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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stuttgart, Arkansas » Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #179310
Title: THE PUBLIC SECTOR ROLE IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GRASS CARP IN THE UNITED STATES

Author
item Mitchell, Andrew
item KELLLY, ANITA - SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIV

Submitted to: American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/18/2005
Publication Date: 9/11/2005
Citation: Mitchell, A.J., Kellly, A.M. 2005. The public sector role in the establishment of grass carp in the United States [abstract]. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting. p. 1147.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Federal, state, and university personnel played key roles in the establishment of the grass carp (GC) in the United States. Researchers at the USFWS laboratory, Stuttgart, Arkansas and Auburn University (AU), Alabama imported GC from Asia in 1963 and spawned them in 1966. Biologists with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) obtained GC from Stuttgart and spawned them in 1970. These three organizations produced about 4.5 million fry by 1972. From 1966 to 1972, AU and AGFC employees stocked more than 300,000 fingerlings into many lakes and research ponds, including some open water systems, in at least 16 states. Adult GC, accidentally released from the Stuttgart facility in 1966, began showing up in tributaries to the Mississippi River in 1970. By 1974, GC from the 1971 year class, likely stocked by the AGFC, were frequently seen throughout the Mississippi River Valley. The AGFC first released GC to fish producers in Arkansas in 1972 and the first producer spawn was in 1973. In 1985, the USFWS established the triploid GC program and issued a biological opinion that grass carp triploids were safe and effective weed control agents; to date, 6.8 million triploid GC have been shipped to about 30 states.