Exploding carp numbers are ‘like a house of horrors’ for our rivers.

Exploding carp numbers are ‘like a house of horrors’ for our rivers.

By Ivor Stuart

Source: The Conversation

1/22/2023

Credit: Ivor Stuart

With widespread La Niña flooding in the Murray-Darling Basin, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) populations are having a boom year. Videos of writhing masses of both adult and young fish illustrate that all is not well in our rivers. Carp now account for up to 90% of live fish mass in some rivers.

Concerned communities are wondering whether it is, at last, time for Australia to unleash the carp herpes virus to control populations – but the conversation among scientists, conservationists, communities and government bodies is only just beginning.