Day 127 Alien Invasion

I love to learn - all sorts of things at random times.  I spent nearly three hours yesterday listening to a master salesman give a presentation on persuasion.

I also spent a little down time watching a show produced by the National Geographic Society.  Some of you may be familiar with Monster Fish, the show hosted by Zeb Hogan.  The show has been on for at least four years, so it must be doing reasonably well.

The episode I watched last night was about carp. These carp came to the US from China back in the 70's. They are big head carp and Asian carp. Personally, I've never been a fan of any type of carp, and these are no different.


However, I did learn a bit about them.  You see, they have become an invasive species.  What this means is they are not a native North American species, and their survival rate is so high, they are crowding out the species that are supposed to live in our waters. Unfortunately, these fish were invited here by scientists who were looking for a way to control algae in wastewater treatment plants.  

These fish seem to thrive in American waters, especially the Illinois river where there are an estimated two million silver carp.  They can easily grow to five feet or more and can weigh fifty pounds. Two million carp equate to about 5,000 per kilometer of river.  A lot of fish.

Silver carp are also referred to as flying carp since they are capable of jumping ten feet into the air when startled.  On the Illinois river, they are startled often, to the point that recreational activities on the Illinois have ceased, and bona fide fishermen are not able to catch native species like bass.

In China, there is a shortage of these fish. Not so here.  There are so many carp ruining businesses along the Illinois that the town of Bath sponsors an annual fishing contest (The Redneck Fishing Contest) to see which team catches the most fish. Once caught, the fish are used for fish meal. Here are the rules:

The rules are simple, "catch" as many asian carp as you can in the heat, with one handed nets, your hands (be careful) or simply by being on the water and having them jump in your boat. No Fishing Poles are allowed! You will need something to keep your catch, large trash bags or something to able to transfer your fish off the boat to the couting area. It is illegal to throw any of the Asian Carp back into the river once they've been caught. PAYOUTS: Each heat will award 4 Places for the most fish caught and 1 best costume in that heat. 


Part of the reason the carp are so plentiful is plenty of food for them to survive on.  These carp also have no natural predators in the rivers, and can reproduce up to four times a year.  Right now, man is the only thing standing in the way of these fish and an entrance into the St. Lawrence Waterway which is mainly comprised of the Great Lakes.  The carp are literally just south of Chicago.

The Great Lakes has been invaded before. Years ago, Zebra mussels attached themselves to the bottoms of ocean going vessels and found a receptive home in Lake Michigan.  They, too, had no predators to speak of at the time.  The mussels became a serious problem when they began attaching themselves to water intakes.

It took a lot of effort to get that population controlled, and in the meantime, a fish called the lake sturgeon emerged to feed off the mussels.

Controlling the carp from getting into Lake Michigan has been a major project for Illinois.  Unlike the people of Bath, others are working to deter the fish by electroshocking them from crossing a particular "line in the sand."

It doesn't seem like there is much of a market for these carp in the U.S. (people think they are too bony), so using them as food seems fairly out of the question.

The boating and water recreation businesses in Illinois have had a significant impact.  The size and jumping ability of these carp make it dangerous to enjoy these pursuits. Even the fishing tournament recommends you wear protective gear because of the jumping ability of these large foreigners.

Black-footed ferrets were brought here from Europe to control a different pest problem, and then became the problem themselves. What started out as a "good idea" has now created a bunch of problems.

Seems to me like we should all take a good, hard look at long term effects and worse case scenarios before we do anything rash. The actions of one person can echo up a river and change the environment if we don't use caution.

If we don't learn from what history has taught us, we are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over. Let's learn and apply.