Copi, formerly known as ‘Asian carp,’ gets $600k awareness campaign

[June 25, 2022]  By Zeta Cross | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The state of Illinois is launching an awareness campaign to entice consumers to try the invasive carp from the Illinois River now known as copi, formerly known as Asian carp.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources kicked off a $600,000 campaign to get Illinois eaters excited about copi, the rebranded Asian carp from the Illinois River that is healthy and sustainable. IDNR wants more fishermen to catch copi and more consumers to start ordering it in restaurants and cooking it at home.

The new name is a play on the word "copious." The 50-100 pound silver copi multiplies quickly.

IDNR's carp rebranding is a last stand in a multiyear campaign to keep the invasive carp from turning Lake Michigan into the world's largest carp pond. The carp are voracious eaters, gobbling up food sources, ruining habitats and crowding out the highly desirable native fish that the Great Lakes' $7 billion fishing industry is known for.

In spite of the best efforts of federal and state governments, the carp are getting perilously close to the Great Lakes.

For years, Dirk Fucik, owner of Dirk's Fish Gourmet Shop in Chicago, has been convincing his customers that they will enjoy eating Asian carp if they give it a try. He told The Center Square that sweet, mild copi, which is highly prized in Asia, tastes better than catfish and tilapia.

"It's not a bottom feeder; it eats plankton," Fucik said.

In blind taste tests, most people cannot distinguish copi from cod.

Fucik and his wife prepare copi in Mexican, Asian and Italian dishes, he said.

"It's like a blank slate," Fucik said.

At Dirk's, grilled carp burgers sell briskly.

"Everybody likes burgers," he said.

Fucik's Cuban-American wife uses ground copi to make Spanish-style fish croquetas (mini fish sticks) that she serves with bechamel sauce. The Fuciks make meatballs with copi, they use it as a substitute for ground beef in pasta Bolognese, and they make sausage out of it.

"When you are done cutting it up, you've got pieces, but they are all different sizes, and they don't look like a nice restaurant filet," Fucik said. "We use it just like hamburger."
 

That's why Dirk's grinds up the copi and sells it in 1-pound containers for $6 apiece, just like hamburger.

Federal and state agencies – including the Army Corps of Engineers – have spent tens of millions of dollars installing carbon monoxide bubble barriers, zapping the carp with electricity, poisoning them, fencing them off and doing whatever else they can to contain the carp and keep them from wreaking havoc in the Great Lakes. In spite of the massive campaigns, the rapidly reproducing carp are relentlessly making their way north. Copi have been caught within 9 miles of Lake Michigan. Encouraging people to catch and eat copi is one more weapon that the state is using in the battle to keep the invasive species at bay.

Not everyone is happy about the taxpayer-funded rebranding campaign.

“As an advocate for the state’s waters, I would rather see IDNR’s limited funds – this budget for this initiative was $600,000 – used to restore the health of Illinois’ rivers so that they served as better fish and wildlife habitat for a broad range of species,” said Robert Hirschfeld, senior water policy specialist at Prairie Rivers Network. “Illinois DNR needs to focus on restoring habitat in and along rivers and reducing pollutant loads rather than guessing at the public’s eating preferences.”