The June sucker, which is known to live only in Utah Lake and its tributaries, has been listed as an endangered species since 1986, when biologists estimated there were fewer than 1,000 left.
When carp feed along the lake bottom, they rip out the weeds, which provide important hiding places for young June suckers. Without them, the suckers are easy pickings for hungry predators such as bass and walleye.
So people local to that area want to kill the Carp.
Some people even dream of converting them into biofuels.
"How cool would it be to be driving a car powered by carp?" said Cassie Mellon, a fish biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
I don't know if it will be cool or not, in fact I imagine it would smell worse than normal gasoline. Bleck!
Or you could catch them and eat them....if you want to poison yourself.
In 2006, state officials warned against eating too much carp from Utah Lake because of carcinogens. PCB levels in the fish exceeded Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Researchers are evaluating ways to remove the toxic PCBs from liquefied carp so the fish meet consumption guidelines.
You may have heard that the Bush administration wants to severely weaken the Endangered Species Act as one of the last horrible things they do during their time in office.
For more than 30 years, the ESA has been a safety net for plants and animals on the brink of extinction, including grizzly bears, bald eagles, and gray whales. Yet President Bush wants to gut these protections, despite ESA's overwhelming success ... or, more likely, because of it.
The Bush plan would strip the requirement for independent scientific review of projects that could threaten endangered species, allowing federal agencies to make the final call on how their projects impact these species, which could leave the fox guarding the hen house.
A real-time example of why this system of scientific checks and balances is so important: a report by biologists at the National Marine Fisheries Service found that three EPA-approved pesticides are causing serious harm to endangered stocks of west coast salmon. This review was triggered under the very section of the Endangered Species Act that the Bush administration is now hoping to undo.
This morning on the way into work I was listening to NPR and the segment was about how Sweden is making it mandatory for drivers to learn how to drive in a more eco-friendly way. I believe this is fantastic and should be incorporated in driver's education worldwide.
I found these tips extremely helpful because I'm not in the position to buy a more eco-friendly vehicle. All of the hybrid cars are so expensive and so I need to help the environment by using these techniques instead.
One of the tips I found most useful was to find a parking space at which you can pull out rather than have to back out on exit. When you back out of a parking space you end up pushing on the gas pedal twice; once to back up and the second time to pull forward. Common sense, I know, but I hadn't thought of it that way previously. Though I do tend to pull forward just because I have always felt it is easier.
Other tips included making sure you coast as much as possible if you see you'll be needing to brake down the road. You should drive in as high a gear as possible and try to avoid aggressive acceleration from a standing start.
Sweden has been making these efforts, and enforcing them strongly, because most of the people there drive gas guzzlers. Sweden is the home of Saab and Volvo makers. Swedish driving instructor Lars Rembjer has two words of advice for his pupils, the first in the world to have to prove they can be kind to the environment to get their licences: think ahead. "Eco-driving is the future because there are only winners. The environment benefits and your wallet benefits," he says.
For more information on how Sweden is trying to become a green role model, click here.
