Grass Carp Surveillance and Removal Data in the Great Lakes Basin

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grass Carp Response Program conducts annual surveys from April to December, starting in 2018. Grass Carp are captured using electrofishing and nets in locations like the Maumee and Sandusky rivers, with samples sent for ploidy analysis and research. The program is a collaboration between federal, state, and university partners, managed by the Grass Carp Advisory Committee.

Use Cases

• Modeling invasive carp population trends based on annual capture and tagging data.
• Analyzing spawning habitat suitability based on thermal and hydrological regime data.
• Studying fish diet and migration patterns using data from otolith and metabarcoding analysis.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of different removal protocols (Spawning, Sustained, Targeted).
• Assessing ploidy distribution (diploid/triploid) in captured Grass Carp populations.

Strengths

• Standardized field protocols developed for different response efforts (Spawning, Sustained, Targeted).
• Annual data collection since 2018, providing a multi-year time series.
• Multiple capture methods documented (electrofishing, gill nets, hoop nets, trammel nets).
• Samples support multiple research analyses (ploidy, age, diet, otolith chemistry).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias focused on specific Great Lakes tributaries and spawning locations.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Grass Carp Response Program.

Collection Method

Field surveys using standardized protocols for capture, tagging, sampling, and laboratory analysis.

Time Range

Annual surveys from April to December, starting in 2018.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 16:43:45.746018; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Lakes basin (Lake Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario), focusing on tributaries like the Maumee and Sandusky rivers in Ohio.