Utah's carp-removal program gets financial boost

Work to rid Utah's largest natural freshwater lake of millions of pounds of unwanted carp is getting a $1.5 million boost.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it's contributing $1 million to the Utah Lake program. State officials will provide $510,000.

The money will pay to remove about 5 million pounds of carp from the lake over the next year or so.

Commercial fishermen began removing carp from the lake late last year to help the June sucker, a native and endangered fish that loses valuable places to hide from predators when the carp feed along the lake bottom.

The program has removed more than a million pounds of the fish so far.

Most of the fish were dumped for fertilizer in a farmer's field or sent to a mink farm for food.