Jul 1, 2016 2 min read

EIGHTY FOUR – The state Fish & Boat Commission permitted 84 Lakes to reopen after a two-year investigation and work to rid its ponds of invasive Asian carp and another illegal breed of fish.

“The company drained the lakes and removed the invasive species,” commission spokesman Erik Levis said Friday. “As a result, it has received its permit to operate again as a pay lake.”

The commission began investigating the Somerset Township company on Route 136 after being alerted to a Facebook post about one of the carp being seen there.

The carp are disrupting ecosystems because they are aggressive, grow quickly and interfere with the food chain. The commission said it doesn’t want the carp to get into Pittsburgh’s three rivers.

The commission in 2014 began issuing a string of citations against 84 Lakes owner Dennis Wilcher, including one for operating a pay lake without a license.

It withdrew several of the citations against Wilcher after the last pond was drained in April because he complied with everything the state required him to do, a court official said Friday.

Three Asian carp and nine bigmouth buffalo were captured and killed during the investigation.

Court records show Wilcher paid $1,350 in fines to the commission as a result of the citations filed before District Judge Curtis Thompson.

The ponds were restocked Wednesday, said a man who answered the phone at the company Friday.