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Lake Conservation Webinar Series: Common Carp Management and the Lost Island Lake Restoration

Efforts to reduce Common Carp abundance to improve water quality, fisheries, and aquatic habitat are seldom successful or tend to provide only short-term improvements. However, we were able to achieve long-term (greater than 10 year) improvements through the use of a subsidized commercial fishing technique and limiting spawning areas within the lake’s watershed. In 2010, the Common carp biomass was reduced from 320 lbs/acre to less than 50 lbs/acre. This biomass reduction has been maintained for over eleven years. Meanwhile, improvements to the fishery, water quality, and aquatic plant community were documented. Restricting the movement of common carp in the watershed also allowed for improved habitat and water quality in a number of large wetlands. In 2018, the lake was removed from Iowa’s impaired waters list. This project has had broad community support and involvement and has provided Iowa’s Lake Restoration Program with an alternative to whole-lake fisheries renovations.

Feb 14, 2023 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)