Oklahoma wildlife officials trying to stop invasion of bighead, silver carp

Bighead and silver carp are a large Asian species of fish that was introduced in the United States in the early '90s. Since then, their population has been growing in the Mississippi River and Missouri River drainages.

Despite their recent arrival, the Asian carps are already the most abundant large fish (5 pounds or more) in the lower Missouri River, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Silver carp react to the sounds of outboard motors by jumping into the air and are the subject of numerous videos on the Internet. Sometimes they jump right into the boat and other times strike passengers.

Biologists for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation have documented the Asian carps in portions of the Red River and its tributaries and in the Neosho River in northeast Oklahoma.

“That is obviously a huge concern,” said Curtis Tackett, aquatic nuisance biologist for the Wildlife Department, of the carps' presence in the Neosho River. “They are competing with paddlefish for plankton.”

The Neosho River is a thriving fishery for paddlefish, which feed by filtering zooplankton. The Asian carps are in direction competition with paddlefish for food and with juvenile fish of other species which also rely on plankton as a food source.

“They crowd out the other species and the food sources are diminished,” Tackett said of the Asian carps.

“In other river systems where they have completely taken over, like in the East and other rivers that branch off from the Mississippi River, you are looking at 98 percent of the fish species there now made up of bighead and silver carp. They are very prolific and reproduce and a very high rate.”