AsianCarp.org is an official web site established to coordinate the implementation of control and management of Asian carps in the United States. Development and maintenance of this web site is supported by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through a partnership with the University of Texas - Arlington and contains information and resources derived from a variety of other partners and sources. Permission is granted for the fair use of documents and other materials contained on this web site for personal, academic, scientific, conservation, and natural resource management purposes. None of the materials contained herein may be used for profit.

Management and Control Plan for Asian Carps in the United States

• Federal Register Announcement for Asian Carp Control Plan (42 KB PDF)
• Full Text of the Draft Asian Carp Control Plan can be found at the ANS Task Force web site

2005 USGS Non-Native Cyprinid Publication

• Contains a key and other information useful in identification of the Asian carps and other cyprinids found in US waters.
• Foreign Nonindigenous Carps and Minnows (Cyprinidae) in the United States - A Guide to their Identification,
  Distribution, and Biology, Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5041 (offsite link)
  Schofield, P.J., J.D. Williams, L.G. Nico, P. Fuller, and M.R. Thomas. 2005. Foreign Nonindigenous Carps and Minnows (Cyprinidae) in the United States—A Guide to their Identification, Distribution, and Biology. Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5041. U.S. Geological Survey, Tallahassee, Florida. 103 p.

• Seven carps native to Asia have been introduced into the United States.
   
• The common usage of the term “Asian carps” in the United States has come to include only the four carps most recently introduced
• bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis)
• black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus)
• grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)
• silver carp (H. molitrix)
   
• Three additional carps native to Asia have been introduced into the Untied States but are not commonly included in the collective term “Asian carps”:
• common carp (Cyprinus carpio)
• goldfish (Carassius auratus)
• crucian carp (Carassius carassius)
   
• Bighead, black, and grass carps have commercial applications and are in trade in the United States . Silver carp are not presently cultured in the United States , largely because of their jumping habits and poor handling qualities during production, harvest, and transport.
   
• Introductions of Asian carps are combined results of stockings directly by or authorized by various agencies, unauthorized stockings by private individuals, and unintentional escapes from university research facilities, federal and state agency facilities, and private aquaculture operations.
   
• Bighead, grass, and silver carps have all established reproducing populations in the United States.
   
• Six adult black carp collected in the Mississippi River Basin have been verified by biologists. There are several unconfirmed reports of repeated captures of adult black carp in the Mississippi River and its tributaries over the past 13 years (Nico et al. 2005).
   
• Risk assessments that analyze the probability and consequences of establishment of these species in the United States have recently been completed for black carp (Nico et al. 2005) and species of the genus Hypophthalmichthys [i.e., bighead, silver, and largescale silver carps ( H. harmandi ); Kolar et al. 2005].
   
• The Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force determined that Asian carps are nuisance species that warrant active control by natural resources management agencies.
   
• An Asian Carp Working Group with broad and diverse representation from partners and stakeholders is collaboratively developing a national integrated management and control plan.