Since the age of 13 in 1966 – the year European carp were unwittingly released into our waterways in Gippsland – Keith Bell has been involved with the fish in Australia.
Currently he is heading the project to relocate native fish from the receding waters of doomed Greens Lake at Corop.
And there is no-one more qualified than Keith, 69, for this undertaking.
He has currently taken time off for the Greens Lake project in the midst of removing carp from Lake Toolondo, near Horsham.
Lake Toolondo, like Greens Lake, is a victim of the rationalisation of water storage compounds.
Initially labelled ‘‘an idiot’’ for pursuing it professionally, Keith has been catching carp for a living all over Australia since 1984. He now conducts the largest and longest running carp fishery in Victoria, K & C Fisheries Global, at Stratford near Sale.
He and his wife, Cate, developed many domestic markets and in 1998 spread their wings to develop the first of many export markets, operating under the business name of K & C Fisheries Global.
In what may be a surprise to many, carp are used in numerous products — 11 to be precise — from leather to caviar.
Keith said he started doing what he does because everyone wanted to get rid of the carp.
He was the only one interested in doing it on a large scale and his punt has paid dividends.
And Keith has noted an oddity and a positive from the carp in our waterway for those who enjoy paddling knee deep — they have played a big part in removing blood-sucking leeches!