Apr 17 2013

Maintaining the Grass Carp

Today the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries on recommendations from the Claytor Lake Technical Advisory Committee released 1,500 grass carp into the lake to maintain a population level adequate for keeping the lake’s hyrdilla under control. Hydrilla, originally imported from Asia as aquarium vegitation, was believed to be introduced to the waterways in the United States in Florida in the 1960s.  The invasive plant now spreads all the way into Canada and in recent years has become a major problem for residents and recreational users of Claytor Lake.

600 of these grass carp were tagged with anchor tags so that biologist from DGIF and Virginia Tech can study their patterns and use that data to determine how effective these carp are against the hydrilla. Approximately 1,000 grass carp were released at the Claytor Lake State Park with 400 of them being tagged and 500 were released off of Old Hurst Road at Lowman’s Ferry Bridge in the upper portion of the lake with around 100 of them tagged.

   

By LakeVol • 1 • • Tags: Claytor Lake, Ctenopharyngodon idella, fishing, FOCL, Friends of Claytor Lake, grass carp, Hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata, invasive plant, Pulaski County, Triploid, vdgif, Virginia