Thread: How to solve Asian Carp problem...

Originally Posted by mbk

I'm from way up in N. KY and have, luckily, yet to come across any Asian Carp but it seems clear to me the only way you will ever get it under control is for the state or federal government to heavily subsidize the harvesting. You'll get the numbers of commercial fisherman out there necessary to keep the population under control. Set some amount that you think is enough to make it lucrative and do a retrospective in a year and decide if it's enough. Eliminating them will probably never happen at this point. I know many others have suggested the same approach.


If you were to add, say, $5 to every Ky fishing license, and explain that's what it is going toward, I would think most would not complain

mbk

Yeah that was my earlier point. They need to pay out more per lb if they want to drive more commercial fisherman focusing more on the Asians. I don't believe the current subsidy is very large and the open market pays them less for these fish. Also keep doing everything to help drive up demand so the prices rise over time.

These fish are such prolific breeders that if only a few breeding pair survive you will right back in a mess within a few years. Each female lays hundreds of thousands of eggs more than once a year and they have an incredible survival rate.

It's going to take a biological agent to get them. Or a market for them which will allow huge harvest every year just to hold their numbers in check. Using them as the basis for fish food and fertilizer and cat food would be a good start. Turning them all into a base product that could be added into products that use fish meal would be a good .

Problems in State budgets as a whole and the percentage of Fish and Wildlife budgets dedicated to fisheries is an insurmountable problem at this point it would appear.

A private enterprise that could produce this universal fish meal and have their own fishing fleets could put their numbers in check if the market existed. I am not sure if it ever will.

I haven't heard much lately about the attempt to export them back to the Asian countries that do consume them regularly . Not sure how much success they have had.

It's just too bad these fish weren't easily fished with rod and reel. With their size they would attract a lot of people targeting them as a game fish.
Then just pass a regulation that catch and release was illegal unless released dead or mortally wounded.

There is a market for these in Asia. It will require several states, plus the Feds, paying a subsidy to commercial fishermen, and probably the processors.
Our challenge, as sportsmen, business owners, etc, is to get the attention of state, and federal politicians.

Someone needs to convince a Bill Gates type that that donating a few billion dollars to harvest these fish and figuring out a way to then use them to feed starving people of the world is a project worth attempting.

Just found this on a website....I did not attach the link because I am not sure the website is secure. This is an excerpt regarding the plant at Wickliffe.

Asian carp: from problem to profit

By MAY ZHOU in Houston | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-03-17 05:56

Processed Asian carp are ready to be bagged for shipping at the Two Rivers Fisheries in Wickliffe, Kentucky. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Fisheries in the American South imported Asian carp from China in the 1970s to clean their commercial ponds. However, Asian carp spilled into the freshwater system due to flooding.
Since then, Asian carp has become an environmental problem due to its ability to prodigiously reproduce and crowd out native spices, upsetting the ecological balance and harming the local fishing industry.
While hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to fight Asian carp, Angie Yu, owner of Two Rivers Fisheries in Wickliffe, Kentucky, came up with an idea to make money instead of spending money in the battle against Asian carp – sell them and eat them.
Yu, a Chinese American from Los Angeles, first read about the Asian carp dilemma in 2010. At that time, she already had developed a business by exporting Iceland's lumpfish, discarded after roe was removed for consumption, to China.
"I thought to myself, Asian carp is very popular in China; people consider it very delicious. Yet here in the US, it's viewed as a disaster and something to be rid of. Why not export them to China?" Yu said.
After some research, Yu chose Wickliffe to run her business. "This is where the Ohio River and Mississippi River meet with Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake nearby. There is ample Asian carp available, and the government wants to get rid of them, said Yu.
Wickliffe is a town of about 700 located in Ballard County, which has a population of roughly 8,000.
Yu had to overcome some obstacles: she never processed fish before and so she needed to build a processing facility. Nobody was catching Asian carp, and she needed to mobilize local fishermen.
"Most local fishers are on a part-time basis. They are also farmers. Since local people don't eat Asian carp, they never tried to catch them before. They had to learn how to catch Asian carp," said Yu.
A gill net is used to capture Asian carp, which often weigh more than 10 pounds and can weigh as much as 100. "It's common to see fish of 30 to 40 pounds," Yu said.
Two Rivers Fisheries was opened in July 2013. After receiving the fish from fishermen, employees process them into patties, tail, sausages, ribs or even dumplings. Then they are flash frozen and boxed for shipping.
Yu said now more than 30 teams of fishermen have registered with her company to supply Asian carp. However, each team consists of only two or three fishermen, and they capture fish only a couple of times every week, so the supply is insufficient.
To increase supply to meet the capacity of her processing facility and market demand, Yu began setting up her own full-time fishing team this year.
"We are starting with two fishing boats first and will go from there," she said.
Yu went into the business intending to export the Asian carp to China, but that had to change.
"First, Chinese consumers favor live fish instead of frozen fish; second, commercially raised carp is cheap there. Eventually most of our products are exported to European countries," Yu said, adding that she also is exploring opportunities to market the fish in the US.
Yu said most American consumers don't eat carp. However, that can be changed.
"We have a culinary kitchen at Two Rivers Fisheries. Our Chinese employees, sometimes our Chinese customers when they visit here, would cook up delicious dishes with carp and invite people to eat," Yu said.
This practice has changed some locals' views of Asian carp. "Now we have some local people coming to us to buy carp," Yu said.
Yu's business has been steadily growing since 2013. Capacity has increased from 1 million pounds in the first couple of years to 2 million pounds in 2016, and Yu expects it to double to 4 million pounds in 2017, with her own fishing boats in place.

Originally Posted by Slow Retrieve

It's just too bad these fish weren't easily fished with rod and reel. With their size they would attract a lot of people targeting them as a game fish.
Then just pass a regulation that catch and release was illegal unless released dead or morally wounded.

You can snag them easily. They fight hard.

I can't even snag paddlefish in some of the Mississippi river tributaries I use to because their is so many of these things in the way your constantly hitting them.

Evidently they taste good if prepared properly. If local restaurants were smart they would start serving these fish in an attempt to slowly build a demand because if the fishing/tourism dies it will hurt many of the local restaurants. They should have a vested interest in promoting the idea of eating them.