Fishing with a Backhoe

Living at the lake brings many delights: the change of the seasons, the starry nights, a peaceful, contemplative afternoon of fishing...

Of course, fishing isn't so contemplative when it's done with four pick-up trucks, a couple flatboats, a semi-trailer, and a backhoe. David Raw Commercial Fishing from Lake Norden has been braving the waters of Lake Herman the last couple weeks, plying the waves for the wily carp. The first couple days of fishing netted carp that were hauled off live in special water trucks. Since then, they've hauled away another several semi-trailer loads of flopping fish in wire cages. (If you're having a rough day, be glad you're not the guy who has to work in the truck or open the door when it gets to the fish factory.)

The carp are on their way to the big city. "Chinatown," says one of the men on the scene. The bane of our waters can turn a fair penny among Manhattan's connoisseurs. Evidently carp are also used to make Jewish fish balls. Mmm....

Now the radical environmentalist in me sees private business profiting off public resources (yes, even the carp is a public resource) and thinks, "Hey, wait a minute! The public had better be getting a good cut of the profits here!" And surprise: these backhoe fishermen may actually be getting paid by the state to harvest all those carp. SDCL 41-13-7 authorizes the Department of Game Fish and Parks to "contract for the removal of rough fish and bullheads from any of the public waters of the state." So Mr. Raw and his men appear to make money on both ends (that must make up for the smell).

Update: the most reliable source in Lake County -- my dad -- quizzed some commercial bullhead fishers a few winters ago. They told him they pay the state five cents a pound on the fish they take.

Why the good deal? The prevailing opinion is that carp are bad. According to Minnesota DNR officer Tom Conroy, "Carp can be extremely detrimental to aquatic vegetation, water quality, and waterfowl" [Tom Conroy, "Southern Region Outdoor Column: Natural Resource Management and Antacids," Minnesota Department of Natural Resources news release, 2005.12.19]. Tony Dean appears to agree that carp as an invasive species threaten established fisheries and ecosystems. And of course, there's the threat to homeland security from flying carp. (I love nature, but when a carp climbs aboard the kayak, get ready to rumble.)

But a quick search of online fishing resources (not the usual purview of the Madville Times, but it's surprising what one can learn online) reveals there is debate on the true harm caused by carp. In a 1999 article in the Paynesville (MN) Press, another MN DNR officer, Bruce Gilbertson, says carp don't cause poor water quality; it's the other way around:

Like human swimmers, game fish prefer clean water. Lower water quality gives species like carp a competitive advantage, by reducing game-fish predators, for instance.

"If we improve the water quality," said Gilbertson, "we should see more game fish." [Michael Jacobson, "Netting Catches 50 Tons of Carp on Rice Lake," Paynesville Press, 1999.03.10]

And let's not forget, we're not talking about a native species. According to the American Carp Society (no kidding!), we have no other than President Ulysses S. Grant, the U.S. Fish Commission, and state governments eager to increase declining fish stocks to thank for bringing the wily carp to America's lakes and streams.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the carp may not suffer much from this apparently heavy harvest on Lake Herman. Offcier Gilbertson notes that 70 years of commercial carp fishing on Minnesota's Rice Lake didn't effectively control the carp population there. Without water quality improvements, the carp may continue to enjoy their advantage over other fish and keep coming back.

So enjoy your sushi and fish balls, dear Manhattan friends! There'll likely be much more where that came from.