2024 Invasive Carp Action Plan

The Fiscal Year 2024 Action Plan outlines a comprehensive management strategy consisting of high-priority prevention, detection, and control projects and includes actions that address potential pathways or vectors for invasive carp movement into the Great Lakes. Projects in the 2024 Action Plan are supported by a combination of $26,360,275 in agency funding and $21,000,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding provided through federal agency appropriations. These projects help protect the Great Lakes commercial and recreational fishery which is valued at almost seven billion dollars annually. 

The activities conducted by the ICRCC member agencies under the Action Plan are geographically focused to mitigate the risk of introduction and spread at key points, as follows:

• Preventing the introduction of Silver Carp and Bighead Carp into the Great Lakes, with a focus on the State of Illinois’ efforts within the Illinois Waterway.
• Preventing the establishment of Grass Carp in the Great Lakes, with a focus on the States of Ohio’s and Michigan’s efforts within the western basin of Lake Erie and its tributaries.
• Better understanding and preventing the spread of Black Carp toward the Great Lakes, with a focus on populations within the Illinois River.
• Blocking potential migration pathways at other locations, including the State of Ohio’s closure of the Little Killbuck Creek connection for the potential transfer of Bighead Carp, Silver Carp, and Black Carp from the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes basin, and the ongoing maintenance of previously constructed barriers by the State of Indiana and partners at Eagle Marsh (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and by the State of Ohio at the Ohio & Erie Canal (Akron, Ohio).