Asian Carp: Specimen Records year 2000+

Taking into account the most recent records (year 2000+), preliminary observations made on specimen records for Bighead and Silver carp appear to illustrate the existence of established species concentrated along the Mississippi, and rivers that connect with it such as the Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio and Illinois rivers. Specimen records for Black carp appear limited to the Mississippi river. Conversely, specimen records of Grass carp reflect the occurrence of stocked species across the US, with established stocks in the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers. While there are some records for failed Grass carp, and to a lesser degree, Bighead carp along the Southern shore of Lakes Michigan and Erie, several records of unknown status appear within the Great Lakes.

Note: there are a significant number of specimen records where status is unknown.

Asian Carp: Specimen Records by Decade

This map illustrates the specimen record concentrations by species by decade for records that identify an active status and excludes records with a status of eradicated, failed or extirpated. The results are not cumulative across decades in order to observe the difference in records from decade to decade; however, layers for one species can all be turned on to observe the overlap. Not all species were recorded for all decades, for instance, specimen records exist for Grass carp 1970s while others appeared later.

The most significant observation, based on specimen records, is that while recorded observations of Grass carp appear across the United States by the 1980`s, the number of observations increase and appear more concentrated along the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers by the 2010`s.

Maps prepared by the Library of Parliament, Ottawa, 2017 using data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL. Accessed 3 August 2017; data for Asian Carp Sampling Program provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ottawa, ON. The following software was used: Esri, ArcGIS, version 10.3.1. Contains information licensed under Open Government Licence – Canada and in U.S. public domain.