McConnell Helps Deliver Decisive Blow to Win the ‘War on Carp’

Most certainly. Especially on a
hot day.

Pending in Frisco ...

Cool pic of them jumping. It’s amazing how and
why they react this way.

The problem with harvesting the Asian Carp is threefold:

1) They do not command a good market price. (I’ll come back to this.)

2) They are somewhat difficult to catch commercially with traditional netting techniques, don’t respond to chumming, etc.

3) Most US consumers regard any carp as trash fish.

“2” results in highish catch costs. Combined with “1”, that means the commercial fishermen would rather go after something else, or, take up another occupation. One can argue the commercial fishermen should harvest lots of Asian Carp at low profit or even a loss to promote good populations of the fish they CAN make $$ on, but somehow that just doesn’t seem to work out.

Large enough bounties or (subsidies, really) DO assist in the above, as I’ll discuss below, but, as Freepers, is yet another subsidy where we want to go? Maybe...

Bow fishing? I could ask one of our local fisheries biologists, but I suspect that even a very aggressive bow hunting program would barely dent the population of Asian Carp. In-state fishing licenses are usually not that expensive in most Mississippi Basin states anyway. The bigger problem is that I fish for personal enjoyment (and meals!), occasionally in waterbodies with moderate to heavy populations of Asian Carp, and while I’ve seen the mass jumping routine, I’ve never seen a bighead or silver carp swimming or resting in water shallow, clear, and close enough to hit it with a rifle, much less a bow. I think they instinctively know that’s “danger”. This differs from the sterile grass carp sometimes stocked in low numbers to help keep weeds down — I moderately often see them rolling on the surface in waters they’ve been stocked in. (It’s fairly impressive to be out, say, bluegill fishing, and some 45 lb. grass carp does a big surface roll 10 ft. away! Ditto for the rare occasion when a large catfish comes to the surface.)

Common carp are also often found in shallow waters.

Snagging? I’ve gone to the tailwaters at KY Dam & Barkley Dam a few times. Those waters usually harbor huge numbers of Asian Carp, and, yes, occasionally you’ll see a snagger pull out an Asian Carp (and then they usually just kill it and leave it lie on the bank to rot! Phew!!!) But, judging from the number of dead fish on the banks, and observation of the snaggers’ success vs. the numbers of fish that are found in the occasional carp “kills” (usually O2 issues), again I’d have to say the snaggers even in some sort of promoted program would only slightly dent the Asian Carp populations in most waters, and that in limited areas.

Dough ball baits? Golly, I don’t know: One hears fairly often that “Hey, I’ve caught one of those Asian Carp on this or that.”, but, yes, they ARE prodigious filter (plankton) feeders. Again I could ask an area fisheries biologist, but IMO it is more likely that when you have so many large fish packed in, inhaling lots of water each, they are likely to suck in a dough ball, spoon, worm, jig, etc., once in a while, and not spit it out B4 being hooked. Specific to dough balls, I’ve never even heard of anyone in my region having caught a confirmed Asian Carp on a dough ball, though I’m sure it has happened just by chance alone, per the above. Common carp are often caught on dough balls, of course, but that leads to a side comment: 2/3 of anglers don’t know their species worth a crap. Er, carp. This is partially due to, well, idiot anglers, and is also due to the weak efforts most DNR’s seem to put into angler education — but that’s a different rant! At any rate, I’d be willing to bet that many a report of an Asian Carp being caught on dough bait was not even an Asian Carp.

As far as having ‘em jump in the boat, the “Peoria Carp Hunters” vids on You Tube are always worth some laughs! The darn fish can certainly do some damage tho’. (1:20 in vid.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhfd9dIkXEk

(How these guys (apparently) managed to never be seriously hurt, I cannot fathom.) (Pun intended!)

Returning to “1”, the price and demand side of the equation, there ARE some operations in the US successfully exporting “Wild Caught” Asian Carp. One of the first was (and still is) Two Rivers Fisheries in Wickliffe, KY. The Industrial Park there is in the process of becoming home for several other operations as well (some may be owned or partially by Two Rivers Fisheries - it’s a bit hard to sort out.) Interestingly, Two Rivers is now exporting more to Eastern Europe and the Middle East than to China. Whether China’s “protein deficit” due to the pig epidemic will affect this, I cannot guess.

GREAT article, here: https://www.waterwaysjournal.net/2019/11/08/industrial-park-will-be-dedicated-to-processing-asian-carp/

Originally a lot of the exportation WAS to China, and I suspect it was to higher end customers willing to pay a premium for fish from relatively unpolluted waters. (Just how Two Rivers may or may not push that angle, I’m not sure.) Since Asian Carp consume plankton - the bottom of the food chain - you can have a fairly sizeable fish relatively low in contaminants, even from so-so waters like KY Lake. I’m old enough that such may not matter much for me, but, no way would I have my daughter eat from a 5 lb. bass from KY Lake. Or at least not more than once a year. A 15 lb. Asian Carp? No problem.

In the US, there is considerable stigma toward carp as being “trash fish”, plus, Silver and Bighead carp have many small bones. Few US consumers want to deal with the bones. Proper filleting can take out the bones, but unfortunately wastes quite a bit of the meat, too.

Still, I’ve tried Silver Carp from KY Lake, prepared @ home a couple different ways, and the taste was quite good. I have read that preparation in a pressure cooker will dissolve the small bones, and really should try that sometime. If that works, still with good flavor, the sellers should promote that method of preparation. The various DNR’s could help with that too, as could a proper PSA program. Between consumer “education” and industry growth hopefully resulting in more efficient operations, perhaps Asian Carp can be more successfully marketed in the US.

One last thought: Not every waterbody I’d think would be overrun with Asian Carp is. There also seem to be quite a lot of catches of record and near record Blue Catfish in recent years. This leads me to speculate that Blue Catfish might be the one predator that might be able to control Asian Carp populations, if the Blues are present in sufficient numbers of large fish to do the job. Blue Catfish can themselves overpopulate some water bodies, but they are a highly desired food fish — I’d think that commercial fishermen could keep them in check if need be.

Alligator Gar have also been suggested in this role, but, while fearsome looking, I do not think they are as fast and active piscivores as Blue Cats, and, they are near worthless, commercially. Additionally, Blue Cats in the 50+ lb. range can, pound for pound, swallow larger prey than an equal weight Gar. IF Blue Catfish in waters where they naturally occur anyway can be managed for maximum numbers of trophy size fish, while keeping numbers of smaller Blues modest, so as not to decimate populations of sport fish (bluegill, bass, etc.), there might be a “natural” way to control Asian Carp, if commercial fishing cannot.

Very insightful and imformative.
I was in Ohio only for a short
while and was introduced to bow
fishing for these fish. Weekend
trips to Kentucky. Aerial bow
fishing is fast and will test
your reflexes and marksmanship,
as you’re hitting them in mid-
air off the back of a moving
boat. It wasn’t uncommon to
impale 60 fish per trip.
Some of the fish were ‘volunteers’
and would land in the boat on
their own.
Probably not much of a dent in
their numbers but it sure was
a lot of fun.

Excellent post! Thanks!

Yeah, I should have thought of the bow-fishing @ mid-air fish angle, after watching a couple of those “Peoria Carp Hunters” vids again! But while I might be able to develop the marksmanship (maybe!), there’s no way I have that kind of reflexes. I might hit a couple by accident, and collect a few “volunteers”. :-)

That has me thinking I should try seeing if next summer I can go out on an Asian Carp-heavy lake in my jon boat and scare up a couple “volunteers” for further culinary testing. I’ve been out on one such (an old slough lake, enhanced a bit by Man, I think) all afternoon in my canoe, and nary a carp jumped. I only have a trolling motor for the jon boat - might not make enough noise - but maybe if my wife or daughter went along, one of us could generate some extra noise of some sort. I’m afraid such an enterprise in the canoe (it will actually “fit” the trolling motor too) would be risky — it’s more easily rocked.

That’s actually pretty ironic when I think about it — the exact opposite of what one normally wants to do!

Thanks.

Again, don’t treat them as food, find non food uses for them. Make them into fertilizer. Spray them on corn fields. It was OK for the Pilgrims and Indians to use fish for fertilizer, its OK for us. (Perhaps Pigs will eat them? )

Yes, you would have to rig a boat that is specifically designed to collect the flying asian carp. Cover it in a chicken wire collection system.

I don’t know if the Ohio River Musky is extinct, but if they could get a protected population growing and when big enough maybe they could compete in some why.

Just some thoughts.

A problem with the fertilizer angle (to really reduce the Asian Carp population in the US) is that it’s not profitable for the fish processors — at least not as presently practiced. It likely is, however, presently the least expensive way* to get rid of the scraps — which can be 70% of the fish depending on what you are trying to sell as food.

*Sales of scraps less costs, with costs still being the larger number.

Could more of the fish be pressure cooked by the processors on a large scale, reducing waste and increasing sales of high dollar products? Maybe. Could better promotion of pressure cooking by consumers help? Probably, IMO.

Now, I do have some ideas for the scraps. Probably most have already been looked at and are either already in use or were discarded for one reason or another, but, just for fun...

Consider that operation in KY (Two Rivers Fisheries): Let’s say they get up to processing 25 million pounds of Asian Carp in 2024, and they generate ~17 million pounds of Asian Carp waste. Let’s also assume* that there is a location nearby to create a large catfish farm such that the scraps can just be piped over. Food conversion ratio for catfish farms is typically around 2.6 — I’m not sure if carp scraps would be better or worse, so I’ll go with the 2.6 figure.

17 million pounds of scraps then gives us roughly 6.5 million pounds of catfish @ harvest. A conservative number (it varies quite a bit) for weight of healthy, harvestable catfish per SA (surface acre) of water is 1000 lbs. per acre, in turn telling us we need a 6,500 SA fish farm. That’s one heck of a fish farm. Perhaps part of it can be used to raise blue catfish for stocking. Perhaps economical ways to feed catfish in the river itself could be developed, reimbursed by creation of pay-to-fish hotspots at / near the feed points? (I’m dubious just dumping 17 million pounds of scraps into the river in one spot would be a good idea. However, the kill below Barkley Dam in KY, in 2014, did in roughly half a million silver carp, which probably adds up to a few to several million pounds of dead fish in a relatively small area. The Core of Engineers eventually opened extra gates @ the dam to flush the fish downstream, apparently with no drastic consequences.)

*I’m unsure about that location: The prospective lands for large fish farms nearby typically floods, I believe — no good for a fish farm. But, perhaps somewhere else...?

(As an aside, Blue Catfish would likely feed well on fresh carp scraps, and then you’d have a potential advertising angle, selling low contaminant fish that are not so much a scavenger as Channel Catfish, and are generally regarded as tastier than Channel Cats. I can confirm: Blue Catfish out of good water (could that be done still at a profit in a fish farm?) ARE really excellent fare.)

The data point I can’t readily find is: What is the estimated present total biomass of Asian Carp in the US? Are there break-even or better uses for even 1/2 of it? And what are the implications, including to other fish, of taking that much “nutrient matter” out of the waters?

Paul, you are pretty serious about this!

Use asian carp in canned cat food, why waste tuna and deplete tuna stocks further? (They probably already use only tuna waste in cat food.)

Small commercial production of Fish meal and fertilizer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZrAUpzxhKA

Fish in gardening. Encourage gardeners to use fish in gardening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgn0HXaIeBg

Using fish waste for chicken food

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29388212

"This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacing soybean meal with fish-waste silage (FWS) in diets on growth performance and meat quality in broiler chickens"

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, the microbial fermentation process is effective in improving nutritive values of FW. Feeding up to 120 g kg-1 FWS also improves the performance and meat quality of birds and can be used as a suitable protein source in broiler chickens' diet. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

https://wholefedhomestead.com/10-creative-protein-sources-chickens-help-save-money-chicken-feed/

Objections to a large chicken operation using fish would be the smell and storage. Small farmsteader suggests freezing fish and storing until you need to feed them to chickens. If you feeding a shed full of chickens it would require minimal processing. (unless they are in cages!) Feeing fish and fish wastes to pigs. https://scienceblogs.com/shiftingbaselines/2008/01/18/eat-like-a-pig

I suppose that use as fertilizer and food silage would be research and experimentation done by the ag programs at state or land grant colleges. (Get the next generation exposed to the idea.) I hate to even suggest things like grants and tax credits.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

Good luck!

Most efforts to eliminate an invasive species fail. Foxes and cats in Australia, wild hogs in Texas, Fire ants and Kudzu in Alabama, Eucalyptus in California, Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes...”

You left out liberals taking over Virginia.