Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Mississippi
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Mississippi Project


Intrusion of bigheaded carps into major oxbow lakes of the Lower Mississippi River

July 2020 - June 2022


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Asian carp have invaded lakes and waterways through a large section of the Mississippi River Basin. Adjacent oxbow lakes provide unique and important fisheries, but invasive bigheaded carps may divert trophic resources from native fish communities. Barriers that prevent movement of bigheaded carps into lakes may be a way to minimize the effect of fish invasions but an understanding of movements in and out of the lakes is needed to develop control strategy. We will use telemetry to monitor fish movement in and out of a major oxbow lake adjacent to the Mississippi River, identify potential migration routes, and investigate temporal aspects as they relate to temperature and discharge from the lake.