Posted on 03/05/2017 9:05:27 PM PST by Leaning Right
Faced with the threat that Asian carp could enter the Great Lakes, Michigan is turning to the public for new ideas and plans to offer a prize to whoever comes up with a way to stop the voracious fish.
Michigan's global search challenge comes after the U.S. government and others have spent hundreds of millions searching for a solution to stop the carp from entering the world's largest freshwater system. If they aren't stopped, officials fear the aggressive fish will crowd out prize native fish and hamper recreational boating in large sections of the lakes...
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Invasive Asian carp.
Doing the jobs that American carp refuse to do.
Catch ‘em and eat ‘em.
http://www.outdoorhub.com/how-to/2015/01/09/eat-invasive-7-simple-asian-carp-recipes/
It has always been the though that the many bones of a Carp relegated it to the trash fish category. Back in the day if we caught one we just threw it back in the water.
I caught a rerun of Guy Fieri’s Triple D show on the food Network last week. He visited some joint in Omaha Nebraska and Carp on the menu was their claim to fame since 1967.
Why only Asian carp? Sounds racist to me!
Disconnect the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River System by filling the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
Your friend is correct, a pressure cooker works to weaken and eliminate the smaller bones of Carp. My wife has made Thai style fish patties in the past. Enough Thai chilies and shallots and most anything is edible as long as you like spicy.
I’ve seen deer hunters use the bow on carp for practice in the NJ Meadowlands; a bit wasteful, as they can’t be eaten (and unlike removing a hook from a fish’s mouth before tossing it back, the damage is much worse).
Case in point being the zebra mussels that infested lakes Erie and St. Clair several decades ago. After their initial explosion, the population dropped down and leveled off and are now in actual decline, and it was found that they became another food source for bass and pan fish such as perch. The Lake St. Clair water clarity also improved...........
This is Racist! If they were Middle Eastern Carp or Mexican Carp they would be given refuge.
I have two words:
Gene Drive
Now to wait for my check.
I was only 6 in 1957, and vividly remember the '60 election, when Eisenhower made a campaign stop in Kankakee, Il. They had the school out to see the motorcade from Momence, and Ike went by at about 90 mph, on highway 17...
Still not sure which limo he was in. But it did leave a certain impression of where the masses of people and the government that supposedly served them actually ranked.
offer $50 bounty per fish and free carp fishing licenses
Drain lakes, remove fish, refill lakes. Simples.
Whooo, golly, is there a lot of silliness on this thread.
You are exactly correct: Asian Carp are NOT bottom feeders. In fact, a big part of the problem is that because they are filter feeders of plankton and such, and quickly occupy so much of the biomass in a body of water, they eat the bottom of the food chain away from the usual small fish and critters that then support the next level, and so on. They literally starve out their competition.
Out of decent water, cleaned and prepared correctly, they taste quite good. But, they are very bony.
Fish sausage made from Asian Carp can also be quite tasty. (I bought a couple pounds of such, to try, last year.)
Multiple operations now export processed Asian carp to Asia. So far, that harvest is only a drop in the bucket, but is growing. For example:
http://www.the-messenger.com/news/local/article_6e21c568-0216-11e7-a2ff-e74d37336db5.html
If one has ever visited the area below the spillway @ KY or Barkley dam, the numerous dead carp (yuck!) left there by fishermen attest to the size of the fish. A large “kill” there, in 2014, possibly by a virus* that attacked the carp, demonstrated the amount of protein available.
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39850/title/Something-Is-Killing-Asian-Carp/
http://fw.ky.gov/fish/pages/ky-barkley-fishkill.aspx
*I do not know if a virus was confirmed, as little information “followed up”.
I’d also point out that many bottom feeders, again out of decent water, can taste good. Channel catfish (again, properly prepared), come to mind. Granted that the channel catfish most people eat come from farms where they learn to eat commercial catfish feed, most consumed long before it might sink (if it ever does) to the bottom. Also granted that the very best catfish I’ve ever eaten were 3-4 lb. blue catfish out of the Buffalo River in Arkansas = Very good water, and, blues mainly prey on other fish.
I disagree with some of our posters when it comes to nature always finding a solution: Dutch Elm disease is but one example. In the case of Asian Carp, Mo Nature might very well find a solution, or at least an acceptable balance, but, it might take hundreds or thousands of years. I don’t think people dependent on the Great Lakes fisheries would be too happy about waiting around for a 1000 year “fix”.
That said, along that line, it would seem that very large blue and flathead catfish, though still rare, may be becoming more numerous. One might speculate that the relative few who do make it to be big enough to eat an average adult Asian Carp are having a field day. It also may be that slot limits are needed: Say, blues over 20 lbs. must be returned to the water they came out of.
As for a solution to keeping them out of the Great Lakes, the problem of eggs on birds’ feet, or predatory birds carrying a fish some distance, and then for whatever reason dropping the fish back into water, cannot be discounted at all.
My proposal is a series of 4 or 5 of those “electric fences” along the river, leading to a downstream dam: The “uppermost” fence would be 50 miles straight line distance from the dam, and normally, the lake is kept @ 1/2 of capacity. Overstock that baby and the “fenced” sections of river with predatory fish, and regulate fishing as needed to encourage their numbers and size. (Maybe NO fishing in the uppermost section.) If Asian Carp are ever found above the “lowermost” fence, close the dam during a low water-flow period, and apply Rotenone from it to the next-to uppermost fence. After a few days, the Rotenone will degrade, and the dam can be reopened. Desirable fish from the uppermost section will repopulate the lower sections with time. (It may be necessary to close fishing entirely, for a period.)
Notes / fine tuning:
Closing the dam will be harmful to fish downstream, and commercial traffic.
Potassium Permanganate can be used to deactivate Rotenone in water, to lower toxicity back down to acceptable levels, if the treatment period needs to be shortened. Normally, Rotenone breaks down fairly quickly: At 24 °C, the half-life in natural waters is ~1/2 day, at 0 °C it is 3-4 days.
A 2 dams & lakes setup could mitigate river level problems below the dams, and lake level problems as well. But, the cost is already very high. This is not exactly a deserted area...
***they did same for Zebra mussels***
At least the mussels cleaned up the polluted water so clear fish now get sunburn.
Sarc
Drain KY Lake? Or Lake Michigan? Are you kidding?
And years ago a scientist said not to worry about African bees. When they reached the USA they would have inbred with European bees and become less aggressive.
It was settled science!
It didn’t work.
Will Snakehead fish eat them?
Fake news
Where’s your evidence?
I haven’t heard of an African Bee problem in years and years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.