Officials with Western Kentucky Fisheries say the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife is monitoring a fish kill below Barkley Dam.
Western Kentucky Fisheries officials say reports of a fish kill started to appear last week. They say biologists and other staff from Kentucky Fish & Wildlife have been on-site multiple times to monitor the area and found that the majority of the dead fish are invasive Silver Carp.
Officials say staff documented large schools of invasive Silver Carp immediately upstream from Barkley Dam, which they indicate is evidence of a seasonal migration pattern that Kentucky Fish & Wildlife and Murray State University have documented through tracking tagged Silver Carp. The Carp are reportedly being pulled through the turbines at the Dam as this is currently the only downstream flowing water at the dam. According to officials, this is why most of the fish are headless or cut into sections.
Kentucky Fish & Wildlife will continue to monitor the fish kill this spring.
