Tuesday April 23, 2024
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Commercial anglers on Kentucky and Barkley lakes are deploying indicator flags to mark the locations of their nets.
“We want to make anglers and recreational boaters aware of ongoing commercial angling and net locations,” said Jessica Morris, fisheries biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
“These bright yellow flags are visible for a mile. While nets are generally set 3-feet underneath the surface, boaters still should not go between flags or use them for skiing buoys because of the risk of entanglement.”
The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation purchased about 100 flags and the materials to attach them to the nets.
This spring, the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to allow commercial netting during summer weekends as part of the ongoing effort to control numbers of invasive Asian carp in Kentucky and Barkley lakes. Commercial anglers previously were restricted to netting during the weekdays in summer.
Asian carp outcompete native fish for food. Silver carp, one of the Asian carp species, can be hazardous to boaters as they jump out of the water as a boat approaches.
The net indicator flags are part of a collaborative effort between the department and Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation to avoid user conflicts on the lakes. Nets may be deployed day or night, and not all will be marked.
So far this year, commercial anglers have netted 2.8 million pounds of Asian carp from Kentucky waterways, more than double the 1.1 million pounds taken by the same time in 2018. Morris said approximately 80 percent of the harvest comes from Lake Barkley.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is working with commercial anglers and processors to develop markets for Asian carp.
As part of the effort to control Asian carp, construction is underway on a deterrent system designed to thwart the fish from entering a boating lock chamber into Lake Barkley. The device, known as a bio-acoustic fish fence, could be operational by fall.
Gov. Matt Bevin today announced the award of the state’s first-ever fish house contract, in an innovative step to attack the Asian carp problem in western Kentucky and encourage job growth in the region. Bevin announced that Kentucky Fish Center, LLC of Wickliffe, Ky. has won the contract to establish the fish house, which will expand the market for Kentucky-caught Asian carp.
Angie Yu, operator of Two Rivers Fishery, a fish processing company also based in Wickliffe, will own and operate the Kentucky Fish Center. Asian carp caught in Kentucky will be sold by Kentucky Fish Center in daily auctions open to all interested buyers. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will oversee the auctions.
“The Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet has worked tirelessly to develop a workable solution for mitigating Asian carp,” said Gov. Bevin. “Today’s announcement is a great example of government partnering with the private sector to create a commonsense, market-based solution. It will provide commercial anglers with new opportunities, while also removing this invasive species from Kentucky’s waterways.”
By buying carp caught in Kentucky waters at a guaranteed price of 19 cents per pound, and selling the fish to both domestic and international users in daily auctions, the fish house will play a key role in growing the market for Kentucky carp.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is pledging up to $4 million in loans and incentives for the fish house and commercial fishermen. The department will pay commercial anglers an incentive of 5 cents per pound for their catch, supplementing the fish house’s guaranteed 14 cents per pound purchase price, to make fishing for carp in Kentucky’s waters economically attractive.
“Commercial anglers currently harvest two million pounds of Asian carp from Kentucky’s waters each year,” said Ron Brooks, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s fisheries director. “We believe this program can increase that catch to 20 million pounds across the state within the next five years.”
Asian carp first came to the United States to help control aquatic weeds and algae blooms in fish farms. By the 1980s, three species of Asian carp had escaped into the wild during floods. They have now spread throughout lengthy portions of the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois rivers. They have established significant populations in Kentucky and Barkley lakes.
Asian carp include bighead, silver, grass and black carp. They are prolific breeders. A single large Asian carp may produce up to a million eggs yearly. An Asian carp can consume 5 to 40 percent of its body weight each day. Bighead and silver carp feed voraciously on the same plankton that young sport fish such as crappie depend upon for their survival. Silver carp also jump from the water upon hearing the approach of a motor, creating hazards for boaters.
Commercial angling is the only practical method for limiting and reducing Asian carp numbers. Currently, only a handful of commercial anglers operate on Kentucky and Barkley lakes.
The incentives offered under the new distribution center contract will guarantee anglers a buyer and a nearby place to offload their catch. Brooks said the arrangement should lure more commercial anglers to Kentucky and Barkley lakes.
“We believe this will increase the amount of Asian carp coming out of those lakes to five million pounds per year,” Brooks said. “A sustained harvest of this amount will significantly reduce the impact of Asian carp on these nationally-recognized crappie lakes.”
The program includes a $734,000 secured loan for fixed assets to assist with the start-up of the fish house. Performance-based incentives of $570,000 to $700,000 a year will be awarded if the escalating yearly harvest goals of 5 to 20 million pounds of fish are met. The secured loan would be forgiven in 2024 if the 20 million pound goal is met that year. The program will be fully funded by boat registration fees.
Department officials estimate the effort would cost $3.5 million a year if it were run entirely by the state and would produce a harvest far less than the 20 million pound goal of the partnership announced today.
Kentucky needs more funding to combat the spread of invasive Asian carp in the state’s waterways.
To help fund this need, members of the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Administration, Education and Policy Committee have recommended that the full commission consider increasing Kentucky boat registration fees at its March 17 meeting. The recommendation does not include fees on paddlecraft such as canoes or kayaks.
Committee members say the increase is necessary to blunt Kentucky’s population explosion of Asian carp. These invasive carp, which threaten native sport fish species and present a safety hazard to recreational boaters, endanger the $1.2 billion fishing and recreational boating industry in western Kentucky.
Kentucky is now home to three types of Asian carp: silver carp, big head carp and now black carp. Silver and big head carp numbers have exploded along most of the Ohio River and its tributaries. They are prevalent in Kentucky and Barkley lakes.
A typical silver carp weighs from five to 30 pounds. Big heads can weigh more than 100 pounds, but 50-80 pounds is more common.
Asian carp school by the thousands and can fill the air with jumping fish when a boat motor startles them. “The surface of the water around and in front of a moving boat can suddenly erupt with thousands of jumping fish,” said Fisheries Division Director Ron Brooks, a nationally recognized authority on this invasive species. “The damage to boats and injuries to boaters caused by high speed collisions with these fish are increasing each year.”
Safety problems caused by Asian carp are growing. The department already receives reports of water skiers and tubers being struck by jumping fish while skimming behind a boat going 30 mph. On some Kentucky waterways, it is becoming a likely and dangerous occurrence.
Controlling Asian carp is a challenge for states drained by the Mississippi River and its various tributaries.
“Asian carp are extremely prolific breeders and have been competing with our native fisheries for quite some time,” said Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Gregory Johnson. “Each female fish can produce up to a million eggs and spawn multiple times each year. Their numbers have reached the point now where they even threaten the safety of our boaters.”
Recreational boaters threatened by the presence of Asian carp may be asked to help fund the effort to take on this menace.
Kentucky annually registers more than 170,000 motorized vessels. Boater registration fees pay for new boat ramps, maintenance of 165 aging ramps and provides for boating safety and enforcement.
Kentucky has not raised its boat registration fees in 15 years. In evaluating the state’s pricing structure, committee members noted that registering a boat in Kentucky costs far less on average than the surrounding states. Proposed new rates would continue to keep Kentucky’s registration fees lower than neighboring states.
Controlling the fishes’ numbers and territorial expansions are forcing the department to seek additional resources. Department officials identified a shortfall of about $1.8 million needed for Asian carp control, engineering programs that build and maintain boat launch ramps for boater access, boater safety and enforcement.
The recommendations include increasing registration pricing for boats under 16 feet in length from $19 to $24 (neighboring state average is $22.50); boats 16-26 feet from $23 to $38 (Neighbor average is $40); boats 26-40 feet from $29 to $50 (neighbor average is $72); and boats longer than 40 feet from $33 to $60 (neighbor average is $96). Inboards would increase from $34 to $47 and boats powered only by trolling motors from $9 to $14.
The end of the year is a time for reflecting on the past 12 months and envisioning the possibilities for the new year.
Officials with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources recently previewed what’s ahead in 2017.
From firming up long-range plans for the restoration of ruffed grouse in Kentucky and management of the state’s black bear population to expanding the popular Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) program and releasing thousands of rare mussels into the wild, a common theme stretches across the Fisheries and Wildlife divisions. Conserving fish and wildlife habitats and populations and expanding opportunities for hunters, anglers and others are top priorities.
In Fisheries, Asian carp will continue to be a major focus. Commercial harvest is an effective tool for large-scale removal of the invasive fish and Fisheries director Ron Brooks said a multi-year effort to help the Asian carp processing industry expand in Kentucky is expected to bear fruit in 2017.
“We’ve been working on this for about two years and it’s finally coming around,” he said.
The department has been working with fish processors, commercial fishermen, legislators, government agencies and businesses to find ways to make a greater dent in the Asian carp population.
The proposed system would train new commercial fishermen how to harvest Asian carp and assist commercial fishermen already harvesting Asian carp while reducing costs and delays for processors, Brooks said.
“We’re reaching out to help the Asian carp-harvesting industry meet its needs and hopefully lead into expansion of their businesses, all to get rid of Asian carp,” he said. “We’re focusing a lot of our efforts on Kentucky and Barkley lakes because we believe we can have an immediate impact there. We’re trying to ensure our sportfish species aren’t taken out.”
Elsewhere in Fisheries, a long-term project to increase forage and improve fishing opportunity at Cave Run Lake will wrap up in 2017. The project focused on the Ramey’s Creek and Warix coves in 2016. Department personnel added around 1,000 trees, 500 pallet structures, 150 bucket stake attractors, 10 wooden cable spools and 50 plastic pipe trees. A map showing the locations of these fish attractors is available online at fw.ky.gov. Type “Cave Run Lake Fish Habitat Improvement Project” into the search box on the homepage.
The popular Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) program is adding five new lakes to its lineup: Flemingsburg Old Reservoir in Fleming County, Kess Creek Park Lake in Graves County, Leary Lake in Grant County, Logan Hubble Park Lake in Lincoln County and Rotary Park Lake in Hickman County. The addition of these lakes brings the number of FINs lakes to 43 across the state.
Anglers can start planning now where they want to fish and for what species in with the new Fishing Forecast for Kentucky’s major fisheries. The 2017 edition is available on the department’s website by clicking on the “Fish” tab and choosing “Forecast” from the dropdown menu. The annual compilation highlights new, expanding and improving fisheries across the state.
Deer hunters in Kentucky have enjoyed another successful season in 2016.
“We’re going to end up in the top 5 in terms of our overall harvest total,” said Steve Beam, Wildlife Division director for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “We’re producing tremendous numbers of trophy quality bucks. At the same time, our herd is healthy. Things continue to be wonderful.”
At its December meeting, the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to expand opportunities for youth and muzzleloader deer hunters on several wildlife management areas in 2017. The 2017-18 Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide, due out in July, will note these and any other pertinent changes.
John Hast was a biologist in the department’s deer and elk program before taking over as coordinator of its bear program in January 2015. He anticipates having a draft of a long-range management plan for Kentucky’s black bear population ready in 2017.
“We’ve been doing in-house research since bears returned to the state,” Hast said. “We just completed the project that’s going to provide our foundation for management for the next 15 years.
“A management plan, to me, gives me an opportunity to summarize all of that data and put it in one spot and distill it out and translate it. The plan will set forth what we’ve got but also what we’re going to be doing in the near future to refine things.”
Also in 2017, expect to hear more from the department about wild pigs in Kentucky, Beam said.
“We have re-evaluated and are in the process of increasing our efforts on wild pig eradication, working with landowners and cooperating with our partners,” he said.
In the department’s Wildlife Diversity program, led by coordinator Sunni Carr, biologists plan to conduct a statewide survey of osprey nesting locations and also start a loggerhead shrike banding project in the hopes of learning more about the migration and causes of decline for the species.
Additionally, the statewide survey for eastern whip-poor-wills and chuck-will’s-widows will be expanded to examine trends for Kentucky’s night birds. The department’s Center for Mollusk Conservation (CMC) plans to release endangered pink muckets in Kentucky for the 10th year. There are now several thousand of these mussels at more than 23 locations.
The department’s website provides a wealth of information about the work being done by each of these divisions. While there, consider purchasing a 2017-18 hunting and fishing license. The new license year starts March 1.