NGPC confirms live silver carp below North Platte diversion, orders increased monitoring

Sean Ferrier, Southwest District Manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, told participants that agency staff confirmed live silver carp below the North Platte diversion during 2024 fieldwork.

"On this last year, 2024, we were actually able to to confirm live silver carp at that diversion," Ferrier said, noting staff netted one and "probably saw 6 or 8 jumping out of the water." He said the fish present a major concern if they breach the diversion barrier because they could move into the Tri-County Canal and downstream reservoirs such as Johnson Lake.

Ferrier said Game and Parks plans 2025 sampling upstream of the diversion to double-check whether silver carp have already passed the barrier and that the agency is "in discussion with Central who owns the diversion on ways that we can hopefully mitigate and keep them from moving up." He urged anglers and bait collectors to help by reporting suspicious fish and learning identification, noting juvenile silver carp resemble shiners.

The agency provided two reporting methods and named program staff (Chris Starr and a biologist Jenna) as contacts for questions and reports. Ferrier framed invasive-species protection as a shared responsibility: "They're not my public waters. They're not Game and Parks. They're everybody's."

Ending: Game and Parks said it will increase sampling near the diversion in 2025, coordinate with the diversion owner on mitigation options, and requested public reports using the agency contact information.