ASIAN CARP THREAT -- An expensive electronic weir in the Illinois River is all that keeps the invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
Solution in Sight for Asian Carp: Ship Them Back to China as Food Products!
Illinois Governor Signs Deal to Export 30 Million Pounds of Fish Annually
At last the United States may have found a product we can sell to China.
ASIAN CARP!
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn today signed an agreement with China to export up to 30 million pounds of Asian carp a year from the Illinois River, from which the invasive species is threatening the Great Lakes.
Gov. Quinn said of the Asian carp, "if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em."
Illinois is spending $2 million to upgrade the facilities at Big River Fisheries at a fish processing plant in Pearl, Illinois, that already ships millions of pounds of Asian carp to China and other countries each year.
By expanding their capabilities, Quinn said, Big River hopes to process and ship 30 million pounds of Asian carp to upscale restaurants in China by 2011. At full capacity, Big River could process up to 50 million pounds of fish, said Ross Harano, director of international sales for Big River.
The investment will also bring as much as 180 new jobs to the riverside communities of Pearl and Pittsfield, where Big River's production facilities are located.
"We believe the people of China who like to eat Asian carp will find this is the best anywhere on Earth," Quinn said.
Indeed, the plan is to market Asian carp caught in Illinois as wild grown fish to upscale restaurants in China, Harano said. That's the only way to offset the added costs of catching the fish locally and shipping it overseas.
"Just like people pay a premium for Angus beef, we believe people will pay a premium for this," Harano said. "We're marketing it as 'Wild Mississippi River Fish.' It's all in how you market it over there."
"The high quality and taste of the wild Asian carp from Big River Fish far exceeded our expectations," said Liang Chang, chairman of Beijing Zhuochen Animal Husbandry, which will import the fish in China. "We see a tremendous market in China for the wild Asian carp."
Big River Fish has been processing Asian carp since the firm started in 1999, flashfreezing about 40,000 pounds of the fish weekly for shipment to China.
With $2 million from the State of Illinois, the company plans to expand its operations, add 180 direct and indirect jobs and process at least 30 million pounds of the troublesome fish per year for sale to China.
Commercial fishermen will be able to bring loads of fish to the plant, where fish will be frozen in a blast freezer at 30 below, Harano said. Besides its current shipments to Asia, the plant is a major supplier of smoked Asian carp for the domestic market, where carp is used in African and other ethnic cooking, Harano said.
But the supply in the Illinois and Mississippi rivers is virtually endless, and so is China's market for the wild fish, which spawn in enormous numbers and grow up to 100 pounds. Chinese rivers are so polluted the bighead and silver carp are farm-raised, but diners prefer wild carp, Harano said.
In their native land, the fish are eaten in many ways, and women like to eat them because of their high collagen content, which smooths skin, he said.
Electric barriers have failed to hold the fish back in their steady march toward Lake Michigan. Asian carp DNA and a live bighead carp have been found beyond the barriers, causing panic in Great Lakes states.
Another Illinois firm, Schafer Fisheries in Thomson, grinds up the invasive species and sells it as a smoked spread. The Lockwood Restaurant in Chicago offers a Shanghai bass and shrimp seviche appetizer, in which the bass is Asian carp, as a way to use them creatively.
Duane Chapman, a fish biologist who has studied Asian carp for decades for the U.S. Geological Survey, has You-Tube videos on how to fillet the bony creatures, which most chefs say is their biggest drawback. He has also published some of his favorite recipes, including Fajitas Carpitas, Asian Carp Curry and Flying Carp Wings.
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Dave Rogers
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Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read, respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City. (Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)
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