The following message was received yesterday from a colleague of ours
(who's name will remain silent until he lets me know if it is ok to mention
it).  This is a very serious issue as the black carp is a voracious
predator of mollusks.  I would suggest that one of the surrounding states
or NGO's threatend a lawsuit on the state of Mississippi's butt to get them
to stop this kind of nonsense.  If anyone has any ideas on how to stop this
madness please let me know.

Kevin

"I have recently talked to Gene Robertson in the Department of Agriculture
and Commerce in the state of Mississippi about their proposal to bring in
black carp to control snails in catfish ponds (snails are intermediate
hosts of a grub that burrows into the flesh of catfish).  I called Gene
initially to find out the status of black carp in Mississippi as Leo Nico
and I are in the process of updating our Black Carp Risk Assessment for
publication.  Gene informed me that the Department of Agriculture and
Commerce and the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks were meeting
to discuss this issue with the catfish industry in Mississippi.  He
indicated that the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks in
Mississippi did have some problems with diploids but the state was going to
take a position to allow the importation of diploids.  I have also talked
with Dennis Riecke (fishery biologist) with Mississippi Department of
Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (601/364-2205) who has confirmed that the
state is going to allow stocking of diploids in ponds to control snails.

I have talked to Jeff about this and he indicated that he felt that the
Shell Exporters of America should be informed about this and he would
contact Lonnie Garner.  The Upper Mississippi and Lower Mississippi River
Conservation Committees should also be informed of Mississippi's intent to
allow stocking of diploids in catfish ponds.

Based on our risk assessment, a policy of allowing diploids to be stocked
is a high risk proposition.

Kevin S. Cummings
Illinois Natural History Survey
607 E. Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
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http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/mollusk.html