Carp are a well adapted pest species that are rapidly overtaking rivers and creeks in south-west Queensland (Amy Phillips, ABC)
Several hundreds of kilograms of carp, some as big as a meter long, are being pulled from waterholes in Queensland’s south-west.
The natural resource management group, South-West NRM, has been working in the Paroo catchment extracting carp from some of the local creeks and waterholes.
Carp are considered to be Australia’s worst freshwater fish pest.
Spokesman Craig Alison says it is still compiling data but the results so far suggest there may be breeding “hotspots” for the fish.
“The results that we’re seeing from the upper Paroo, especially around the Yowah Creek, have been phenomenal,” he said.
Seizing the carp
“The weight, the size and the volume of carp that are being extracted from the waterholes has been incredible.
“One event within 48 hours captured just on a tonne of carp. One of the largest ones was seven kilos and over a metre long.”
He says the ecosystem is important to preserve.
“It dissipates into the Ramsar wetlands and also the Paroo is classified on the natural estate as a high ecological value aquatic ecosystem,” he said.
“Once all the data is captured and collated, we are going to see hotspots of carp concentrations and then we will be able to look at environmental conditions within those waterholes.”
Original ABC News Story
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