Over the next year, researchers at Virginia Tech will attempt to gain a better understanding of the daily, monthly and seasonal movements of grass crap within Lake Gaston. We plan to implant 35 stocked grass carp with radio tags as well as an additional 15 adults later in the spring of 2007. Over 7,000, 10-12” grass carp were stocked into the lake at two separate sites: the route 1 boat ramp in Virginia and the route 903 ramp in North Carolina. We tagged and released 18 grass carp at the first site that day while we intend to release another 17 grass carp at the second site during the first week in May. We are presently monitoring the condition of the tagged fish for the second site at our aquaculture facility in Blacksburg, VA to ensure proper recovery before release into Lake Gaston. The fish have been inspected by a veterinarian and are in good condition.
The tags we are implanting are on two week active cycles (signal is two weeks on, two weeks off). We will monitor dispersal of tagged fish for at least a 24-hour period immediately following their release. This will take place the first week of May with the release of the second half of the tagged fish. We will also monitor the monthly movement of all tagged fish at least until March of 2008. In addition, we plan to monitor a subsample of the tagged fish for a three or four day period in order to determine daily movements. Several fish will also be selected for 24-hour monitoring four times a year: once during the spring, summer, fall and winter. Habitat measurements (water temperature, depth, turbidity, vegetation, etc…) along with GPS coordinates will be recorded at each location tagged fish are found in an attempt to identify preferred habitat for grass carp within the reservoir.
Hopefully this study will give Lake Gaston biologists a better understanding of the mortality, dispersal, and movement of stocked grass carp. Feel free to contact Mike Duncan (duncanm@vt.edu) with questions regarding tracking schedules and locations as well as to report the harvest of any radio tagged grass carp.

Robert J. Richardson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Aquatic and Non-cropland Weed Management
Crop Science Dept.
Box 7620
North Carolina State Univ.
Raleigh, NC 27695-7620