A Modern Fish Story: Hate ‘em & Eat ‘em!
Published: Saturday, June 12, 2021
By: Norm Schultz, Reproduced with Permission from Soundings Trade Only
Asian carp are a dreaded invasive species believed capable of wiping out all the native fisheries if they ever reach the Great Lakes. Electric fences and other devices have been employed over the years to successfully keep them from entering Lake Michigan and moving on to all the other lakes. Now there’s a new plan about to be unveiled: just eat them!
The Asian carp species, namely silver, bighead, grass, and black carp, are voracious plankton feeders. The bighead, for example, can chow down 100 pounds in a day. The predicted damage to the food chain in the Great Lakes fishery—with its annual economic impact of $7 billion—would be catastrophic.
But a plan’s being readied to possibly chow down on the carp, that is, if people can get past the fact that carp are basically filled with small bones and really don’t make for great fish fillets. That said, if the idea can be sold to the public that carp are tasty, it could mean more fishermen would remove tons of the invasive fish from Illinois rivers where they are currently pinned down.
To do it, a campaign is reportedly being developed to change the name and image of carp, and convince people they’re delicious to eat! After all, carp have been a staple of the Chinese diet for thousands of years. They were first imported from China to the U.S. in the late 1960’s to control algae blooms in fish farm ponds and sewage lagoons. Sadly, floods allowed the carp to escape into the Mississippi River system and their populations took off.
So far, the steady movement of the carp northward toward the Great Lakes has been stopped in Illinois. In fact, to contain the Asian carp’s advance, electrical barriers are already being employed and more are planned for the Des Plaines River just 26 miles downstream from Chicago, the gateway to Lake Michigan. The latest planned barrier will use electricity and screens of air bubbles to keep the carp at bay. Projected cost: $775-plus-million but it would protect a $7 billion annual fishery.
The big question is whether Americans can be sold an image that carp means good eating. “It's been hard to get the human consumption part of this because of the four-letter word: carp,” explains Kevin Irons, assistant chief of fisheries for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
He’s right. It won’t be the first time a legitimate attempt is made to change the image of carp. In Ohio, for example, there was a multi-year campaign to rename Lake Erie’s carp “silver bass.” ‘Seems like that’s just like putting lipstick on a pig,’ joked one TV reporter. The renaming effort failed.
The whole idea, of course, is that if people would begin to eat carp, or whatever they’ll be called, big numbers of the fish would be harvested, thus reducing the threat to the Great Lakes. A win-win.
Make no mistake, the fear for the Great Lakes native fishery is well founded. Researchers examined two decades of fish studies done on the Mississippi River and they confirmed Asian carp triggered major declines in sought-after fish like yellow perch and crappie. So, can we eat our way out of this problem?
According to Keith Matheny, writing in the Detroit Free Press, a big media blitz is expected to kick-off in June aimed at changing the carp image. A proposed new name for the fish is currently a highly guarded secret, but it will be introduced to open the campaign. Matheny further previews that the campaign will emphasize that the Asian carp species are “flaky, tasty, organic, sustainable, low in mercury, and rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids.”
Meanwhile, the electric carp barrier planned for the Des Plaines River is still about seven years or more away. So, if large quantities of the carp can be harvested to meet consumer demand, it will be a major step in protecting the Great Lakes fishery. Let’s hope for success.
A version of this article appeared in the Launch Issue (May/June) 2021 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Environmental Impact, Fishing, Lake Michigan, Law & Politics
