Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Asian carp have reached Cincinnati

New fish packs punch
07/01/2012
Dayton Daily News


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A new fish species arrived this week in the Ohio River, but don't spend too much time searching for it in the water.

Chances are good it will find you first.

The Asian silver carp, an invasive species imported decades ago from Southeast Asia, is known for leaping up to eight feet out of the water when startled by fishermen, water skiers, pleasure boaters and anyone else unfortunate enough to disturb it.

Dozens or even hundreds of the skittish fish have been known to jump at the same time, turning themselves into 20-pound missiles capable of breaking boat equipment and the occasional nose.

“They have pretty solid heads,” said Jeff Thomas, the biological programs manager for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission. “I've been hit by them. I've been hit everywhere.”

The discovery of the silver carp this week at the mouth of the Great Miami River in far western Hamilton County is a first in the Cincinnati region, and biologists say their arrival is bad news for everyone. They say the carp not only will spread along the Ohio River, but up tributaries such as the Great Miami, the Licking River and others.

The carp invasion joins a growing list of foreign species, such as the zebra mussel and the emerald ash borer, that have wreaked havoc since coming to America.

Global travel and trade has made it easy for species to jump from their native habitats to new ones, and the silver carp have adapted exceptionally well to life in the American South and Midwest.

With the sighting in Ohio, the fish now has been found in 16 states, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“You guys are going to be sad,” said James Gar-vey, director of the Center for Fisheries at Southern Illinois University. “It could be a real problem.”

Although silver carp are stars on YouTube, where they can be seen bursting from the water as boats zip by, they have been a scourge to both humans and native fish species for decades.

They spawn as often as three times a year and one female can produce millions of eggs.

They crowd out other species and are voracious eaters, consuming so much plankton that the food chain gets thrown out of whack.

Other plankton eaters, including larval fish, are left with less food, and fish that feed on those species have fewer and skinnier fish to hunt.

Meanwhile, the Asian silver carp has few predators, in part because no North American fishes are large enough to eat an adult silver carp.

Silver carp, one of several varieties commonly referred to as Asian carp, arrived in North America decades ago when catfish farmers imported them to eat pond algae.

It was inevitable...

Yes it was, but my denial was blissful.

Like the snakeheads here.

Don't believe everything you read about how they were established in the US. This story is incorrect in this fact. They failed to mention Bu and Ba who worked for the gubment down south who actually imported them for waste water duty. They just blame the fish farmers.

JKB,

I was always under the impression the problem was the fish escaped a flooded fish farm.

Like Johnson Grass that was brought here as the perfect large grass to feed cattle......except that cattle wouldn't eat it.

And then there is kudzu......

Tell a cajun the asian carp is good eatin and we'll have hundreds of recipes and a shortage. (thank you Mr. Breaux for that coonass logic)

Umm as a cattle producer, I will tell you that cattle will choose johnson grass over anything else in the pasture, to the point that they graze it into oblivion. But... Your point is well taken.

While they are grazing it they also do a pretty good job of spreading the seeds.

That is true Cecil, there was one escape in 1996.

Studies suggest that they were introduced into the Mississippi Basin prior to 1990. Much earlier than the fish farm incident.

If the officials had not imported them, this would not have happened. Oh well, that is the way it is now.

Gotta love the guberment. It's like the fox guarding the hen house. Or like a guard that is easily bribed or falls asleep.

Around West Central IL the Asian Carp story has recently taken a more positive spin...there's a company in process right now of opening a cannery near Grafton IL - specifically designed for these fish. They're going to export the product to Asia, where the fish is considered a delicacy. They're hoping to employ 30-50 at the cannery not counting the fisherman themselves that supply the 'raw materials'....

http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/fish-70748-products-asian.html

There's also a pretty big push around here by the DNR folks to try to encourage us locals to eat them...apparently it's a fairly white meat with not terribly fishy flavor. Haven't tried it myself yet.

Bighead carp showed up in central Missouri after the two big floods in 1993 and 1995. By 1996, people fishing in the Missouri River washouts around Lexington were snagging bigheads that weighed 30 pounds apiece or more, and there were literally millions of small bighead carp lying dead in the fields between Columbia and Boonville after the flood waters dropped in 1995.

i read something a while ago about the asian practice of selling live fish, asian carp have been sold live in asian markets prior to the 90's..
for good karma a person would buy 2 fish, and release one....

That is how most biologists believe the northern snakehead was introduced into the Potomac River. However, unlike the northern snakehead which seems to be having little affect on the fishery, not so much the case with the Asian carps.

If the other Asian carps taste like grass carp, then I imagine they have very good flesh. The grass carp that I have eaten have been excellent, though bony. Canning will solve that problem. I am glad somebody is making lemonade out of lemons, but it is only a drop in the bucket. As a native fish enthusiast, who likes to look at the smallest of the non-gamefish, this really saddens me. The little Miami is my local river, and has really made a recent comeback. I have found mountain madtom populations so great that the state has reduced their status from endangered to threatened. The variegate darter has made a huge comeback in this river as well. I dread that what we have gained may start backsliding.

I heard that they taste great, the problem for the American market is that they're too bony to filet and you have to chunk out the flesh. Can anyone confirm?

At least with white amur, that is the case. Would be better cooked whole, and forked off.

I have had smoked grass carp and it was good!!

Luckily we dont have asian's (carp) in South Dakota yet.

"Luckily we dont have asian's (carp) in South Dakota yet."

Unfortunately, you do.

http://m.capjournal.com/mobile/news/asia...1a4bcf887a.html

I didn't think smoking grass carp was legal in the US unless for medicinal purposes??

its only legal in a few states

I'll be in the market for a Crossbow, when they infest the Muskegon River!

Hello all! Long time lurker, first post, because Omaha pointed me to this thread and it's actually something I have knowledge of.

Silver and bighead carp, commonly known as Asian carp are in fact very tasty. They are nothing like common carp. The meat is white and flaky. There is a strip of red meat that needs to be removed first, but is easy to do as you take the fillet off the skin.

The biggest issue is indeed the bones. You fillet silvers and bigheads like you would any other fish, but the filet will have Y bones in them. On fish under 10lbs, chunk out the fillet cutting in between every 3rd or 4th bone and cook as normal. Once cooked, the bones come out very easy. Either eat around them, or pull them out. These bones are much larger than most fish. For fish 10lbs and bigger, you can, with a bit of knife work, make the fillet boneless. It's hard to explain, but there are some great videos on Youtube by LSUagcenter that show how much better than I could try and describe.

Commercial fishing (netting) is the best way to harvest these fish. Second (and the method of my wife and I) is with a bow. It's a sobering site to see a school consisting of 100's of fish on the surface as the feed. Being filter feeders, they do tremendous damage to a fishery by destroying the food chain from the bottom up, if they are present in large numbers. Fortunately for flooded lakes and ponds that have been invaded by Asian carp by flooding along rivers, they will not have any significant reproduction as they moving water to spawn.

Last note, you do not want to be hit by an airborne silver carp, it hurts! I've only been hit a few times, but it's no fun at all. Oddly enough, in China, silver carp don't jump like they do here when boat traffic is present.

Alex

Thanks for chiming in Alex. Thought this might be right up your alley.