Strategies to control a common carp population by pulsed commercial harvest

North American Journal of Fisheries Management
By: , and 

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Abstract

Commercial fisheries are commonly used to manage nuisance fishes in freshwater systems, but such efforts are often unsuccessful. Strategies for successfully controlling a nuisance population of common carp Cyprinus carpio by pulsed commercial harvest were evaluated with a combination of (1) field sampling, (2) population estimation and CPUE indexing, and (3) simulation using an exponential semidiscrete biomass dynamics model (SDBDM). The range of annual fishing mortalities (F) that resulted in successful control (F = 0.244–0.265) was narrow. Common carp biomass dynamics were sensitive to unintentional underharvest due to high rates of surplus production and a biomass doubling time of 2.7 years. Simulations indicated that biomanipulation never achieved successful control unless supplemental fishing mortality was imposed. Harvest of a majority of annual production was required to achieve successful control, as indicated by the ecotrophic coefficient (EC). Readily available biomass data and tools such as SDBDMs and ECs can be used in an adaptive management framework to successfully control common carp and other nuisance fishes by pulsed commercial fishing.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Strategies to control a common carp population by pulsed commercial harvest
Series title North American Journal of Fisheries Management
DOI 10.1080/02755947.2012.728175
Volume 32
Issue 6
Year Published 2012
Language English
Publisher American Fisheries Society
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Leetown
Description 14 p.
First page 1251
Last page 1264
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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