Turning Asian carp into a commodity: Think about it

On the surface a plan by

Illinois to commercially net invasive Asian carp, a pending mega-threat to the Great Lakes, and ship them to China for food sounds like a win-win deal.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced the scheme last week amid great fanfare, but think again: Ever seen a business invest millions of dollars and hire people with a goal of putting itself out of business? Ever seen a farmer sell all his cows for beef or all his seeds for market?

By turning bighead and silver carp into a commodity, Illinois is unleashing market forces that will sustain carp populations, not eliminate them.

Governor Quinn admitted that this is to be a long-term gig, saying this at a news conference: "Today's agreement is one of the most aggressive efforts to address the Asian carp problem, and is a critical step to long-term economic sustainability and the success of the commercial fishing industry."

The short version is Illinois is entering into an agreement with Chinese meat processing company Beijing Zhuochen Animal Husbandry Company and Big River Fisheries in Pearl, Ill.

Big River will process, package, and ship the fish to Zhuochen for resale in international markets where the fish is said to be a delicacy. Uh huh. The company is expected to harvest at least 30 million pounds of fish for the purpose of this agreement by the end of 2011.

This first-of-its-kind partnership, the state proclaims, will help enhance the commercial fishing industry, create approximately 180 jobs, and relieve pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' electric barrier system designed to stop fish from moving farther toward Lake Michigan, says the state.

It is to invest $2 million in capital funds to help Big River retrofit its existing facility, increase its processing capacity, and expand to new production facilities in Pittsfield, which will create 61 new jobs and 120 indirect jobs. Commercial fishermen, contracted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, have already started removing Asian carp in the Illinois River where populations exist.

Admittedly, catching the carp and shipping them back to Asia as food is at least finding a use for them. You don't see them being substituted into filet-of-fish sandwiches at American fast-food emporiums, do you? So the Chinese must have broader palates that accommodate what is euphemistically called the "wild, natural" taste of Asian carp. Want fries with that?

One wonders why the Chinese just don't net their own carp instead of wasting all that energy catching them here, processing them, and shipping them there. Carp there should be as prolific as they are here, so there should be plenty to go around. Bad as buying berries grown in Chile and flying them to market here on a 747.

It says here that this latest carp gimmick is a distraction, a sideshow from the real issue - keeping the damnable things out of the Great Lakes, where they could wreak havoc on a food web that forms the base for fisheries that are worth $7 billion a year. That means re-establishing the ecological separation between the Great Lakes and Illinois/Mississippi river systems.

Other news last week spoke of Indiana's aggressive action in trying to assure that the Wabash River watershed stays separated from the Maumee River watershed at Fort Wayne, which is just a 130-mile beeline from Lake Erie, the most productive of the Great Lakes.

Erie produces more fish than all the other lakes combined, and its western basin - no surprise to Ohio anglers - may be the finest nursery in the world for the likes of highly valued walleye, yellow perch, and smallmouth bass. It also may be the potentially finest nursery for an explosion of Asian carp, should they gain a foothold there.

Although the Wabash and Maumee basins drain in opposite directions and have no direct connection under normal conditions, their waters do mix under certain flood conditions.

Asian carp are said to have made it to within 20 miles of Fort Wayne up the Wabash, and the state quickly determined that a 705-acre wetland called Eagle Marsh, which straddles a natural geographic divide created by glacial movement during the ice age, is a possible pathway for Asian carp passage to the Maumee.

Recognizing that it will take time to raise a permanent barrier to protect watershed migration of carp, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources called together the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture/Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Allen County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Little River Wetlands Project that manages Eagle Marsh.

As a result, the IDNR will install mesh fencing across a section of the marsh, creating a barrier against passage of Asian carp between the Wabash and Maumee drainage basins.

The fencing will be substantial enough to withstand floodwaters but will be designed so it does not increase flood elevations and cause property damage. The Corps of Engineers will provide design guidance on the fencing. The goal is to have the fencing installed this summer. Additional monitoring will be conducted and more aggressive action taken if the threat warrants.

So, way to go, Hoosiers.

In yet another development, Congress may stop short of trying to enact a law aimed at keeping the carp out of the lakes.

Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow told the Detroit News that she's working with fellow lawmakers from the Great Lakes region on "several strategies," including pushing the Army Corps of Engineers to accelerate its study on how best to separate the Mississippi River and Great Lakes watersheds and begin work on the ecological separation.

"We might not need full legislative action," Stabenow said after a Wednesday hearing on Asian carp before the Senate Subcommittee on Water and Power that she chairs. "Right now, we're in a situation where we have to be continuously monitoring. But we need a permanent solution."

Stabenow said she and Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) and other Illinois officials agreed a permanent solution for separating the Mississippi and Lake Michigan was necessary.

But disagreement remains on temporary moves to the resolution, like closing the locks and canals surrounding Chicago that connect the two watersheds, because of concerns it could interrupt lake-based trade and commerce.

Last and not least, the White House appears to be listening to the pleas of Gov. Ted Strickland and Attorney General Richard Cordray. On July 8 they appealed for an emergency carp summit, to be held by tomorrow.

The governor's office learned Friday afternoon that the Obama Administration plans to appoint a "carp czar" soon, to be followed by that emergency summit, all within 30 days. Noted Amanda Wurst, a Strickland spokesman, "we're willing to work with that schedule." Stay tuned to station KARP.

Contact Steve Pollick at:

spollick@theblade.com

or 419-724-6068.