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.
Give a man a carp and he’ll eat for a day.
Carp diem!
Is screening the canal not feasible? So as to catch every single carp that tries to swim up that way?
*** HEH HEH HEH ***
I haven't eaten a bite of Tilapia since I saw that episode of Dirty Jobs. Bleecchh!
How about adding them to school lunch programs nationwide? What better way to get rid of this nuisance fish than by using school children all over the country to transfer them from lunch trays in to trash cans?
In some restaurants and groceries you can get wild tilapia - very good and without the bleeechh! Just stay away from the, ahem, “farm raised” type.
But you have the right idea, I quit eating the farm raised after that same episode. That was TMI for sure.
Wait till the people get hungry enough and snakehead will become gourmet fare.
Pay some fishermen to fish the dickens out of the carp. Kids don’t like fish patties all that well, but they’ll gladly eat fish sticks. It would also be lower in mercury than most wild fish, so healthier.
Huh, lots of Hg? In Lake Michigan?
We always had fish on Fridays in school............
A carp in every pot!
Feed the cat peanuts and it's Baby Ruth.
Methinks he’s jumped the carp...
Colonel, USAFR
Carpe carp diem.
Sieze the fish today!
Use a net - they jump.
Something must eat carp in Asia to keep them in check.........
Do you think these carp would eat delta smelt?
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