Fish and Boat Commission drains pond at 84 Lakes
Donnie Knupp of Washington helps carry fish from 84 Lakes’ lower lake to the upper lake to be sorted for further inspection. After a report of an Asian carp invasion in 2014, the lake was drained on Thursday, March 31, to inventory remaining fish.
The state Fish and Boat Commission has drained one of two lakes at 84 Lakes in Somerset Township as it inventories the fish to remove any Asian carp and other illegal fish from the water.
Donnie Knupp of Washington helps carry fish from 84 Lakes’ lower lake to the upper lake to be sorted for further inspection. After a report of an Asian carp invasion in 2014, the lake was drained Thursday to inventory remaining fish.
EIGHTY FOUR – The state Fish and Boat Commission drained a pond at 84 Lakes in Somerset Township as it investigates the business owner following the discovery in 2014 of invasive Asian carp and other illegal fish in the water.
Volunteers were in boats and wading in muck in the drained pond Thursday to capture and inventory fish at the business owned by Dennis Wilcher, 64, who has a number of unresolved citations and could face more as the investigation continues, said Sean Sauserman, a waterways conservation officer.
“All of the fish are being moved to the upper lake to ensure nothing is released,” Sauserman said at the site.
The commission stepped in to investigate the business after an angler claimed to have caught an Asian carp there. The commission found a number of “species of concern” at 84 Lakes, including diploid grass carp and bigmouth buffalo fish.
A group of fish that make up the Asian carp species is fast growing and aggressive and outcompete native species for food and habitat, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
The commission also accused Wilcher of operating a “pay lake” without a business license. Sauserman said Wilcher is still not permitted to charge people to fish at his business.
The operation at the lake Thursday found multiple bigmouth buffalo fish in the pond, a species that is illegal in Pennsylvania, said Mike Depew, a commission biologist who was overseeing the work.
Depew said the decision to drain the upper pond at 84 Lakes will depend on what is found in the lower pond. Most of the fish captured since the effort began Tuesday were common carp, Depew said.
Wilcher, who has addresses in Eighty Four and Elizabeth, pleaded guilty in September 2014 to seven citations that involved charges of failure to keep bills of sale for fish, violations by owner/operator and breaking the rules and regulations for the transportation and sale of fish, court records show.
84 Lakes on its Facebook page indicated the business was helping to secure volunteers to remove the fish from the main pond.