Controlling Lake Minnetonka carp population proves challenging

Lake Minnetonka is, if not outright, among the most desirable places to live in Minnesota. Home values have soared as interested buyers vie for even a sliver of the west metro lake.

But the lake, at least parts of it, is an even more attractive piece of real estate to a certain nasty, gilled neighbor: common carp.

In some bays, like West Arm, populations of the invasive fish exceed 8 times a healthy biomass. There are tens of thousands of them in the lake, including a biomass of over 700,000 pounds in just three western bays, according to a 2023 population assessment funded by concerned residents through the Harrisons Bay Association…

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