Carp Capture: Utah Removing Destructive Fish

MIKE STARK

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Carp diem, Utah.

State officials are about to embark on what they believe is the nation's biggest carp removal project.

Biologists say removing 5 million pounds a year from Utah Lake — roughly the equivalent weight of 1,500 Volkswagen Beetles — is their best shot at saving the rare and endangered June sucker, a native fish that only lives in the lake and its tributaries.

As they feed along the lake bottom, carp tear up vegetation that provides vital hideouts for young June suckers looking to avoid predators.

Over the fall and winter, a commercial fisherman and his crew pulled 1.4 million pounds of carp out of the lake. The success of that pilot program was enough for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week to contribute $1 million to ramp it up. That money, along with $510,000 in state funds, will allow fisherman Bill Loy to hire a crew of 10, buy more equipment and get after the carp twice as hard this fall. Longer-term funding hasn't been secured.