PITTSBURGH — The carp in Pymatuning Lake will not be denied their daily bread, the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks has decided.
After being berated for two months by visitors, business owners and elected officials, the state has temporarily called off a plan to force people to stop feeding bread to carp in the lake near Linesville, Pa., and to feed them fish pellets instead.
Every year, an estimated 500,000 people trek to the lake in northwestern Pennsylvania to see a veritable carpet of carp in the water.
The impromptu roadside attraction is known in part for the sight of ducks walking over the backs of the carp to get at some of the bread themselves. This has spurred Linesville to call itself “Where the Ducks Walk on the Fishes.”
In July, the state said it wanted to end the 70-year tradition because it was generating litter and attracting geese that were defecating on local beaches and campgrounds.
A community uproar led to a three-hour public meeting on Sept. 8 that attracted nearly 400 people, who nearly unanimously opposed the move. Many worried that the change would deter visitors, who spend money in local restaurants and other businesses.
“Hey, with that many people, numbers speak,” Pete Houghton, manager of Pymatuning State Park, said Thursday.
That led to a private meeting on Wednesday in Harrisburg, the state capital, between three administrators and local state legislators before a decision was reached.
The state will monitor the litter and geese population over the next year and see if it can be managed without an end to the bread-feeding.