life cycle and population status, for which less is known compared to the others
- Conducting extensive on-the-water sampling throughout the Upper Illinois Waterway and the Great Lakes for any detections of invasive carp, or their environmental DNA, in new areas
- Developing technology and methods for consolidating data, assessing invasive carp populations and informing work on deterrents and removal efforts
- Providing information to the public and water-related industries to prevent unintentional introductions of invasive carp in new areas
- Sharing information about the work we do to fulfill our commitment to the public we serve
We have developed a formal, cyclical process for carrying out priority projects, evaluating their effectiveness and refining our plans for what comes next.
Each year, members evaluate their previous years’ work and collaborate to identify priority projects and cost-sharing proposals going forward. Through a process facilitated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, priority projects receive supplemental funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. This regional investment from the U.S. Congress targets the most significant threats to the health of the Great Lakes, including invasive carp. This funding has been pivotal in allowing state agencies to expand their efforts in their jurisdictional waters and address the invasive carp threat for the benefit of the entire Great Lakes region.
The full range of priority projects is compiled into an annual action plan and published in the Spring.