You've got to be kidding, leaping carp?

CINCINNATI POST

From staff and wire reports

October 23, 2006

 

PHOTO: Silver carp, like this one in the Missouri River, were brought to the United States from Asia about 30 years ago.

Associated Press

 

ST. LOUIS - For years, boaters and fishermen on many midwestern rivers have battled a fish with a bizarre behavior: silver carp that launch themselves into the air, jumping into boats and often slapping the unsuspecting upside the head.

 

"They can break your nose or knock you out of the boat," said Duane Chapman, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

The carp, brought to the United States from Asia by private fish farmers 30 years ago, are more than a nuisance to people. They and their non-jumping relative, the bighead carp, compete with native fish for food such as paddlefish, bigmouth buffalo and gizzard shad.

 

They have established themselves in parts of the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois rivers.

 

Silver carp are rare in the Cincinnati area of the Ohio River, according to biologists with the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.

 

"They're pretty abundant in the lower part of the river around Paducah, but they're not common up here," said biologist Jeff Thomas. "We did see one last year around the Markland Dam. Other than that, I haven't heard any reports of them around Cincinnati."

 

However, that could change in a few years.

 

"They seem to be gradually working their way upstream," said Thomas. "If water conditions are right for them up here, we may see them in a couple of years."

 

Thomas said the river temperature is cooler and the water is clearer in the Cincinnati area than it is down river.

 

"We're not really sure which factors are most critical for silver carp," said Erich Emery, another ORSANCO biologist. "Only time will tell if the conditions here are conducive to them. They do seem to like to breed in sluggish, backwater areas and there are more of those areas down river than here."

 

There's little profit for commercial fishermen in harvesting the fish. But the St. Louis Zoo may be the answer to that dilemma.

 

Rob Hayward, a University of Missouri-Columbia fisheries researcher, and Chapman are part of a team of researchers seeking to create a carp product to feed to zoo animals.

 

"We want to make good food of bad fish," said Ellen Dierenfeld, staff nutritionist at the zoo.

 

The zoo, one of the nation's largest, annually purchases as feed more than 60 tons of fish - mostly marine species such as mackerel, herring and capelin. Prices range from 30 cents to 70 cents per pound, and zoo officials believe they could save money by feeding the carp to animals.

 

Dierenfeld believes up to 25 percent of the fish feed could be replaced with carp.

 

"This would help reduce pressures on marine fisheries and help solve the Asian carp problem," she said.

 

And if the more than 200 accredited U.S. zoos did likewise, commercial fishermen would have a reason to harvest the nuisance fish.

 

University of Missouri-Columbia food scientist Andrew Clarke has developed a "carp cake" made from raw, ground fish, a process that allows different size feed for different animals. Dierenfeld said vitamins and mineral supplements could be added to the carp cake.

 

Dierenfeld hopes to begin a pilot feeding study with penguins, sea lions and pelicans by next spring. Other zoos may also participate, she said.

 

The Cincinnati Zoo is not currently a candidate for the program.

 

"We've heard of it, but we have no plans for it at this time," said Cincinnati Zoo spokeswoman Barbara Risch..

 

Asian carp were imported in the 1970s as a way to control algae and plankton in fish ponds. But during the floods of 1993 and 1995, the fish made their way into the wild.

 

It is believed the silver carp jump out of the water as a flight response when disturbed - possibly by the sound of boat motors.

 

The high-jumping fish can be so dangerous that Missouri Department of Conservation staff wear head gear for protection while motoring on fast-moving boats. Some state boats have protective netting around the driver area and across the bow.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month published a proposed rule to ban the import and interstate transport of silver carp.

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061023/NEWS01/610230363&template=printpicart

Deadly gatorade bottles and fish that smack you in the face...what is this world coming to...

^Don't forget naked prosecutors ;)

This article grossly understates the negative impact of these asian carp.  They actually deplete ALL the nutrients in the water, even microscopic stuff, making it uninhabitable and killing off other species of fish.  If the fish die, so to birds and water mammals that feed on them.  The potential ecological impact of this fish on the Great Lakes ecosystem can hardly be overstated.

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5542199

I don't trust fish.  http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060724/NEWS/107240112.

University of Missouri-Columbia food scientist Andrew Clarke has developed a "carp cake" made from raw, ground fish, a process that allows different size feed for different animals. Dierenfeld said vitamins and mineral supplements could be added to the carp cake.

 

... coming soon to a school cafeteria near you, deep-fried!  :-P

 

Here's a video of these guys...please ignore the Today Show BS

 

There's actually a lot more exotic stuff in the Mississippi River system than most people know about.  The first site of a gar is pretty startling, and there is nothing that can prepare you for the mayflies.  The mayflies were apparently brought up from the Amazon and especially love Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley in western Kentucky.  I had to work in the swarms, it's like being in a phone booth filled with flying insects but the phone booth never ends.  They fly in between your glasses and your eyes and when you take off your clothes at the end of the day you find crushed mayflies all over your body that flew in somehow and you squashed while working and didn't even realize it.  There is no rhyme or reason for their movements, they just fly around as drunkenly as possible.  I have seen those carp jump but have never seen them jump as high as they are talking about here.