The War on Asian Carp began in earnest a little over three years ago. Millions of dollars have been spent in an effort to eradicate this invasive fish from the once prime fishing waters of Kentucky and Barkley Lake.
Since that time, great strides have been made and slowly, the native fish populations are rebounding while the Asian Carp populations have diminished on the lakes. But not all programs used in the Asian Carp war have been a success. According to Lyon County Judge Executive Wade White, the program called the Modified Unified harvest method or MUM for short began with high expectations.
click to download audioThe program began operations in February 2020 on Kentucky Lake but resulted in only minor success.
click to download audioIn early 2021, after being told many of the kinks in the program had been worked out, the results were even more disappointing.
click to download audioIn the meantime, the MUM program was modified to a depletion study in which they would remove large areas of habitat from bays, which would further harm the sportfish and angering local fishermen.
click to download audioWhite says he has written US Senator Mitch McConnell requesting that the program be discontinued in Kentucky waters. So far, there has been no response from McConnell’s office.
