By Holly Van Woerkom

It's a rough life for the June sucker.

Back in 1875 the June sucker fish, an endangered species native only to Utah Lake, used to have a population of almost 2 million.

Today, because the lake is dominated by more than 7 million non-native carp, the June sucker's population has dropped to 3,000.

Members of the Utah Lake Commission, which was formed in 2004 by the Utah County Council of Governments, and the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program, a separate entity funded by a collection of state agencies, have spent several years researching options for Utah Lake restoration and saving the June sucker.

The collection of agencies represents an uncharacteristic unity for an environmental cause - water companies, too, have enlisted in the cause.

Last week, the Utah Lake Commission held a public open house to receive comments on its master plan for lake restoration. Their research so far has shown that at least 75 percent of the carp in the lake will need to be removed because the carp are the primary threat to the June sucker and to Utah Lake.

But why worry about an unlucky fish that hangs out at the bottom of the lake?

The June sucker, which earns its name because it spawns during June, is what is called an indicator species. This means its well-being is a reflection Utah Lake's ecosystem.

"June suckers have a lot of value," said Michael Mills,recovery program coordinator. "When the June suckers aren't doing well, it means something is wrong. They are kind of like the oil light in a car - they show there's a problem, and we need to address it."

Utah Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the state, is used for everything from crop irrigation in Salt Lake Valley to sprinkler water and drinking water for Utah Valley and Salt Lake Valley residents.

"The lake used to be quite the place," Mills said, "and over the years it's developed more of a bad reputation, and now people don't use it near as much."

The carp have a habit of ripping through aquatic vegetation and stirring up dirt in the shallow lake water, which makes it a contributor to the ill-reputed muddy waters of Utah Lake, Mills said.

Carp make up more than 90 percent of the biomass - the amount of living matter in a given habitat - of the lake, said biologist Jackie Watson of the Utah Divison of Wildlife Resources. Of all the fish species in the lake, almost 99 percent are non-native, with the June sucker representing less than 0.2 percent.

Because of the pervasive carp population, the amount of aquatic vegetation has greatly decreased, Mills said. As a result, young June suckers have nowhere to hide from predators, and researchers have found that these baby fish simply can't survive.

In 1885, a century before the June sucker became protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1986, settlers introduced about 2,000 carp to Utah Lake for humanitarian relief. The lake used to have 13 native species, but only two remain today, the June sucker and the Utah sucker.

To maintain an ideal ecosystem balance, one recovery program estimate showed, it would take seven years to remove 5 million pounds of carp, followed by 46,000 to 150,000 pounds of carp removed annually.

Although the recovery program's efforts receive some state funding, the biggest obstacle for a carp removal program is the cost. Mills said program managers are considering many options, but the recovery program will begin removing some carp this fall.

Mills said his group hopes to find some way to market the harvested carp, such as using the fish for composting, biofuel or fishmeal.

"It would be great if we could get an actual market for Utah Lake carp, but that remains to be seen," he said.