Nature Lab

Each month, we highlight research MDC uses to improve fish, forest, and wildlife management.

Fisheries Management

Asian Carp Removal

If you visited St. Louis County’s Creve Coeur Lake Park last winter, you likely saw lots of boats pulling long nets. Their purpose? To reduce the lake’s biggest nuisance — invasive Asian carp.

Bighead and silver carp, both introduced from Asia, have been damaging the Creve Coeur Park Lake fishery for years. “They have really reduced the quality of sport fishing, especially for crappie,” said MDC Fisheries Management Biologist Kevin Meneau.

After several attempts to remove them with limited success, MDC, St. Louis County Department of Parks and Recreation, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formed a partnership to execute an innovative Asian carp removal project last January and February.

“It was a big job,” said Meneau. “It took 18 months of planning, a lot of borrowed equipment from all over the Midwest, and people from as far away as La Crosse, Wisconsin,” he said.

The partnership applied a technique called the unified method. Adapted from proven techniques used in Asia, this method combines fish herding, clearing, and blocking re-entry using several boats, long nets, and dozens of staff.

The result? Over a period of three weeks, the team captured roughly 47,000 carp, about 85 percent of the lake’s estimated population. “By removing most of the Asian carp, we can expect to see good white crappie fishing again in three to five years,” Meneau said.

On a broader scale, results show that the unified method could be ready for future use in floodplain lakes in Missouri and elsewhere.

Asian Carp Experiment at a Glance

The Experiment

1. Divide the lake into cells using nets
2. Drive fish out of cells using sound, localized electricity, and nets
3. Use sonar and selected radio-tagged fish to track school movements
4. Block fish re-entry into cleared cells
5. Push fish toward a central collection point
6. Sort captured fish and return native species
7. Dispose of captured invasive Asian carp

The Results

• 85% captured
• First successful adaptation of unified method in USA
• Crappie fishing expected to improve