Minnesota DNR expands the fight against invasive carp

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has updated its plan for slowing the spread of invasive carp in Minnesota waters.

The five-part action plan includes monitoring, deterrence and control of invasive carp which have been moving up the Mississippi River.

The 10-year plan was last updated in 2014.

“Many of the actions are continuations of work that the DNR and partners are already doing to prevent and manage invasive carp in Minnesota,” said Ecosystem Management and Protection Section Manager Heidi Wolf.  

“There’s quite a bit that is different from the 2014 update just in terms of the tools that we have and the research and knowledge that we have,” Wolf added.

Technology advancements and new research have improved the ability to monitor, capture and remove invasive fish.

“We have somewhat shifted a focus from early detection and monitoring that the early plan was mostly focused on to response and monitoring and other actions that support response to invasive carp in the state,” said DNR invasive fish coordinator Grace Loppnow.

The DNR monitors for invasive carp on the Mississippi, St. Croix and Minnesota rivers.

The primary focus is the Mississippi River. Late last year the DNR made the largest catch of invasive carp to date, removing 408 of the fish from the river near Trempealeau, Wis.

Part of the expanded response in the new plan will include more monitoring and tracking of fish and increased commercial fishing to capture and remove invasive carp.

“The way we are thinking of implementing this is to have multiple contracted commercial fishing crews available to go out at one time to really maximize harvest in those critical times when invasive carp tend to congregate in spring and fall," Loppnow explained.

The agency will continue to study the possibility of deterrence using bioacoustic barriers in the Mississippi to reduce the number of invasive carp moving up the river.

Funding for such a barrier did not pass during the last legislative session. There have been advances in that technology the past couple of years, according to Wolf.

Officials said the agency will not request additional funding from the Legislature for the invasive carp action plan until 2025. 

Wolf said new research and technological advances will bring the greatest change as the agency implements the new plan.

“We will be taking every action that we can to reduce populations and keep the numbers as low as possible in the state of Minnesota while exploring other options,” she said.

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