Roaming in the Mississippi River system, there lays a fish that keeps multiplying, letting no other species from stopping it. It has invaded the natural habitat of the river that reaches from Minnesota to Louisiana, claiming it as its new home. It goes by the names of bighead carp, black carp, grass carp, silver carp, or most commonly known as Asian carp, but now, it will be called Copi.
Copi came from China and was imported into the United States in the 1970s as a method to control the algal blooms in the wastewater treatment plants and aquaculture ponds, in other words, to keep the Southern States’ fish farm retention ponds clean. However, the fish escaped from flooding and accidental releases, allowing them to migrate up the Mississippi River and multiply without any predators to control the population. The trophic pyramid was disturbed, causing the river’s and lake's biodiversity to be filled with Copi rather than a balance of the native species. Even though Asian carp don't eat fish, they can easily out-compete native fish that rely on specific food sources due to their appetite of being able to consume a third of their body weight per day. Some of the species most at risk are ciscos, bloaters, and yellow perch, which are prey to the important native predatory fish, including lake trout and walleye. According to New York Invasive Species Information, some areas in the Mississippi and Illinois River systems, where Copi make up more than 95% of the biomass.
In an attempt to control the population of Asian Carp, managers of states around the Great Lakes decided to increase the harvest of Asian carp. Still, their efforts didn't affect the rapidly growing population. Some tactics that people have said included super-oxygenating the water; creating nanoparticles filled with poison to target them; deploying curtains of bubbles or annoying noise to drive them away; using pheromones to move the fish away or attract them to areas where they can be easily killed; developing “bio bullets” with tiny calibrated doses of poison to kill only them and altering Asian carp eggs so that their offspring are sterile. These ideas were rejected, hence never executed.
The states bordering the Great Lakes created a series of three electrical barriers of underwater electrodes placed across the canal, where they could make a pulsating field of direct electric current in the water to deter the carp from swimming through the canal into Lake Michigan. This method has successfully kept the carp away and protected their $7 billion fish industry. Although it is not 100% effective, there has been no sighting of Copi in the lake.
On June 22, 2022, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources renamed the Asian carp officially be called “Copi” due to the copious quantities of the invasive fish. They wanted to give the Asian carp a more appetizing name to get more people to purchase it for a meal to help reduce the rapidly growing population. Records say that 20-50 million pounds of Copi can be harvested annually from the Illinois River alone.
Another fish that was changed for a more desirable name is the Patagonian Toothfish or Chilean Sea Bass, as it is known in the restaurant. The fish was known to be an ugly, oily fish that lived in the deep cold waters. Now it's known to be rich, melts in the mouth, and pairs up with creamed kale, roasted parsnips, or sautéed carrots. There was also a name change for the Orange Roughy, which initially was called Slimehead. I can imagine looking at a seafood menu and reading the words "Slimehead." It would remind me of when I made slime by myself, where it would stick to everything. Just the thought of eating a slimy thing and having it stick to the roof of my mouth to my tongue just disgusts me. These name changes not only made the fish’s names more appealing but also caused a significant increase in market sales. Consequently, they are being overfished, and the Orange Roughy was added to the endangered list.
This method of getting people to eat more Copi will help reduce the population. However, the overpopulation of Copi doesn’t have a simple solution like eating the way out of the problem. I recall seeing a photo of dozens of Copi jumping out of the river. There were so many jumping fish that the image was almost completely covered. It made me realize how bad and how big the population was. As said, tens of millions of pounds of Copi are being fished yearly, and the issue still remains.
NBC Chicago. (2022, June 22). Great Lakes' Asian carp receives new name, Illinois officials announce. NBC Chicago. from https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/great-lakes-asian-carp-receives-new-name-illinois-officials-announce/2863510/
New Yorkinvasive Species (IS) information. New York Invasive Species Information. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://nyis.info/invasive_species/asian-carp/#:~:text=Native%20fish%20considered%20most%20at,maturation%20areas%20for%20Asian%20carp.
Kelly, D. (2021, November 10). Asian carp control methods. Lake Scientist. from https://www.lakescientist.com/asian-carp-control-methods/
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