Tasmania declares carp eradicated after 28-year removal of 49,000 fish, trout rebound

An intensive 28-year eradication campaign has eliminated common carp from two major Tasmanian lakes, achieving what fisheries experts around the world once considered almost impossible in a large, open freshwater system. The Tasmanian Inland Fisheries Service (IFS) has officially declared European carp (Cyprinus carpio) functionally eradicated from Lake Sorell and Lake Crescent. The declaration followed the capture and removal of 49,301 invasive fish over nearly three decades. This included 41,504 carp removed from Lake Sorell and 7,797 from neighbouring Lake Crescent. Removing the invasive bottom-feeding fish has changed the lakes significantly. Water clarity has improved, native plants have returned to submerged marsh areas, and wild brown trout populations have recovered, helping restore the lakes as important recreational fisheries.An illegal introduction triggers environmental crisisCarp were first found in Lake Crescent in January 1995, when a local fly fisherman discovered a dead fish on the shore.