Japan in culinary offensive to stop spread of US fish


Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Monday November 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


The keepers of Japan's biggest lake have called on the public to join in one final push to eat the bluegill fish - possibly the most reviled creature in Japan - into extinction before it does the same to threatened native species.
The bluegill's steady destruction of indigenous freshwater fish, almost 50 years after it was touted as a vital source of protein for an undernourished population, is being treated as an ecological emergency and has provoked a rare public show of contrition from Emperor Akihito. As crown prince, Akihito received bluegill as a gift from the then mayor of Chicago, Richard J Daley, during a visit to the US in 1960.

"Bluegills are the ones I brought back from the US almost 50 years ago and donated to a fishers agency research institute," the emperor said earlier this month. "In those days we had great expectations of raising them for food. My heart aches to see it has turned out like this."
Now authorities in Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture want anglers to stop releasing the fish and instead eat them. Biwa, the world's third-oldest lake, is home to about 1,250 tonnes of bluegill; nationwide, the population is estimated at 25m fish.

Though considered a delicacy in Illinois and other parts of the US, it has struggled to find favour among Japanese diners. The Shiga government recommends marinating bluegill or serving it deep-fried with a chilli sauce garnish.

A local university will soon start selling bluegill burgers, and one firm is experimenting with a version of funazushi - a local delicacy of salted crucian carp and rice that is left to ferment for three years.

The fish brought back by the emperor were donated to research centres, but many escaped to wipe out the royal bitterling and bring other native species to the brink of extinction. They have infested waterways across Japan, including the moat of the imperial palace in Tokyo. A multimillion-yen campaign to turn them into fertiliser and chicken feed has had limited success.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2217425,00.html

Of course those of us here are knowledgable enough to know a fishing marathon won't eliminate these prolific breeders. Killing off the entire population is the only way to go.

How do you kill only one species?Id like to wipe out the crappie in mine

You don't -- especially if it's a prolific species like bluegills, crappies, carp etc. Part of the problem is even if you did catch all of the ones in the pond that are large enough for you to hook, what about the fry and fingerlings that were too small for your hook?

You have two choices: Start over by draining the pond and/or using rotenone, or manage the pond the best you can by removing as many crappie as you can, and having sufficient predators to keep them in check. IMHO with crappies and small pond it's a losing battle. Sorry to sound so pesimistic. Maybe some of the experts here can chime in.

The Japanese are extremely fortunate they aren't afflicted by the giant CONDZILLA strain of BG. If not housed in custom fish condos and regularly fed high protein fish food, they will destroy the city!

In Japan, LMB fishing is a major interest.

I suppose they don't need BG as the backbone of the LMB forage chain.

Must be all the sushi...

Tom G, don't know how big your pond is but in my small pond which is a little over 1/2 acre and I can easily control my crappie population with a trap. I trap out several hundred every year and this seems to work. Some day I may wish I'd never put them in but I think they have become my primary predator fish and things seem to be working.

They are trying to get rid of the LMB also.

I have had the Condzilla strain of bluegills bite on the cage walls. I'm not making this up!

ewest, if you can point me to any articles on that, I'd like to read up on it.

Sunil,

I saw an article on the bass eating their prize Koi but I don't know where I saw it.

Sunil try this one.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQK/is_3_10/ai_n13778800

Amazing. Maybe we need to import some of those bitterling. They must be some hard fighting and good eating fish to be preferred over the BG.

I think I know how the Japanese feel. I was amused by a video showing a Britisher catching come carp-like fish as though they were the greatest fish in the world.

I guess there's no use trying to reconcile cultural differences.

Bluegill are considered trash fish in parts of this country too i.e. parts of the northeast. A taxidermist friend in Idaho tells they throw 10 lb. walleye up on the bank that they catch in the big rivers. I guess everybody has different ideas on fish species.

But I'm still not crazy about those green sunfish.

Just kidding!