Invasive carps (i.e., silver carp hypophthalmichthys molitrix, bighead carp h. Nobilis, and black carp mylopharyngodon piceus) are classified as a harmful species due to their expected adverse effects…

Invasive carps (i.e., silver carp hypophthalmichthys molitrix, bighead carp h. Nobilis, and black carp mylopharyngodon piceus) are classified as a harmful species due to their expected adverse effects on aquatic species and systems. Suppressing populations, preventing invasive carps from expanding in US waters, and developing rapid response strategies before an invasion occurs can save US taxpayers millions of dollars and years of management and research. However, the optimal prevention or control strategies depend on the effectiveness, cost constraints, and the changing risk of invasive carp invasion or expansion of established populations (van poorten and beck 2021, pepin ET AL. 2022) and management objectives. This project focuses on the invaded range of invasive carp within the lower mississippi and arkansas-red-white river sub-basins (i.e., the LMR ARW) of the mississippi river basin. Each of these sub-basins contain populations of invasive carp and are experiencing negative ecological and economic impacts from the invasive populations (chapman ET AL. 2023, nico ET AL. 2005). We will work with stakeholders in the LMR ARW invasive carp partnership to develop decision support tools to develop and evaluate alternative management strategies given information like distance to the nearest established invasive carp population, expected management strategy effectiveness, and cost to improve decision-making and explicitly incorporate stakeholder values using structured decision making (SDM conroy and peterson 2013, runge ET AL. 2020). We will work through an SDM process to build decision support tools and guide monitoring and management plans to maximize decision-making quality for invasive carps