eDNA Surveillance for Invasive Carps in the Great Lakes – An Overview of Bi-national Efforts

Session: 02b. - Status and Management of Invasive Carps in the Great Lakes

Emy Monroe, Midwest Fisheries Center, USFWS, [email protected]
Emily Slavik, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, [email protected]
Kelly Baerwaldt, US Fish and Wildlife Service, [email protected]

Abstract

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a surveillance tool used to monitor for the genetic presence Asian carp across the Great Lakes Basins by US and Canadian agencies. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) conducts eDNA surveillance in the Chicago Area Waterway System and in Great Lakes tributaries where risk of invasion is high.  FWS has provided results for 22,761 samples to State partners since 2013. US monitoring efforts are limited to Silver and Bighead Carp, with ongoing efforts to add Grass and Black Carp programs.  Over the last 4 years, results from research conducted in FWS and elsewhere has been used to improve eDNA methods in the field and lab to increase sensitivity. eDNA surveillance in Canadian waters is conducted by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (OMNRF), and includes surveillance for all four species of Asian carp, Bighead, Black, Grass and Silver.  Samples are collected by the Lake Erie Management Unit and sent to the OMNRF Aquatic Research and Monitoring Section at Trent University for analysis. OMNRF has collected and provided results for 3,237 samples from the Lake Erie and lower Lake Huron basin since 2012.

1. Keyword
invasive species

2. Keyword
carp

3. Keyword
monitoring