When carp were originally brought from Asia to North America, nobody suspected just how well they would thrive — or what a problem their growth would pose to their new home. Now, the residents of the Mississippi River Basin hope a unique solution can curb the invasive population and provide some delicious meals in the process.
Billions of dollars have already been spent attempting to manage the carp, the MinnPost reported. States have constructed electric barriers to prevent the species from infiltrating the Great Lakes; they've also offered per-pound incentives to fishermen who catch and kill the prolific invasives.Â
Many of these efforts have been effective, but the carp have continued to reproduce at staggering rates, outpacing any efforts to curb their population.
Officials are optimistic that with the right rebranding, carp can become a desirable commodity for humans, pets, and possibly for both.
"A rebranding kind of campaign for them could potentially bring their price up, making it more economically viable for people to go fish for them," said Ben Meadows, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Alabama Birmingham, per the MinnPost.
There's a precedent for this suggestion: The now-popular Chilean sea bass was originally called the distinctly less appetizing Patagonian toothfish.
"If we can get people to think that [carp] is the food equivalent of tilapia or rainbow trout or catfish … those would start to create the self-fulfilling cycle," Meadows told the MinnPost.
Jim Garvey, zoology professor at Southern Illinois University, agreed. "Carp are perfect food in a lot of ways," he said simply.
Beyond serving carp in restaurants, proponents of the eating approach also suggest that the invasive fish could be used in dog food and pet treats. Meadows said that, while the fish can often be too bony for their human customers, animal food processing centers can grind up the entire fish — bones and all — for safe use in dog food.
"This seems, just in my head, to be a perfect little merger," he enthused.
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