Posted on 09/22/2011 12:54:09 PM PDT by Red Badger
It is a stark reminder that the Asian carp infestation that has overwhelmed stretches of river in the Mississippi River basin and is now threatening the waters of the Great Lakes isn't going to go away anytime soon: The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has hired a Louisiana chef for a made-for-media event this week to demonstrate just how good these fish can be to eat.
It's part of the Target Hunger Now campaign, a state-sponsored humanitarian effort to turn the jumbo jumping carp into "healthy, ready-to-serve meals" for the needy. The program also provides venison to the poor.
It already has provided thousands of meals to needy children and families, but this is about more than feeding the poor.
Illinois is in a protracted battle with its neighboring Great Lakes states over how to beat back the carp migrating up the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a man-made link between the carp-infested Mississippi basin and Lake Michigan.
Neighboring states want Illinois to slam shut two navigation locks as a makeshift barrier to block the advance of the fish; Illinois contends that such a closure would do great harm to the barge industry that relies on a free-flowing canal, and that it is unnecessary because an electric barrier on the canal is keeping the carp at bay.
Not everyone is so convinced the barrier is working as advertised. Water samples taken from the 70-plus miles of canals above the barrier repeatedly have tested positive for Asian carp DNA, and in the summer of 2010, a 20-pound Asian carp was pulled from a fisherman's net about seven miles south of Lake Michigan.
Illinois officials see its eat-the-carp program as another tool to keep the fish out of Lake Michigan.
According to the Illinois DNR:
"Illinois' $15 billion-dollar shipping industry has been threatened through ongoing legal actions by neighboring Great Lakes states in an attempt to close Chicago's navigation locks. Using Asian carp as a healthy food source for food banks is a major step towards eradication of the fish in Illinois waters and protects the waterway shipping industry from forced closures of our locks and dam systems."
The Illinois DNR also hopes the program will do some good for Illinois rivers.
"The Asian carp threat also continues to have a negative impact on Illinois' commercial and sport fishing industries and tourism and leads to revenue and job loss. Asian carp are voracious eaters consuming more than 40 percent of their body weight per day in plankton," states the Illinois DNR's official description of the program.
"They compete with our native fish species for food and can quickly overtake native populations of fish in our rivers, lakes and streams. The planned overfishing program of Asian carp will help protect these multibillion dollar industries in Illinois and the Great Lakes while protecting revenues and ensuring jobs. The overfishing program for Asian carp will also provide an abundance of fish available to feed our fellow Illinoisans."
The Illinois DNR will demonstrate recipes at a dinner with chef Philippe Parola on Thursday at Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory High School in Chicago.
Any stew potion containing acid will take care of the bones problem as well.
Typical Obamunism: pee on our legs and tell us it’s raining.
And 9%+ unemployment= “the new normal”.
Here’s a turd sandwich, they’re great...AND low fat!
Like they couldn’t afford to consult with chemists and engineers. Injecting the deposits with sulfur where they were would have helped lock up the mercury.
Personally I think they need to close the canal. It was created to get sewage to go down the mississippi instead of washing up on shore in the first place. Today its of pretty minimal economic value (Around a million dollars per yer)
Personally I think closing the canal could create an economic opportunity in the form of locks or something.
I doubt though that the fish haven't already colonized Lake Michigan. Usually by the time the gubmint realizes there is a problem, let alone devises a solution and implements it past all of the bureaucratic rules, it is already a mile downstream of us. We are ruled by Vogons.
I think you mean carp PER diem. :)
Yep. Steamed with Thai chili, garlic and lemon basil ad you won’t taste anything - for several days. ;-)
cat food? dog food?
The guy is more of a menace to himself than the fish.
You’re talking about native carp, not the invasive species. I’ve only eaten smoked carp (native, and kind of greasy).
Asian carp are a different animal and don’t belong here. But now we’re screwed because they decimate the start of the food chain.
>Hg levels in Lake Michigan went through the roof.<
.
Why are people so afraid of the Hg level in Lake Michigan and so ignorant of the Hg in the new lightbulbs?
I wonder what the reaction will be of our congress critters when one of the maintenance men in the Capitol building drops a dozen or so of the new bulbs on the floor.
....or so the stereotype goes....
Some years ago, they got chef Paul Prudhomme to concoct a few recipes in connection with a program to cut the number of nutria in the New Orleans area. Mmmm, giant rat.
I don't think many cajuns would go for that (but they would cut up the critters and use 'em for crab and crawfish bait).
Soylent Brown?
Will take your word on what mud tastes like. But carp is not all that bad, better than yard bird.
This is the New American Way. Don’t try to get rid of them; embrace them as they push out the native-born population.
I guess it’s just too hard to get rid of them. After all, they’re here. Many of them were just eggs when they were brought here. Lots of them were born here, which means they’re automatically citizens.
Any and all eradication efforts are downright racist and anti-Asian.
You provincial Americans need to have your cuisine and culture changed by immigrant carp for your own good.
In-state tuition for Asian carp NOW!
It kills me that Obama is happily doing all he can to destroy a major economic driver in the great lakes states.
Sportfishermen aren’t unionized and don’t rely on unions much in any meaningful form.
CARP = CRAP
I’m betting the carp are already in Lake Michigan.
TVA at one point tried a progran designed to get Tennesseans to eat carp which were taking over the lakes....needless to say it was a huge failure.
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