Ecologists often encourage people to forage, catch, and eat invasive species as a method of controlling their populations. The state of Tennessee is taking it a step further: Not only do you get a delicious treat if you catch a silver carp, but the state will also pay you $100, WJHL11 reported.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency partnered with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources on the initiative. Fisheries staff will begin catching carp, marking them with a tag or band, and releasing them to be caught by locals. Anyone who catches a marked carp can claim $100 — sort of like the Willy Wonka golden ticket promotion, but with fish.
Silver carp, a type of Asian carp, is invasive to North America and has proliferated in the American South and Midwest. The fish eat vital zooplankton, outcompeting native fish for food resources and upsetting the delicate balances of the ecosystems it spreads to.
There is a concerted movement underway to increase the invasive carp's popularity as a culinary delicacy, which has included the Illinois Department of Natural Resources attempting to change the name of the fish to the theoretically more appealing "copi." A similar strategy was successfully used to promote the Patagonian toothfish, which became "Chilean sea bass" in the 1990s despite being neither from Chile nor a bass.
Similar methods to deal with invasive carp have been deployed elsewhere, such as in Australia, where an annual competition awards prizes to the people who can catch the most and the largest carp.
Silver carp isn't the only invasive fish you can get money for catching, either. In Maryland, the state's Department of Natural Resources will pay up to $5,000 for schemes to humanely remove invasive catfish and northern snakeheads.
Practically anywhere you go in the United States, there is an invasive fish species that needs eating. In Maine, one chef is highlighting the invasive green crab on his menus.
Not only do these initiatives to catch invasive fish help restore vital ecosystems, but they also provide economic opportunities and preserve natural resources for future generations, contributing to a cleaner, greener planet for all.
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