In the early morning hours of April 18, little more than an hour after sunrise, six folks from the Virginia Tech fisheries and wildlife department students ambled up to the shores of Lake Gaston on U.S. Highway 1, at Salmon’s Landing just inside the Virginia border.
They were on hand to oversee the release of more than 7,700 grass carp into the lake, part of an ongoing effort to maintain a certain level of the fish in Lake Gaston waters.
That day’s release was different, though, because for the first time some of the carp were radio tagged.
All totaled, nearly three dozen of the fish were tagged.
Now, fisheries officials will be able to track their movements over the coming weeks and months, giving officials a better understanding of what happens to the first when they are introduced to the lake, and possibly a more specific understanding of their effects on Hydrilla growing in the lake.
That information will be passed on to the Lake Gaston Weed Control Council.
Grass carp is a large plant eating fish with a feeding preference for Hydrilla, and Lake Gaston residents have been hoping for years the fish could provide relief from the fast-growing plant.
According to the Lake Gaston Weed Control Council’s Website, at about 20 fish per vegetated acre, grass carp have been shown to eliminate Hydrilla.
However, the veracious feeders have been known to eliminate all green plants in some lakes and ponds if too many of them are released.
Following the radio tagged carp this year could give vital information on how far they travel, where they spend most of their time, and their life span in the lake, all information the council and other agencies hope to use to better control or eliminate the growth of Hydrilla.
Students putting the fish in the river selected more than two dozen, sedating and then surgically implanting radio-tracking beacons inside the fish. The fish received radio sets that should last for 600 days.
Ben Eberline, a Tech student who was on hand Wednesday, will return to the lake every couple of weeks to monitor the tracking data being collected.