State officials in Arkansas are incentivizing residents to catch and eat Asian carp, an invasive species that has wreaked havoc on the local marine environment for years.
What's happening?
As explained by KTLO earlier this month, Asian carp were originally imported nearly 50 years ago to help clean vegetation from ponds. They have since migrated up the Mississippi River and are "eating everything they could find and now threatening the sport fishing industry in Lake Michigan."
Flooding and improper management were named as the reasons the fish escaped the ponds to waterways. Their northward movement brought them into the Illinois River and now the Chicago River.
To help combat the issue, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission offers an 18-cent-per-pound bounty on carp. The agency also contracted professional netters in 2021, and they were netting more than 350,000 pounds of carp weekly from the White and Arkansas rivers while working four days a week.
However, the immeasurable amount of these fish presents an uphill battle.
"We want to eradicate them," Jimmy Barnett, a fish biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the agency's invasive species coordinator, told KTLO. "But we're hit with a bazillion of them."
Why is this important?
Asian carp have an insatiable appetite, and like most invasive species, they pose a major threat to the local environment.
"Officials drug their feet on this," said Dave Thomas, a commercial fisherman from Forrest City who has seen the glut of carp hurt his business. "There's no fixing it. These fish are here to stay. If something doesn't happen, we're going to lose all our native fish."
Eating invasive species is an eco-friendly way to help manage and reduce their populations while enjoying unique meals. More states are encouraging residents to help control invasive species by eating them.
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For example, Washington state officials have implored residents to forage and eat Himalayan blackberries, a notorious invasive species on the West Coast. In Virginia, officials plan to expand infrastructure for processing and freezing invasive blue catfish to make them more marketable and easier to consume.
KTLO noted that carp "is considered a delicacy" in China, Thailand, Korea, and Japan and called the fish "the most-eaten fish in the world." The hope is that Arkansas residents become more open to adding carp to their diets to help stop their rapid reproduction.
What's being done about this?
Arkansas isn't alone in its quest to eliminate carp through an "if you can't beat them, eat them" method. In Illinois, the Department of Natural Resources rebranded the species as "copi" in hopes of generating interest in eating them, and restaurants have provided suggestions for recipes for copi tacos, copi burgers, and smoked copi dip.
"The 'carp' name is so harsh that people won't even try it," Kevin Irons, assistant fisheries chief for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, told the Associated Press, per KTLO. "But it's healthy, clean, and it really tastes pretty darn good."
Arkansas officials know that there isn't a quick solution to convincing residents to chow down on carp, so Thomas said he's exploring the idea of using the fish for fertilizer and dog food. He intends to meet with local investors to establish fertilizer processing facilities and start selling the product to farmers.
"The only way to control the fish is through commercial fishing," Thomas said. "But there's no money in it. We've got to find other ways."
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