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Asian carp have spread throughout much of the Wabash River watershed and juvenile silver carp were confirmed last week in Salt Creek just downstream of Lake Monroe's dam near Bloomington.
Tino Strauss, CC-BY-SA-3.0BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — State wildlife officials are worried about fishermen using juvenile Asian carp as bait and spreading the invasive species into southern Indiana's Lake Monroe.
Those fish have spread throughout much of the Wabash River watershed and juvenile silver carp were confirmed last week in Salt Creek just downstream of Lake Monroe's dam near Bloomington.
State Division of Fish and Wildlife biologist Dave Kittaka tells The Herald-Times it's difficult to distinguish juvenile Asian carp from some other common bait fish and that it is illegal to use bait from other waterways in Lake Monroe.
Biologists have long been concerned about Asian carp reaching the Great Lakes and overwhelming native fish species. They say the same thing could happen in Lake Monroe, which is Indiana's largest reservoir covering nearly 11,000 acres.
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