Thread: Barkley Today

And find a commercial market that isn’t run by those who don’t have Americans’ loyalty to this country.

Originally Posted by RL56

If they could do this in 4-5 hours why are we wasting the millions of dollars on experimental ideas. PAY the COMMERCIAL Fisherman a bonus to catch all they can and give them part of the millions being spent on experimental ideas.

Commercial Fishermen are already being paid "bonuses" with the market price they currently receive for their catch that's propped up by subsidies from KDFWR and other funding sources. If it weren't for all the subsidies/bonuses being paid out, the market price on it's own would be so low that the guys you saw wouldn't even be out there. The market for Asian Carp pretty well doesn't exist, that's why the price without any subsidies is so low, and also why commercial fishermen are still struggling with finding buyers to take their catch. The Kentucky Fish Center/Fish Market was closed for a while at the end of last year, which pretty well stopped all Asian Carp commercial fishing on the lake up until recently.

As for the research, the money for that is from the government with a stipulation that it must be spent solely on research to try and figure out how to effectively remove Asian Carp, not just from Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley but from waters all over the United States. The results of the research will have a national impact, not just local. Plus you can't just up and decide to take research money and give it to the commercial fishermen, that's not how it works.

Current prices for Asian Carp:
Kentucky Fish Center | KDFWR

I worked for a government contractor for several years. When a project was funded the engineers used up 80% of the money and there was no money left to actually do any work so nothing ever happened. Will wait to see how this project progresses. I don't bet but I have an idea what the out come will be.

Originally Posted by artcarney_agr

Commercial Fishermen are already being paid "bonuses" with the market price they currently receive for their catch that's propped up by subsidies from KDFWR and other funding sources. If it weren't for all the subsidies/bonuses being paid out, the market price on it's own would be so low that the guys you saw wouldn't even be out there. The market for Asian Carp pretty well doesn't exist, that's why the price without any subsidies is so low, and also why commercial fishermen are still struggling with finding buyers to take their catch. The Kentucky Fish Center/Fish Market was closed for a while at the end of last year, which pretty well stopped all Asian Carp commercial fishing on the lake up until recently.

As for the research, the money for that is from the government with a stipulation that it must be spent solely on research to try and figure out how to effectively remove Asian Carp, not just from Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley but from waters all over the United States. The results of the research will have a national impact, not just local. Plus you can't just up and decide to take research money and give it to the commercial fishermen, that's not how it works.

Current prices for Asian Carp:
Kentucky Fish Center | KDFWR

Originally Posted by RL56

I worked for a government contractor for several years. When a project was funded the engineers used up 80% of the money and there was no money left to actually do any work so nothing ever happened. Will wait to see how this project progresses. I don't bet but I have an idea what the out come will be.

Engineers are typically restricted to only 20% of the total project budget, but I really don't understand where you're going with that. I too deal with government contracts and federal grants.

Government money awarded for a specific purpose must be used for that specific purpose - it's kind of like how the people of the City of Paducah simply don't understand that money awarded for bike trails/walking trails can only be used for bike trails/walking trails instead of putting it towards fixing flooding issues. You use government awarded money how it's supposed to be used, or the government makes you pay it back.

In certain cases the grant money can be redirected if the politician sponsoring the grant money is willing to help the grantee's request to reallocate the funds. I have personally seen this done. Where I am going well I think there are actions (netting) already in place that can provide much needed relief from the carp and that the experiment will be just that and we will be left with the same situation we presently find ourselves in currently.

I think it would be reasonable to ask for a full financial accounting to date on the experiments that have been tried versus the number of pounds of carp removed by the government agency's everything so far appears to be a big secret.

Originally Posted by artcarney_agr

Engineers are typically restricted to only 20% of the total project budget, but I really don't understand where you're going with that. I too deal with government contracts and federal grants.

Government money awarded for a specific purpose must be used for that specific purpose - it's kind of like how the people of the City of Paducah simply don't understand that money awarded for bike trails/walking trails can only be used for bike trails/walking trails instead of putting it towards fixing flooding issues. You use government awarded money how it's supposed to be used, or the government makes you pay it back.

I’m not even gonna stir this hornets nest. Lol
Everyone knows what this entire project is about.


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Originally Posted by RL56

I think it would be reasonable to ask for a full financial accounting to date on the experiments that have been tried versus the number of pounds of carp removed by the government agency's everything so far appears to be a big secret.

I'm sure you can find that information if you dig enough. The USGS is involved, they usually do well with their reporting.
Asian Carp

The thing that people don't seem to understand is that "tests" and "research" efforts can't be deemed failures simply on results alone. You have to try different things in an effort to gain knowledge, and anytime you try new things you're going to have some failures - that's what testing and research is all about, figuring out what works and what doesn't.

Spending a lot of money on testing and research does not guarantee results....I sure wish that were the case, especially with cancer testing and research, but it just doesn't work that way.

Originally Posted by Chuck Adams

Everyone knows what this entire project is about.

Well I hope for the sake of our lakes and rivers that you are wrong. I'm glad they are trying new things and I hope that they find a breakthrough.

It's just crazy that no group involved in this fight against Asian Carp can win in the public's eye - case in point would be your comment. People want to accuse groups like KDFWR of "sitting on their hands" for years, which hasn't been the case at all....but then when KDFWR finally gets funding for research and testing efforts to try and figure out how to win this battle, people say "it's a waste of money."