Drought spawns carp rescue

PROVO — Parched crops, mountain fires and 45 tons of dead carp — drought years have more ramifications than one might think.

In an effort to avoid the awful stench of thousands of dead fish, Provo City Public Works teamed up with the state Division of Wildlife Resources this week to haul 3,000 to 5,000 migrating carp down the Provo River.

The unusual migration, which filled the shallow river bed with layers of tightly packed carp between the Fortfield Diversion Dam near I-15 and the Geneva Road bridge, was a direct result of the drought-imposed lower water levels of Utah Lake, said Greg Beckstrom, Provo deputy public works director.

"When the water level in the lake goes down, the temperature rises," Beckstrom said. "The carp then migrate upstream to find the cooler river water."

But when the city dams the river and the water levels drop even lower, the fish will be left without enough oxygen and will die on the rocky banks.

"We're basically trying to herd the carp downstream so we don't have thousands of dead carp in this neighborhood area," Beckstrom said. "We don't want to have the same situation again."

Beckstrom was referring to a similar carp migration that left nearly 45 tons of dead fish along the same stretch of the Provo River in 1991. Back then, Wayne Gates, manager of the KOA Kampground that runs adjacent to the river, said he filled nine truck-loads of the dead fish himself before the city sent workers to the area.

"Last time this happened campers started asking for their money back," Gates said. "We've had complaints this year, but it looks like the city has been able to take care of the problem."

City workers began pushing the fish back downstream Thursday but made most of the progress Monday and Tuesday.

Aided by shocking equipment provided by the DWR, some 25 workers stood shoulder-to-shoulder across the river and pushed back the fish as they sloshed toward Utah Lake. By Monday afternoon crews were able to shovel the so-called "trash fish" three-fourths of a mile downstream before installing a seven-post chain link fence across the river.

Beckstrom said crews will push the fish another mile before setting up a more stable fence to contain the carp until they stop migrating.

"We don't get 100 percent of the fish, but we feel we've got a large majority of them," Beckstrom said. "We couldn't have done it without the Division of Wildlife and their shocking equipment."

The shocking rods, which produce a shock similar to that of a stun gun, deaden the fish for two or three minutes, causing them to surface, belly-up, on the water. This allowed the workers to push them with greater ease.

Gates, who said the carp began pooling in early May, is more concerned with the people who line up in the river and kill the migrating fish with spears, knives and other weapons.

"The state fishing proclamation allows anyone with a license to kill carp because they are a trash fish," Gates said. "If those carp were deer or elk, they wouldn't allow that — the dead fish pile up and stink up the campground.

"All it takes is one dead carp to smell up a mile of the river," Gates said. "They need to revisit that law allowing people to slaughter the fish."

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