Watch out for Kansas flying fish

I know you’ve all seen the videos of boats roaring down a river or across a lake and those crazy fish jumping out of the water all around them and often landing in the boat.

It’s something you’d only expect to see while going down the Amazon in a dugout canoe paddled by a painted jungle native. Well guess what — those crazy fish are Asian carp and they’re a serious nuisance species that are now found right here in Kansas!

In the 1970’s, three species of Asian fish — black carp, silver carp and bighead carp, (today usually lumped together under the heading Asian carp) — were brought into the south-central United States. Each had its specific purpose.

Black carp, which feed on snails and mussels exclusively, was imported to control snails in aquaculture ponds, and bigheads and silvers, which are filter-feeders, were imported to control algae blooms in aquaculture ponds and sewage lagoons. Sometime later, flooding distributed them into numerous other water impoundments and rivers, to include the Kansas and Missouri Rivers.

In short, the problem is that these fish are much too good at what they do, and that has landed them on the “A” team of our Kansas list of aquatic nuisance species. They are voracious feeders and extremely prolific breeders.

At present, black carp are the least problematic of the three species, but they impact their environment by eating huge numbers of native snails, including algae-eating snails, and by consuming native mussels which also are food for numerous other mammals and other aquatic species.

Silver carp and bigheads are filter feeders, meaning they feed wholly on algae and microscopic plankton, and thus are bigger threats to Kansas sport fishing. Gizzard shad are the main natural food source for Kansas sportfish, and they rely largely on plankton as their food source, as do all young sportfish.

So the mass consumption of this microscopic plankton by Asian carp takes food directly from the mouths of the shad, (the main natural food source for our walleye, crappie, bass etc.,) plus from the mouths of the young sportfish themselves. They also directly affect the food chain of paddlefish which remain plankton eaters their entire lives.

Silver carp also are the “jumpers” seen on the videos. As a defense mechanism they heave themselves from the water at any approaching noise or commotion. Silvers routinely attain weights of more than 20 pounds, and a 20-pound fish slapping a boater alongside the head would obviously be very dangerous.

I asked Jason Goekler, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks aquatic nuisance specialist about the enormous growth rate of Asian carp. He says at this time of year, young gizzard shad are normally two inches long and young Asian carp hatched at the same time are at least twice that long already.

At that rate of growth, in 1 1⁄2 years those fish will be too large for most sport fish to eat. In an article on the KDWP Website written early this month, he tells of being on the Kansas River at Johnson County Water One Coffer Dam within the city limits of Shawnee, and seeing young Asian carp numbering in the hundreds of thousands stacked up below the dam. Asian carp also have been found at the Bowersock Dam in Lawrence and below the dam at Atchison State Fishing Lake.

Although few markets exist for Asian carp, commercial fishermen are discovering markets in the large Asian communities in California, New York and Chicago.

Research is ongoing to find other ways of using harvested fish. In 2005, the University of Missouri began experimenting with a process to turn them into sort of a “fish gel” to feed polar bears and penguins at zoos. (Mmmm, carpsicles!)

Elsewhere, in Illinois, two medical doctors have discovered Asian carp to be high in Omega 3 fatty Acid, a hot item these days believed to help fight heart disease and cancer. Their company, Heartland Processing, has resurrected a previously moth-balled experimental rendering process to extract this beneficial oil from Asian carp, and is pursuing contracts with Purina and other animal feed companies who are looking to make use of the solid fish material left after rendering.

In closing, I need to stress to you that Asian carp are on the state list of species that are illegal to import, possess or release alive in Kansas.

That means accidentally putting them into a bait bucket alive is illegal, and the only legal way to even use them as bait is if they are dead. Violation of this is a class C misdemeanor and is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Go to the KDWP Website (www.kdwp.state.ks.us), click on fishing, then on the aquatic nuisance species link to learn to correctly identify Asian carp. So please continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors, (preferably not $500 poorer and from a jail cell) and do so responsibly to help us all preserve the wonderful fishing we enjoy here in Kansas.

Steve Gilliland is a syndicated outdoors columnist, and can be contacted by e-mail at stevegilliland@idkcom.net.