HAZEN – With only a few days of training, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s newly formed invasive carp removal team has removed roughly 320 pounds of invasive carp from the White River in its first day of netting.
While 320 pounds is a long way from the team’s goal, AGFC Invasive Carp Biologist Jimmy Barnett is extremely happy with the results and looks forward to improving upon that mark as the staff selected for the job hone their skills on the river.
“My goal for the team is to remove at least 250,000 pounds of invasive carp per year,” Barnett said. “We have a long way to go, but every day’s work will get us closer to that goal.”
The AGFC carp removal team currently has three full-time members devoted to the effort, and are looking to fill two additional positions. When complete, Barnett hopes to have two boats outfitted and running commercial nets daily to fight the spread of black, silver, bighead and grass carp in Arkansas’s rivers.
“We’re focused on the White River right now and will work on it until it reaches flood stage, then we’ll shift our efforts to the Arkansas River,” Barnett said. “We want to make the best use of daily conditions, and right now the White is low enough to get some work done.”
The team will be headquartered in Hazen at Mike Freeze Wattensaw Wildlife Management Area. AGFC’s Wildlife Management Division worked with the Fisheries Division to make room for the additional equipment at the workshop so the staff would have a home base at the center of the two river basins in which they will work.
“Our efforts will cover the White River from Batesville to the Mississippi River, and the Arkansas River from Dardanelle to the Mississippi,”
