11-19-2009, 12:13 PM
[cool][#0000ff]As most folks "in the know" realize, the June Sucker Restoration program is the driving force behind carp removal. Since the Junies are under FEDERAL protection, anything new added to the lake would be subject to their approval. It would be virtually impossible to get approval for dumping in other species or more fish with teeth, even though they might potentially dispose of some carp along with the Junies they eat.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In the ongoing communications I have been having with the people in charge of the restoration program, they state that they are all about mass removal of adult carp, not just predation on small ones at this point. Every large spawning female removed from the biomass of carp represents millions of baby carp...every years for many years. Carp live a long time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They also talk about reaching a "tipping point", where the adult population is reduced to the point that the majority of the annual reproduction WILL be consumed by the predator population...just as at Strawberry and also Starvation and increasingly at Jordanelle. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They are projecting about a 5 year program of aggressive netting to remove enough of the adult carp to reach that balance. That represents a huge number of adult carp. Adding more predators would not even begin to have the same effect on the overall population.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My personal opinion is that once the carp are reduced to a "manageable" number, the feds will start targeting white bass and other predators as a menace to the Junies. Right now the focus is on carp, but the predators are next in the crosshairs. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In the ongoing communications I have been having with the people in charge of the restoration program, they state that they are all about mass removal of adult carp, not just predation on small ones at this point. Every large spawning female removed from the biomass of carp represents millions of baby carp...every years for many years. Carp live a long time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They also talk about reaching a "tipping point", where the adult population is reduced to the point that the majority of the annual reproduction WILL be consumed by the predator population...just as at Strawberry and also Starvation and increasingly at Jordanelle. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They are projecting about a 5 year program of aggressive netting to remove enough of the adult carp to reach that balance. That represents a huge number of adult carp. Adding more predators would not even begin to have the same effect on the overall population.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My personal opinion is that once the carp are reduced to a "manageable" number, the feds will start targeting white bass and other predators as a menace to the Junies. Right now the focus is on carp, but the predators are next in the crosshairs. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[signature]