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Carp shoot environmentally necessary

Posted 6/29/11

The Long Sault Archery Club has been holding their annual carp shoot for 31 years. The contest was started as a means to control an overpopulated species in the St. Lawrence fishery in the form of a …

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Carp shoot environmentally necessary

Posted

The Long Sault Archery Club has been holding their annual carp shoot for 31 years. The contest was started as a means to control an overpopulated species in the St. Lawrence fishery in the form of a contest. Carp are voracious bottom feeders and can decimate the spawning beds of other game fish species in the fishery. The reason the contest is held in the first half of June when they are “in close and slow” is twofold. The object is to take the fish before they spawn so you not only take that fish but it’s eventual off spring as well. Carp were introduced into the St. Lawrence River system as part of an aquaculture program that did not work out as well as expected, and they have undergone a population explosion. Catch and release does nothing to stem this burgeoning population.