Arkansas will receive a share of $25 million being distributed in 2020 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to states in the Mississippi River basin and the Great Lakes region to better manage and study Asian carp.
Game and Fish Commissioner Joe Morgan announced at the group’s September meeting that the budget committee had moved $635,759 to the fisheries division for Asian carp research and management, with the Fish and Wildlife grant reimbursing the entire amount.
“This is a new pot of money put into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife budget by Congress in the past year specifically for managing Asian carp,” said Ben Batten, Game and Fish fisheries chief. “There are 28 states that make up the Mississippi River basin, and almost all of them are affected in some way. We have been researching and monitoring Asian carp, but these additional funds will greatly enhance our ability to progress in our knowledge and management capabilities.”
Total amount of money allocated to the sub-basins that include Arkansas was $2.3 million. The entire congressional appropriation to Fish and Wildlife was $25 million, with $13.92 million going to areas outside the Great Lakes region.
There are four known species of Asian carp in Arkansas: silver, bighead, grass and black carp. Game and Fish plans to gear efforts mostly toward managing silver and bighead carp, officials said, but all four species of nonnative, nuisance carp will receive attention.