Thousands of pounds of fish expected to be pulled from Coralville Dam

UPDATED @3:10 on 09/08/11

Commercial fisherman at Coralville Dam may have to wait until Friday before getting to the estimated 30-40 thousand pounds of fish trapped near the outflow gate.  John Castle, Operations Manager at Coralville Lake, said construction crews are having a difficult time draining an area they've dammed off for construction purposes.  Castle said they had hoped to drain the water and remove the fish on Wednesday.  As of Thursday afternoon a significant amount of water remained in the dammed off area.  Crews are using pumps to try and move the water from that area into the river.

ORIGINAL POST

Construction at the Coralville Dam means thousands of fish will soon be left at the mouth of the Coralville Dam.  The US Army Corps of Engineers is working to dry the area around the outflow gate, which feeds the Iowa River.  It will then take crews about ten days to complete a much needed restoration project on the dam.

John Castle, Operations Manager at Coralville Lake, said between 30-35 thousand pounds of fish were recovered from the same area when the Corps did similar work in 1988.  Crews began draining water from around the outflow gate at 11 a.m. Wednesday.  Draining the area around the outflow gate likely wont be completed until Thursday morning.

A commercial fishing crew with a semi, capable of hauling up to 15,000 pounds of fish, has been contracted in to help handle the fish.  Only Buffalo Carp will be taken away by the semi, all other species will be moved from the outflow gate back into the river.  The Buffalo Carp will be taken overnight to New York, where there is a much higher demand for such fish.