CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ICRCC) today announced the removal of one silver carp from Lake Calumet in the Chicago Area Waterway System. Lake Calumet is approximately seven miles from Lake Michigan.
The fish was captured Thursday by gill netting and electro-fishing crews from IDNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following a reported sighting of an invasive carp by a member of the public earlier this week. The silver carp was 38.3 inches in length and weighed approximately 22 pounds.
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The silver carp capture has triggered a response effort in the area of the captured fish to determine whether additional invasive carp could be present. It is important to note that the capture of this silver carp does not indicate that a reproducing population of bighead and silver carp exists above the electric dispersal barriers or within the Great Lakes.
This is the third time a bighead or silver carp has been captured above the electric dispersal barriers. A silver carp was captured in the Chicago Area Waterway System below T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam in 2017, and a bighead carp was captured in Lake Calumet in 2010.
IDNR and the ICRCC are committed to keeping the public informed as we learn more about the captured silver carp and continue our sampling efforts in Lake Calumet and the Chicago Area Waterway System.
More information on efforts to control invasive carp and on the Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee can be found at https://invasivecarp.us/.
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