Creek still has carp population
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Dunkard Creek, where toxic golden algae was thought to have killed just about every living thing, still has carp. Big carp.
A recent survey by canoe of four creek miles in the vicinity of the Mason-Dixon Park along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, found big schools of the hardy, copper-colored, bottom-feeding fish, according to Betty Wiley, president of the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association.
"The creek was clear as crystal and we saw schools of carp, many more than 20-22 inches long, that apparently survived the toxins released by golden algae in September," Ms. Wiley said. "There were so many of them. But they were the only fish we saw."
But Ms. Wiley said survival of carp in the all-but-dead creek isn't the good news it would appear to be. She said the fish are destructive, feeding on rare, endangered fresh water mussels and the eggs of sport fish, like bass and muskie.
Lou Reynolds, an aquatic biologist with the EPA in Wheeling, W.Va., said it's possible the carp could have found refuge in the mouths of tributaries, migrated up creek from the Monongahela River, or survived in a section of the creek where the algae bloom wasn't as pervasive or lethal.
"When the toxins are in the water, the fish can feel it," Mr. Reynolds said, "and will try to go to fresh water if they can and hang there."
First Published December 3, 2009 12:00 am
