If you’ve got a Great Lakes lover on your list, consider the birthday shopping done.
You might even take care of birthday dinner using the Asian Carp Cuisine recipe guide. (It’s a free download!)
This Exotic Species Advisory sign helps beachgoers avoid spreading invasive species. Photo: Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
It’s also among the signs, stickers, posters, brochures and cards that the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant sells, or otherwise provides, to help people identify invasive species and prevent them from spreading.
“The main issue is to raise awareness, especially when it comes to those who can have an impact on the movement of these species from one water body to another, like anglers and boaters,” said Irene Miles, communication coordinator for the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant program.
Some products, like the WATCH cards that have pictures and information about invasive species, tell people how to report an invasive species sighting.
Miles said the trendiest products have been Asian carp oriented. Other carp items include the Fend off Flying Fish guide for boating safely in carp-infested waters and a video of biologist Duane Chapman deboning, cutting and cleaning an Asian carp.
Other products, like signs warning swimmers, anglers and boaters about spreading invasive species, cost more than $20.
The success of comercial fishing is dependant on tricking people to eat them, with names like Silverfin and Shanghai Bass! Only 25% is edible and I’m not aware that we require more fertilizer. No market no reason to harvest them.
Sic the commercial fishermen on them. There’s a long track record of commercial fishing depleting populations to near or complete extinction. Turn ’em loose and let them wreak their havoc.
Melissa is right. They’re sending a mixed message. We have to stop the evil carp from taking over, but dey shore is good in da Gumbo!
2oo carp proccessing jobs, 25 comercial netters (last I knew) $7 million to promote/set it up? we can’t get rid of them now, there’s carp jobs at stake! The big flaw in commercial harvest is they have to wait until they are big enough to have enough meat. Little ones go back for future catch. They’re already protected, and it hasn’t slowed down population increases.
The fish are coming whether you like it or not. If we eat some of the suckers at least we can slow that down.
I agree Melissa, it is conceding the high ground in a battle of wills.
Sea Lamprey is considered a delicacy in France, go figure, but, let us not let down our guard in the fight to control their numbers. Lion fish, a south Pacific invasive to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the FL Keyes, is supposedly delicious, but, deadly to native coral reef inhabitants. They are to be killed on sight. Tasty European swine, escaped from canned hunt farms, cause several $Billions in agricultural damage nationwide plus uncalculated damage to public and private wild lands. They also are to be killed on sight in MI. So just because some invasive species has food value is no reason to rationalize that value when it is detrimental to native species and local ecosystems.
By posting recipes for Asian Carp, you’re helping to create demand for these fish in an ecosystem, where it is not welcome.
It’s an aquired taste, one that I do not intend to aquire! Run them thru a Perch or Walleye first, then I’d be happy to eat Asian Carp!