Viability of Invasive Carp as Crawfish Bait

A team of researchers in our School of Biological Sciences, led by professors Kelly Robinson and Emily Kane, are examining the effectiveness of invasive carp as crawfish bait. Their research team includes both undergraduate and graduate students. This research is funded by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

The state agency for managing Louisiana’s fish and wildlife resources has long explored ways to control invasive carp, which are native to Asia. The fish were introduced to the United States in the 1970s to help rid commercial ponds, aquaculture facilities and wastewater basins of unwanted biomass. The carp have since overrun waterways in many states and have proven detrimental to aquatic ecosystems. They consume massive amounts of plankton, algae and small organisms, for one, depleting food sources essential to some native species. Controlling invasive carp populations, though, hinges on creating commercial demand for them. Initiatives to establish the fish as table fare in Louisiana and other regions of the U.S. have yet to gain widespread traction, however.

Professors Robinson and Kane's research team is exploring an alternate solution. Along with collaborators at Nicholls State University, they are analyzing invasive carp’s potency as crawfish bait. Our UL Lafayette researchers are analyzing data collected during fieldwork earlier in 2025 in commercial crawfish ponds made accessible by an industry partner, St. Landry Crawfish Company. Additional fieldwork will follow in 2026. Data collected in controlled laboratory experiments is also being examined as part of the study. Initial research suggests that red swamp crawfish are being drawn to traps in commercial ponds baited with invasive carp. Scientists are seeing similar results when using dry bait pellets made with invasive carp.

Researchers at Nicholls State University, on the other hand, are working to determine if red swamp crawfish in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin are similarly attracted to invasive carp.

Final findings of the ongoing study, according to Robinson, could incentivize large-scale harvest of invasive carp by commercial fishermen, who would benefit from the abundance of the fish as well as ready, robust market for their catches. “Louisiana’s crawfish industry is a cultural and economic touchstone,” explained Robinson, the study’s principal investigator. “Producers in Louisiana alone supply 90% of all of America’s crawfish.” According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the crawfish industry contributes more than $300 million to the state’s economy annually.