The Utah Lake Commission is asking the legislature for 7-point-5 million dollars to help reduce the number of carp in Utah Lake. A legislator from Lehi thinks that’s a great idea, and he’s hoping they can find the money during the general session that starts next week.
The Commission has been paying a commercial fishing business to take tons of carp out of the lake, hoping to reverse the environmental damage the fish have caused over the past century.
With additional money from the legislature, Republican Representative Jacob Anderegg believes they could get ahead of the carp’s natural reproductive rate and bring the number down to a manageable level. And he believes taxpayers across Utah have good reason to help.
“I believe everybody has a say in this, but this is a state property," Anderegg tells KUER. "This is not just Saratoga Springs or Provo or Orem. This is state. This is a state lake, and it’s a state park, and it could benefit everybody in the state.”
The money wasn’t included in Governor Gary Herbert’s budget proposal, but Anderegg believes it has considerable support, especially among legislators from Utah County.
The Utah Lake Commission took a group of media and elected officials out to the lake shore near Spanish Fork this morning to show how the fish are caught in the winter, using large nets to pull them through the ice.
