1. Economic Feasibility
2010: USA federal government committed $78.5 million in investments to
prevent the introduction of Asian carp to the Great Lakes (US Fish and Wild-
life Services, 2012).
2012: Canadian Fisheries and Oceans planned to spend $17.5 million over
five years on the prevention, early warning, rapid response, management and
control of Asian Carp (CBCNew, 2012).
2015: USA Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee,, funded by federal,
state , local agencies and stakeholders, funded 48 projects costing 74 million
(Anderson, 2015).
Projected Cost
ALZET Osmotic pump implants: $130 per fish
Masterflex Pump System: $10,000 for each pump, cost of pheromone solu-
tion depends on water velocity and discharge rate
This method can cost significantly less then current methods. Fish can be sold
to fish markets, agriculture industry for fertilizer, and the pet food industry.
Luring the Love Sick
Management of Asian Carp with Conspecific Pheromones
Jaclyn Craig, Kaitlyn Fulton, Chelsea Green, Meiden Leiderman, Fleming College, Frost Campus
Goals
Our aim is to develop an innovative solution towards reducing the potential migration and reproduc-
tion of Asian Carp in the Illinois river basin. As well as reducing their ability to enter into the Great
Lakes. The use of conspecific pheromones have been shown to control and capture the Common Carp
in Australia, and Sea Lamprey populations in the Great Lakes. The use of pheromones to control Asian
Carp, have currently only been tested in lab, and only few examples of field studies are present. Our
goal is to use the sex attractant pheromone to manipulate the movement and behavioural patterns, to
attract Asian Carp into a predetermined river system set up with traps.
Design Application
Asian Carp depend on their senses to gather information about their environment, as well as play a
role in behavioural responses. (PestSmart, 2014). Carp use pheromones as a communication tool
providing cues that include anti-predation, alarm cues, aggregation, as well as reproduction cues.
These cues can be used in targeting Asian carp by disrupting movement and migration patterns and
leading them into trapping areas. Pheromones also have the possibility of reducing reproductive
success by repelling individuals. Laboratory studies have indicated that mature male carp can be lured
into traps using a female pheromone, this can be even more effective when a female carp is visible to
the male (PestSmart, 2014). Field studies suggest that trap entrances must be designed in a way that
allows carp to enter without touching because carp learn from trapping experiences (PestSmart,
2014).
Our plan is to release a sex attractant pheromone into the water column at the mouth of a river
system to entice Asian Carp into the river. At a predetermined distance, another location will release
the pheromone to attract carp upstream. Before the second pheromone release station, a trap system
will be set up to capture the carp. The release of the sex attractant will be done during the spawning
season when the fish are heading into tributaries to reproduce and the pheromone will be naturally
occurring in the species as well.
Location
Our design application can be implanted in the Spoon River near Havana, Illinois. Havana is known as
ground zero as their water system is approximately 60% carp. The Spoon River is a 237 km tributary
off of the Illinois river that is 322 km from Lake Michigan (USGS, n.d.). This area is the perfect spawn-
ing ground for carp, with an average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius.
A. The sexual attractant pheromone will
be released into the water column at
this location to entice Asian Carp into
Spoon River .
B. Location of trapping station
C. The sexual attractant pheromone will
be released into the water column at
this location to entice Asian Carp to-
wards the trapping station.
Havana
Pheromones can be administered by two methods:
1. Through ALZET Osmotic pumps, the pheromone can be directly implanted into the fish
and is time released. This method is viable for approximately two weeks.
2. Applying a solution directly to the water column by time released pumps. Past studies
have applied pheromones for 12 hour time intervals, released in the middle of the water
column in the centre of a river 0.50km upstream from the river mouth.
Black Carp
 The least abundant of the Asian
Carp
 Can weight up to 60kg
 Can grow greater then one meter
in length
 Main diet:: mussels
Silver Carp
 Known as the ‘flying fish’
 Can weight more than 40kg
 Can grow greater then one meter
in length
 Main diet: phytoplankton
Grass Carp
 Brought to North America for Aqua-
culture, can consume 40% of their
body weight daily
 Can weight between 30—50 kg
 Can grow greater then one meter in
length
 Main diet: aquatic plants
Bighead Carp
 Brought to North America for Aq-
uaculture, can consume 40% of
their body weight daily
 Can weight more than 40kg
 Can grow greater then one meter
in length
 Main diet:: zooplankton
What are Pheromones
“A substance or a mixture of substances released by an individual, which
evokes a specific and adaptive response in conspecifics, the expression of
which does not require learning” (Sorensen, 2015).
Case Study:
Sea Lamprey: The pheromone 3kPZS has been used as bait in lamprey traps in
the Great Lakes (Buchinger, et. al., 2015).
Common Carp: Australia implanted PGF2α in female common carp to stimu-
late the release of a sex pheromone complex to attract males. The phero-
mone has a maximum range of 20 meters (PestSmart, 2014).
Figure 12: Common Carp
(Vinny, 2013)
(GoogleEarth, 2016)
(USGS, n.d)
Figure 3: Resistance board weir, trapping
method number one
Duffins Creek, 2014)
Figure 4: Pound Net, trapping method
number two
(NOAA, 2014)
Figure 11: Sea Lamprey
(US Fish and Wildlife, 2012)
Figure 6: ALZET Osmotic Pump
(SAI Infusion Technologies, n.d.)
Figure 8: Masterflex Pump
(Cole-Parmer, n.d.)
Figure 7: Direct method of applying pheromones
to the water column
(Thompson Rivers University, n.d )
Impacts to Consider
 Pheromone injected species may be toxic , fish will be pit tagged and safely disposed of
 The mouth of Spoon River will be temporarily closed while trapping system is set up and
pheromones are being released, public will need to launch boat upstream
 The trap system will potentially obstruct the upstream migration and feeding habitat of native
species
 There are no long-term studies on the negative effects of pheromone use on other species in
the river system
(GoogleMaps, 2016)
A
B
C
Figure 5: Surgically implanting common
carp
(PestSmart, 2014)
Figure 9: Piping pheromones into water
column
(Sunlabob, 2011)
References
Anderson, T. (2015). States, federal government spending $74 million this year on Asian carp control plan.
Buchinger, T. J., Siefkes, M. J., Zielinski, B. S., Brant, C. O., & Li, W. (n.d.). Chemical cues and pheromones in the sea lamprey.
CBC News. (2012). Ottawa commits $17M to stop Asian carp invasion.
Fish and Wildlife Services. (2012). The Cost of Invasive Species.
PestSmart. (2014). Pheromone attractants as a means of carp control.
USGS. (n.d.). USGS Current Conditions at Spoon River at Seville, IL.
Images
Cole-parmer. (n.d). Retrieved March 2, 2016, from http://www.coleparmer.ca/assets/literature/4004_XF_Masterflex_32pg_CAN.pdf
Duffins Creek. (2014). Retrieved March 3, 2016, from http://duffinscreeksalmon.trca.info/wp/?p=151
Google Earth [Computer software]. (2016). Google.
Google Maps. (2016). Retrieved March 1, 2016, from https://www.google.ca/maps/@40.3047297,-90.073209,2672m/data=!3m1!1e3
Invasive Species Centre. (2011). Retrieved March 2, 2016, from http://www.asiancarp.ca/SitePages/AsianCarp/AsianCarp.aspx
NOAA, 2014 (2014). Retrieved March 3, 2016, from http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/interactions/gear/poundnet.htm
SAI Infusion Technologies. (n.d). Retrieved March 2, 2016, fromhttp://www.sai-infusion.com/products/osmotic-pumps
Sunlabob Renewable Energy. (2011). Retrieved March 3, 2016, from http://www.sunlabob.com/sunlabob-installs-solar-water-pumps-at-
northern-agriculture-and-forestry-college.html
Thompson Rivers University. (n.d). Retrieved March 2, 2016, from http://www.tru.ca/trades/programs/water/watersafe/info-operators/
surface-water.html
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. (2012). Retrieved March 2, 2016, from http://www.fws.gov/midwest/fisheries/sea-lamprey.html
USGS. (n.d). Retrieved March 2, 2016, from http://eros.usgs.gov/#/Find_Data/Products_and_Data_Available/gtopo30/hydro
Vinny. (2013), Retrieved March 3, 2016, from https://northwestfisherman.wordpress.com/about-2/
Figure 2: Map of the Great Lakes
Figure 1: Spoon River, Illinois
Figure 10: Spoon River, Havana Illinois, study location where conspecific pheromones will be intro-
duced to the water column and the location of the trap nets