The life history of common carp and it's use to control this species in wetlands and shallow lakes

Full Title: The life history of common carp and how it has been used to control this species in wetlands and shallow lakes
Author: Peter Sorensen
Abstract: The common carp, Cyprinus carpio, is one of the North America’s most destructive and invasive fishes, especially in temperate wetlands. This can be attributed to its remarkable life history and biology. While common carp mature young (often within 3 years), females can live over 60 years while reproducing every year, usually moving into shallow waters that typically lack eggs/juvenile predators. These movements range from systematic migrations of 10-100s of kms to short movements in wetlands and floodplain lakes in which they may have become trapped, although the latter is not well studied. Females typically release millions of eggs a year onto submersed vegetation and while young feed on plankton as they grow they quickly switch to selectively grazing in the bottom, a habit that is very disruptive to shallow ecosystems. In my talk I will briefly review what is known about carp biology and the damage they cause in wetlands / shallow floodplain lakes using information from Europe, Australia and North America. I will then examine a few strategies that have employed to reduce their numbers and control them in ways that reduce ecological damage. Barriers, poisons, predators will also be discussed in the context of adult removal (to be discussed by Przemek Bajer). Special focus will be placed on Lakes Crescent and Sorrel in Australia where the common carp has been eradicated using a life history-based set of approaches that did not use poisons.
This presentation was part of the 18th Emiquon Science Symposium which took place March 20, 2024.