Silver carp. (Photo Credit: Tdk/CC BY-SA 3.0)
Chinese market becomes an alternative to deal with invasive carp
UNITED STATES
Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 02:40 (GMT + 9)
The Chinese market could be the solution to free rivers and lakes in the United States from invasive carp species.
Researchers with the US Geological Survey and Bowling Green State University stated that four carp species imported from Asia decades ago to control algae and unwanted plants in controlled settings such as sewage treatment lagoons escaped into the wild and spread into the Mississippi and other rivers and lakes, Times Reporter informed.
One of these species is the Asian carp, which in China is cheap and a common meal-time fixture. A processing firm from Wicklife (Kentucky) is exporting it to the Asian country as “Kentucky White Fish,” a name that describes the meat colour and ties it to another popular brand.
According to James Garvey, director for the Center for Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences at Southern Illinois University, wild carp is hard to come by in China, but it is spreading like wildfire across American waterways.
Some studies have concluded that the Asian carp represents 60 per cent of all the fish in Ohio’s Sandusky River, a tributary of Lake Erie and it has been for the first time documented that an Asian carp species has successfully reproduced within the Great Lakes watershed.
And, of greatest concern in the Great Lakes region are bighead and silver carp, since they are prolific breeders that gobble huge amounts of plankton.
These invasive carps are dangerous to the ecosystem because the moment one of these carps enters the system; it would be very difficult or next to impossible to get the situation under control.
If nothing is done soon, these creatures could damage the commercial fishing industry due to feeding on the native fishes in the area.
On the one hand, the Obama administration has spent nearly USD 200 million to shield the lakes, focusing primarily on an electrified barrier and other measures in Chicago-area waterways that offer a pathway from the carp-infested Mississippi River watershed to Lake Michigan. Critics say more is needed and are pressing to physically separate the two systems.
Besides, the US Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to release a report in coming months on a long-term solution.
On the other hand, the Asian carp industry has started to be developed but the infrastructure to get the Asian carp catch to market, and on to China, isn’t quite there yet. Many fishermen have to travel for hours to get their catch to a processor.
Currently, there are a few plants, mostly in Illinois and there is even one that makes Asian carp hot dogs.
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