 Gov. Pat Quinn announced on Tuesday that the state will team with
Chinese meat processing company Beijing Zhuochen Animal Husbandry
Co. and Illinois-based Big River Fish Corp. to harvest 30 million
pounds of carp from Illinois rivers and waterways.Quinn is hoping
that the public-private partnership will diminish the threat of the
voracious Asian carp, which threatens the ecosystem of the Great
Lakes and its estimated $7 billion commercial and sport fishing
industry.
"If you can't beat them, you eat them," the governor said. "And
that's what the battle is all about. We have too many Asian carp in
the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. We don't want the Asian carp to
get into the Great Lakes."
Under the agreement, Big River will use its fishery at Pearl to
process, package and ship carp to Zhuochen for resale. The carp is a
much more popular culinary fish in China and other parts of Asia
than in the U.S.
The state, through the Illinois Department of Commerce and
Economic Opportunity, will invest $2 million in capital funds to
help Big River retrofit its existing fishery in Pearl, as well as
expand to new production facilities in Pittsfield.
The state estimates that the expanded fishing production will
directly create 61 new jobs and spur growth of 120 other jobs.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has already
contracted with commercial fisherman to start removing Asian carp in
the Illinois River.
"The high quality and great taste of the wild Asian carp from the
state of Illinois has exceeded our expectations," said Lian Chang,
chairman of the Beijing Zhuochen Animal Husbandry, through a
translator. "We are very confident that the market in China for this
Asian carp in Illinois is also going to exceed expectations."
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Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club in Illinois, said
shipping carp to China might help stem the northbound flow of the
fish toward the Great Lakes.
"So, even if there is little chance of fishing them entirely out
of the Illinois River, it may well be possible to make a dent in
their population, and in the migration pressure," Darin said in a
statement. "It also could be another reason to keep cleaning up the
Illinois River, if the nation's most populous country is developing
a taste for fish harvested from it."
The term "Asian carp" refers to several different species of
carp. The bighead carp and silver carp are the two species
associated with the threat to the Great Lakes.
Both species have an average weight of 30 to 40 pounds and are
voracious eaters. Held in captivity in the 1980s, the carp escaped
into the Mississippi and Illinois River systems, crowding out native
species by consuming their food sources and moving north toward the
Great Lakes.
Federal officials installed an electric barrier system in
Romeoville to block Asian carp from entering into Chicago-area
shipping locks and waterways.
But last month, a bighead Asian carp was found in Lake Calumet,
which is connected to the Great Lakes system. The bighead carp is
the first physical specimen found beyond the electric barrier
system.
Commercial fishing crews, state officials and federal officials
are expected to monitor Chicago waterways for Asian carp throughout
this month.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
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