Carp numbers explode in River Murray as 16,660 caught in just nine hours

FISHERS reeled in a staggering 16,660 carp in only nine hours at Lake Bonney in the Riverland as pest numbers explode throughout the River Murray.

FISHERS reeled in a staggering 16,660 carp in only nine hours at Lake Bonney in the Riverland as pest numbers explode throughout the River Murray.

Joint organiser of the annual Carp Frenzy, Kym Manning, was shocked by the result saying since the competition started in 2013 the average catch was about 1800 carp.

He said the haul this year from 495 fishers signalled a major problem for the River Murray with the “rabbits of the waterways” surging in numbers after high waters swept through the system last year.

Carp Frenzy fishing at Lake Bonney saw 16,660 carp pulled in over nine hours.

Fishers with some of the carp reeled in during Carp Frenzy at Lake Bonney.

“I knew they were thick, they have bred up big time with the minor flood before Christmas, it was just out of control, people were catching triple headers non-stop, you couldn’t keep your bait on your line,” Mr Manning said.

“There will be millions out there and that’s just what’s in the lake, we haven’t even made a dent, and there will be so many more right throughout the river.

“Environmentally, it’s a disaster, I think it’s terrible, now if they are talking about bringing the carp virus in there will be ten times the amount of carp to pick up.”

In May last year the Federal Government announced it would finalise its $15 million plan to release a carp herpes virus by late 2018 in a bid to wipe out the pest.

Federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce listed the damage caused by carp on domestic and irrigation water supply quality, wetlands, commercial and recreational fisheries, regional tourism industries, and in harming native fish populations and river health.

Mr Manning said local fishers were already reporting a fall in native fish after black, silt-filled water passed through the waterway late last year, suffocating many native fish including Murray cod.

Fishers and environmentalists say carp numbers are out of control.

Most of the European Carp caught over the weekend were young and small and Mr Manning expected they would amount to about four tonnes of fish to be delivered to fertiliser producer Charlie Carp in Deniliquin.

Charlie Carp executive director Harold Clapham feared the lake’s breeding explosion was the tip of a larger problem that would be exacerbated by more environmental flows being released throughout the river system under the Murray Darling Basin plan.

“I think this time next year it will be significant and an even greater problem than today,” he said.

Riverina farmers started the Deniliquin business of turning the pest into liquid fertiliser in 1995, desperate to stop the Murray Darling Basin being taken over by European Carp.

“Now we’re struggling to estimate the consequences, there will be carp breeding frenzies in every billabong and every inland dam and lake from the Queensland border to South Australia because the water system is chock full of water,” Mr Clapham said.