Contacts
Ken Burton 202-208-5657
Rachel F. Levin 612-713-5311
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service served notice today that
it will begin collecting scientific and economic information on bighead carp
to help determine whether this fish should be placed on the list of injurious
species. Such an action would prohibit their importation into the United
States and their shipment across state lines.
Part of the Service action is in response to appeals from 25 Members of Congress
who represent districts near the Great Lakes, which has a $4 billion fishery
at stake, and 10 state conservation and other organizations that favor the
bighead carp’s listing as an injurious species. This same inquiry was
initiated for the silver carp on July 23, 2003.
Bighead carp are already established in the Mississippi River basin. Biologists
are concerned that the fish could slip through a manmade canal into the Great
Lakes, where the voracious eaters would threaten the food supply available
to native fish. Great Lakes fisheries already are struggling against other
invasive species, including the sea lamprey, round goby and zebra mussel, among
others.
If the bighead carp were placed on the injurious species list, it would be
illegal to move them across state lines or to import them into the United States
without a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Bighead carp have been used by catfish farmers because they feed on phytoplankton,
zooplankton and detritus that they filter out of the water.
Bighead carp were imported into the United States in 1973 and stocked for phytoplankton
control and as a food fish. By the mid-1970s, carp were being raised at six
federal, state and private facilities and had been stocked in municipal sewage
lagoons. Silver carp have been recorded in 12 states.
Comments on the notice of inquiry, published in today’s
Federal Register, must be submitted within 60 days, by mail to: Chief, Division
of Environmental Quality, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax
Drive, Suite 322, Arlington, Virginia, 22203; or via fax at 703-358-1800.
Comments may be sent by e-mail to: bighead carp@fws.gov Public
comment will be evaluated after the 60-day cutoff and biologists will determine
whether bighead carp warrant listing as injurious wildlife.
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 more
than 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special
management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery
resource offices and 78 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 Aid program that distributes
hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment
to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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