Contacts
Ken Burton,
202-208-5657
Rachel F.
Levin, 612-713-5311
Drafts of
an environmental assessment and an economic analysis related to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to list the black carp as an injurious
species became available for public comment today.
The draft
economic analysis estimates the 10-year cost for prohibiting interstate transport
of live black carp, gametes and eggs at approximately $356,000. Potentially
affected aquaculture industries include catfish, baitfish and hybrid striped
bass, which had combined gross sales of $561 million in 2000. The cost figure
was derived as the impact to aquaculture operations that use black carp but
lack an in-state source for the fish.
The Service
initially published the black carp listing proposal on July 30, 2002. The
Federal Register notice published today reopens the public comment period
for 60 days. The Service is asking for data and substantive public comments,
directed specifically to the content of the draft documents and an alternative
to the proposed rule that is under consideration.
Both draft
documents are available from the Chief, Division of Environmental Quality,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Mail Stop 322, Arlington,
VA 22203, Fax, 703-358-1800. Both documents are also available at http://www.contaminants.fws.gov/Issues/InvasiveSpecies.cfm See
the Federal Register notice for details on how to deliver comments and the
deadline to submit comments.
Black carp, also known as snail carp, Chinese black carp, black amur, Chinese
roach and black Chinese roach, is a freshwater fish that inhabits lakes and
lower reaches of rivers in the wild. The black carp, native to parts of China,
Russia and Vietnam, can reach 1.5 meters in length, weigh up to 70 kilograms
and live to at least 15 years. A single female can produce an average of one
to three million eggs each year. Black carp feed on zooplankton and fingerlings
when small. An adult black carp has powerful teeth and jaws that are able to
crush the shells of large mollusks. Concerns about the escape of the fish and
its impact on imperiled native mussels and snails prompted evaluation of the
black carp as an injurious species.
Black carp
first came to the U.S. in the early 1970s in a shipment of imported grass
carp headed for a private fish farm in Arkansas. More recently, importation
and production of black carp increased for use as a food fish and as a biological
control agent to combat two parasites, the yellow grub (Clinostomum spp.)
and Bolbophorus spp. in aquaculture farms.
The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving,
protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for
the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre
National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife
refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas.
It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management
offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal
wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory
bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and
restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments
with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance
program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes
on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
-FWS-
|
