Do snitches net fishes? Scientists turn invasive carp into traitors to slow their Great Lakes push
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — State and federal wildlife agencies have developed a new weapon to slow down invasive carp across the Great Lakes region: traitor fish. Over the last five years, agencies have worked to capture invasive carp in Lake Erie and the Illinois and Mississippi rivers and implant them with transmitters. Floating receivers powered by the sun send real-time notifications when a tagged carp swims past. Agency workers and commercial anglers then target those areas for carp round-ups. The strategy has helped to nearly double the annual poundage of carp removed from the Mississippi in the Illinois-Iowa Quad Cities area alone.