Nearly 4 million pounds of invasive carp were removed from the Illinois River in the first half of 2026, furthering efforts to prevent the spread of invasive carp into the Great Lakes. The State of Illinois is continuing to make progress in reducing the abundance of invasive carp in the Illinois River through two separate but complementary targeted mass removal projects—in some pools by as much as 80%. As outlined in the 2026 Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee Action Plan, partners set an annual goal of removing up to 10 million pounds, with some fluctuation year-to-year depending on weather conditions and other uncontrollable factors. To date, the two projects have resulted in more than 54 million pounds of invasive carp removed from the Illinois River, and ongoing monitoring is starting to show encouraging signs that the health of native fisheries is improving in areas with significantly reduced abundance.
During the first half of 2026, commercial fishers working on contract with fish biologists from the State of Illinois removed more than 810,000 pounds of invasive carp from a stretch of the upper Illinois River comprising most of the Starved Rock, Marseilles and Dresden Island pools. Targeting the area that presents the highest risk of spread to the Great Lakes, this removal project focuses on the adult population front for silver carp and bighead carp located within the Dresden Island pool about 50 miles from Lake Michigan. The current annual goal is to remove 1.3 million pounds from this stretch; nearly 1.2 million pounds were removed from the same area in all of 2025, with larger hauls usually occurring during cooler months. From this effort’s inception in 2010 through 2025, about 18 million pounds of invasive carp have been removed from the upper Illinois River.
Another larger removal effort, enhanced by a state harvest incentive program for commercial fishers and processors, covers the lower 240 miles of the Illinois River comprising the Alton, LaGrange and Peoria pools. Silver carp and bighead carp, as well as grass carp, are much more abundant in these pools and all life stages are present. During the first half of 2026, more than 3 million pounds of invasive carp have been removed from this area. The current annual goal is to remove 8.7 million pounds; more than 5.8 million pounds were removed from the lower Illinois River in all of 2025. From this effort’s inception in 2019 through 2025, nearly 36 million pounds of invasive carp have been removed from these lower pools.
As is the case with removal on the lower river, the vast majority of invasive carp removed from the upper Illinois River were silver carp, with the largest volume from the Starved Rock pool. Silver carp, grass carp and bighead carp populations generally increase in abundance toward the Illinois River’s confluence with the Mississippi River. Black carp are also known to be present in the lower Illinois River but are captured much less frequently.
The growing volume of removed fish in recent years reflects the knowledge and understanding partners are gaining from dozens of projects to protect the Great Lakes from the invasive carp threat. Projects focused on monitoring the distribution, abundance, congregating habits and movement of invasive carp populations are helping to continually improve the effectiveness of targeted mass removal.
Data collection improvements also are now providing a more thorough tally of the combination of invasive carp removed through state programs as well as independent commercial harvest on the Illinois River going back as far as the year 2000. When the numbers for these two state programs are combined with independent commercial harvest over 25 years, it brings the total pounds of invasive carp removed from the Illinois River to around 110 million.