(Spirit Lake)– An aquatic invasive species has found its way into the Iowa Great Lakes.
Kim Bogenschutz is a fisheries biologist and heads up the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Aquatic Invasive Species program. She tells KUOO news they’ve documented the presence of bighead carp in East Lake Okoboji. Bogenschutz says two bighead carp, one 14 inches and one 15 inches, were found Tuesday in seins near the narrows on East Lake Okoboji during the DNR’s annual fish sampling program. She says bighead carp are one of four species of Asian Carp. While bighead carp have been found previously in rivers, this is the first time they’ve been found in a lake. As a result, Bogenschutz says they aren’t sure what kind of an impact they’ll have. But she says it likely won’t be good as they feed on plankton, which native fish rely on for food.
Bogenschutz says the DNR will do some additional monitoring in the near future to get a better idea on just how many bighead carp are in the Iowa Great Lakes. As of right now, they have only been found in East Lake Okoboji.
Bogenschutz adds getting rid of them will be the next thing to impossible. She says they are prolific reproducers and grow to be very large, reaching maturity in only a couple of years.
Bighead carp have already been present for some time in the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, the Des Moines River and the lower reaches of their tributaries. They were found in the Little Sioux River below the Linn Grove dam in 1996, and the samples collected Tuesday was the first time the species had been found above that barrier.
Bogenschutz says it’s likely they made it into the Iowa Great Lakes during high water earlier this summer by swimming over dams.
