(Spirit Lake)– Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say recent sampling turned up no additional asian carp, or the so-called jumping fish, in two stretches of the Little Sioux River.
DNR Fisheries Biologist Mike Hawkins says crews using electro-fishing equipment found no signs of the species earlier this week along two stretches of the river–one near the Twin Forks area in Dickinson county, the other was near the Little Sioux Wildlife Management Area in Clay county. Hawkins says they sampled pools below the rocky ripple areas where asian carp would most likely be present, and none were found.
Hawkins says similar sampling efforts two weeks ago below the Linn Grove dam turned up much different results. He says crews witnessed several asian carp jumping out of the water there.
Hawkins says the findings back up their thinking that the number of asian carp, if there’s any at all still in the Iowa Great Lakes, is very small, as is the case on the Little Sioux River above the Linn Grove dam.
Meanwhile Hawkins says construction of an electric fish barrier at the outlet of the Iowa Great Lakes is still on schedule to begin this fall with a December 1st completion date.
