PestSmart: Carp
Carp (Cyprinus carpio)
Carp originated in China and spread throughout Asia and Europe as an ornamental and aquaculture species.
Carp were released into the wild in Australia on a number of occasions in the 1800s and 1900s but did not become widespread until a release of ‘Boolara’ strain carp from a fish farm into the Murray River near Mildura in 1964.
The spread of carp throughout the Murray-Darling Basin coincided with widespread flooding in the early 1970s, but carp were also introduced to new localities, possibly through their use as bait.
Introduced carp are now the most abundant large freshwater fish in the Murray-Darling Basin and are the dominant species in many fish communities in south-eastern Australia.
Carp PestSmart Toolkit documents:
- PestSmart Factsheet: Carp
- PestSmart Factsheet: Introduction and distribution of carp in Australia
- PestSmart Factsheet: Impacts of carp in Australia
- PestSmart Case Study: carp spawning hotspots
- Report: Validating the age of carp from the northern Murray-Darling Basin
Detection and Prevention
- PestSmart technical report: Management of freshwater fish incursions – a review
- PestSmart technical report: Towards a national emergency response system for freshwater fish incursions
- Decision support tool for the management of freshwater fish incursions: free tool to assist managers maximize the speed of response to an incursion once this has been confirmed.
Management and control:
- PestSmart Factsheet: Fishing as a carp control method
- PestSmart Factsheet: Use of chemicals as poisons for pest fish control
- PestSmart Factsheet: Koi herpesvirus as a biological control for carp
- PestSmart Factsheet: the importance of public consultation for pest fish management
- PestSmart Factsheet: Containment as a method for pest fish control
- PestSmart: Guidelines for carp management at wetland inlets. A test case for South Australia
- PestSmart: Guidelines for planning carp fishing competitions
- PestSmart technical report: Making and using female sex pheromone implants which attract mature male common carp
Contributors: PestSmart Toolkit for Carp
Jim Barrett, Kylie Hall, Wayne Fulton – Invasive Animals CRC
This section is currently under construction. Please check back regularly for updates.
