The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and a group of professional fishermen teamed up to reduce the number of invasive carp populating the Illinois River. IDNR biologists, Illinois River Biological Station biologists, and commercial fishing contractors caught more than 700,000 pounds of silver carp within 10 days at the Starved Rock pool of the Illinois River. The haul is roughly double what the program removed last year, with the 2022 effort totaling 350,000 pounds of the invasive carp.

According to agency officials, the 2023 effort was the most extensive single removal operation, and possibly the most significant freshwater harvest in the United States.

This program aims to decrease the number of adult fish to control upstream migration and protect the Great Lakes from invasive species. Annually, fishermen remove more than one million pounds of invasive carp from the Upper Illinois River under the supervision of IDNR staff.