Carp chaos at Utah Lake as carp overpopulation becomes serious problem

UTAH COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — Utah Lake Authority is offering a monetary prize of $1,000 to the person who catches the most carp from Utah Lake to try to get carp overpopulation under control.

“When I first started here on the docks, you would look down at the water and you really couldn’t see more than a quarter of an inch down,” Melanie Evans, sailing instructor for Bonneville School of Sailing said.

For eight years, Melanie Evans has been sailing the lake.

“Every year it’s getting a little clearer,” Evans said.

She’s on the lake nearly five times a week, and she sees the lake clearing up.

“What we’re seeing is carp, and we can see a whole body of them which means the water is cleaner, and I think it’s because of all the carp removal they’re doing,” Evans said.

That’s exactly what the Utah Lake Authority and its partners have been working towards for over a decade: removing the carp, which are not native to the lake.

Kelly Cannon-O’Day said over the last several years they’re eliminated over 60% of the biomass in Utah Lake.

“Carp are a big problem because they make the water quality so poor and they’re the ones that make it muddy and rip up the soil and crowd everything out,” O’Day said.

O’Day is the communications manager for Utah Lake Authority and said Utah Lake plays a critical role in the state’s ecosystem, supplying over a third of the water that flows into the Great Salt Lake.

“It’s all part of one big watershed that connects everything, and so when we talk about the water quality of Utah Lake, we’re talking about the entire ecosystem here, not just fish, but birds, amphibians, plant life, farming water and drinking water,” O’Day said.

She said one of the most effective methods of carp control has been hiring commercial fishermen.

“Their nets were specifically made to catch carp and allow smaller fish to go through,” O’Day said.

She said fishermen were paid by the pound until carp numbers dropped so low that it became too expensive for them to continue. 

“Caught so much carp that they weren’t catching as much anymore so it became more expensive to run the specialized equipment,” O’Day said.

Another high-tech solution they have used is traps with cameras and sensors.

“The traps actually come up and catch the carp and then they send a signal out to folks at DWR for them to come out and collect the fish,” O’Day said.

Now a new solution this year.

“We developed the idea of a fishing tournament, a carp hunt, where you come out and remove carp by any legal means necessary,” O’Day said.

A $1,000 price to the person who catches the most.

“It’s a good thing and it helps the quality of the lake,” Evans said.