Holy Crap Carp! Startup Illinois Firm Successfully Marketing Invasive Fish Species to China

Ruled an invasive species by the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 2007, the Asian Silver carp was thought to have been introduced into the Midwest's ecosystem after an isolated pond containing them was flooded by the Mississippi River. While the fish doesn't prey on local species, it has a voracious appetite for plankton and no known natural predators in the USA and reproduces quickly, forcing out native species. Moreover, they can grow quite large- up to 20 pounds- and jump out of the water when spooked, knocking over unsuspecting boaters and fishermen.

Wildlife officials have resorted to poison and electrocution to halt the advance of the species to the Great Lakes, where they fear the species could flourish unchecked and force out even more indigenous species and disrupt the food chain.

After a failed attempt to market the fish to markets in China by an Illinois state trade envoy, an American refrigeration supplier selling equipment to Chinese customers named David Shu was approached by a Chinese customer who had heard about the problematic carp in Illinois.

"Why would they kill these great, tasty fish?" the customer asked Shu.

Shu contacted [former Illinois State Trade Director Ross] Harano, who by then was in the private sector. Illinois carp needed a marketing hook, they decided. The "wild-caught" slogan sounded good.

Asian carp have a habit of jumping out of the water, sometimes knocking fishermen from their boats. That nasty habit became a second slogan, "So much energy they jump."

Instead of targeting Chinese housewives, they would target upscale restaurants.

Chinese carp is raised on fish farms and in polluted rivers. It tastes "muddy," says Harano, who says Illinois fish taste better.

Shu and Harano secured a supply from Big River Fish, where both men now work, with Shu representing the company in China.

They interested a Chinese food distributor, who sent a fish expert to the Big River plant in Pearl.

"He pulled a fish out of the package and put the gill in his mouth, Smith said. "'This fish is two days old.' He tasted another one and said, 'This one's fresh — caught today.' He really knew fish."

Fortified by a $2 million grant from the state of Illinois, Smith is now planning to move into an 80,000-square-foot fish processing plant. The number of employees should jump from 12 to 61.

Big River is housed in a small former chicken slaughterhouse. These days, tons of carp arrive at the plant's door, are gutted and sent to a freezer. There, temperatures of 30 below zero and a 20-mile-per-hour wind freeze them solid.

[OK- the $2 million grant going to a former state official for a startup smacks of more than just a little of crony capitalism, but aisde from that, I thought it was a pretty good idea- NANESB!]

The 30 million pound order from Big River Fish co seems to be part of a trend of American companies managing to find a niche to serve Chinese markets and manufacturers after losing ground over the last decade.

Although the invasive Silver Carp seems to be finding a its place among China's noveau riche as a freshly served delicacy, there is no word yet on whether wealthy or famous Chinese such as Gong Li (above, in modified cheongsam at a movie premiere- yay cheongsams!) have given their seal of approval

Mississippi Flooding Update: More Flood Gates Opened at Morganza Spillway; Mississippi River Closed to Shipping

AP Photo

The Army corps of Engineers announced that they had opened a 16th lock on the 125-bay Morganza spillway on Wednesday, sending an estimated 108,000 cubic feet of water per second gushing through the flood control structure.

26 parishes (counties in Louisiana) have been declared disaster areas, with E. Felicicana, LaFourche, Franklin and Richland parishes being added recently. Parts of St. Martin's Parish- just east of Lafayette, LA- are under a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday in advance of the approaching flood waters.

Further downstream (but north of New Orleans), the Corps of Engineers said they had opened up nearly 330 of the 350 bays on the Bonne Carre spillway, sending water from the Mississippi River rushing through at a rate of 316,000 cubic feet per second into Lake Pontchartrain.

To the north, the US Coast Guard had closed down the Mississippi River around Natchez, MS to shipping earlier this week over concerns about additional strain on the levees from barges and river traffic. However, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that the Coast Guard was allowing barges loaded with coal, timber, iron and steel to pass through at the minimum speed.

Local officials on both sides of the river from Mississippi town of Natchez breathed a sigh of relief as the Coast Guard and NOAA revised their estimate for the floodwater's crest from 63 feet down to 62 .5 feet. The crest is expected to be reached on Saturday- the previous high water mark dates back to 1937 at 58.4 feet.

Pat over at And So it Goes in Shreveport has much much more.

UPDATED 5/15: US Army Corps of Engineers Opens Up Massive Floodgates Along Mississippi River

UPDATE 5/15: Although residing in a part of Louisiana relatively unaffected by the Morganza floodwall being opened up, blogger Pat Austin of And So it Goes in Shreveport has been updating frequently througout the weekend.

Louisiana reigonal news aggregator The Dead Pelican also came reccomended by a trusted source during the Deepwater Horizon spill last year and should have ample links to local coverage around Baton Rouge and the Morganza floodway.


For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Army Corps of Engineers opened up the first of the 125 massive floodgates of the Morganza spillway to relive pressure on a number of older downriver flood control structures protecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans from a swollen Mississippi River.


The decision to open up the spillway to protect New Orleans and Baton Rouge means that towns throughout the Atchafalaya Basin west of Baton Rouge are bracing for rising floodwaters, with some communities and businesses getting ready to evacuate or erect levees of their own. Elsewhere in the basin, farmers have been working around the clock to harvest their wheat crop before the rising waters from the Morganza Flood wall. There are an estimated 15,256 acres of farmland throughout the basin and another 2,853 acres located in the fore bay area between the floodwall and Mississippi River.

While farmers would be able to harvest some of the wheat, other crops in the basin such as corn, soybeans, sugarcane and rice would be considered a complete writeoff in the floods.

For the past two weeks, the Mississppi River had crested past flood levels as two major storm systems dumped considerable rainfall on the Mississippi and Missouri River headwaters in addition to the melting snow.

Earlier this month, the Army Corps of Engineers blew up an earthen levee in Sikeston, MO to prevent further damage to the town of Cairo, IL. Since then, floodwaters have struck western Kentucky and Tennessee (including Memphis) and Mississippi, surpassing record flood levels set back during 1937.