Carp - A Destructive Force

illustration of a carp

illustration: Logier and Godkin

Carp feeding and spawning activities uproot submergent and emergent vegetation, and disturb marsh bottom sediments. As these sediments become suspended, water clarity decreases and light is prevented from penetrating into the water depths.

Aquatic vegetation such as submergent plants require light for growth, and with increasing turbidity growth is inhibited. The loss of vegetation disrupts the interconnected ecological links between plants and animals including waterbirds.

Link to a tutorial on how waterbirds fit into the marsh food web.

Such activities by carp may be responsible for the population declines of the following waterbirds in Cootes Paradise (Pomfret 1989):

Methods to control carp

For further information regarding carp within Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour please

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HOMEPAGE REFERENCES