# Why NOT to release fish into the wild



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Looks like the Asian/Silver Carp Issue is still moving up the line

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35352580/ns/us_news-environment/


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yarg i've been watching this carp thing for a few years and its just so scary at how nothing seems to stop them, or rather... seems to work but they keep working their way back into the system by other means.. 

Why can't we farm these guys?? Wouldn't this be a great business for someone to just spend time harvesting them from the water?


----------



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

maybe... could be a new item in fish food LOL


----------



## Tbird (Oct 5, 2009)

KnaveTO said:


> Looks like the Asian/Silver Carp Issue is still moving up the line
> 
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35352580/ns/us_news-environment/


I don't think you could find a place where it would be easier to catch fish then where that video was!! But you definitely couldn't go too fast on that river, might take a carp in the head!!

BTW...good seeing you again last night Ross!


----------



## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Does a carp even taste good?


----------



## Tbird (Oct 5, 2009)

gucci17 said:


> Does a carp even taste good?


I'm guessing no, otherwise there would be tons of people fishing it there.


----------



## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

lol that's true...

I'm sure third world countries would benefit from this. Too bad the costs associated by it would never be subsidized by the governments.


----------



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Tbird said:


> I don't think you could find a place where it would be easier to catch fish then where that video was!! But you definitely couldn't go too fast on that river, might take a carp in the head!!
> 
> BTW...good seeing you again last night Ross!


There ARE videos of people getting clocked in the head by those fish... is nasty!

Was good bumping into you yesterday as well.


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

gucci17 said:


> Does a carp even taste good?


Not really - tastes muddy or silty. But lots of peoples eat it - pretty much all Asian peoples eat in one form or another.

Europeans eat carp too. Apparently the English eat it (not surprising considering how other English foods tatse). A few English ladies came into the fish market I worked at at Christmas time for live carp, claiming it was delicious.


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Oddly the first thing that came to mind was air bombing with the jumping carp to feed the local wildlife. Just fly by carpet bombing. If they're they much of a pest and holy crap that many in the water I'm assuming they breed like rabbits and grow fast to some degree? If so either use it for edible food, grind it up and soil cook it for rich compost for cheap or make it into fish food or something.


----------



## bae (May 11, 2007)

ameekplec. said:


> Not really - tastes muddy or silty. But lots of peoples eat it - pretty much all Asian peoples eat in one form or another.
> 
> Europeans eat carp too. Apparently the English eat it (not surprising considering how other English foods tatse). A few English ladies came into the fish market I worked at at Christmas time for live carp, claiming it was delicious.


Carp is popular with people from eastern Europe, too, where there's a long tradition of low tech carp farming in ponds and castle moats. A number of eastern European immigrants I've met are boggled at the huge carp you can catch at the outflow of hydro plants, and there's no restrictions on what you can catch. In parts of Europe you have to register in advance for the right to fish a small stretch of shore for a few hours, so they can hardly believe how Canadians ignore this bounty of free fish.

I've got some eastern European ancestry and I remember my great-aunts preparing carp and other fresh water fish by cutting them into chunks and boiling them with carrots and onions and vinegar and peppercorns and bay leaf. Then they put it in a jar or crock and chill it. You eat it cold, and the broth forms a clear jelly. It's quite good, and the vinegar removes the muddy taste. You can also grind it up and cook the fishballs similarly, but I don't remember how they managed that.


----------



## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

These things are in Toronto. Tonnes of them. If you're ever free in April or may at dawn, go down to Bluffer's Park (though the enclosed pond system has significantly less carp now) or, better yet, go to Rouge park (at the end of Lawrence Ave, going east), it turns north. Just follow it to it's termination-- a park with a giant pond to your left, and lake ontario under a bridge to your right. In that pond you will find absolutely massive carp spawning in shallow water. They are the size of a small dog- easily three feet long some of them.


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

hum, who would have thought people would love carp so much.

There's a dish I remember from my childhood called funasushi where you take a carp (well a particular species) and salt it, then smother it in rice and let it ferment. Smells terrible, and is ridiculously salty, but pretty tasty.

Anyways, don't release carp. Eat it.


----------



## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

ameekplec. said:


> hum, who would have thought people would love carp so much.
> 
> There's a dish I remember from my childhood called funasushi where you take a carp (well a particular species) and salt it, then smother it in rice and let it ferment. Smells terrible, and is ridiculously salty, but pretty tasty.
> 
> Anyways, don't release carp. Eat it.


Well said. Best Win supermarket on Cherry St has live carp on sale right now.


----------



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

If the carp they are selling is either Asian or Silver... then they are illegal as they are banned in Canada


----------



## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Not sure what kind the fins have a reddish tinge and they are not overly tall bodied


----------



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Here is a list of invasive carp

http://www.invadingspecies.com/Invaders.cfm?A=Page&PID=20

and a news article from last month

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/l...market-charged-for-carrying-live-bighead-carp


----------



## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

^Live carp pictured in bottom row.


----------



## blackninja (Dec 3, 2009)

The Asian carp are brought in live from the US. The US introduced the Asian carp into their lakes to control vegetation and they very effectively did so because of their voracious appetites but they also proved dangerous to the local fish. They are pretty smart fish and outwitted every attempt to contain them even getting through electronic fences. The biggest threat they pose is really to sport fishing because 90% of our fish for the table come from fish farms and imports from Asia. Asia supplies 90% of the worlds demand for fish. Carp is a good source for protein and live fish always taste better than frozen fish when cooked and rated higher as a dietary source than poutine or junk food.


----------



## Burtess (Jan 17, 2007)

The carp most of you are talking about are the common carp, Cyprinus carpio.

To clear up the confusion:

The "Asian" carp spreading northward are the bighead carp, Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, and the silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix.

These fish were imported in the '70s by catfish farms to control suspended algae in the farm ponds. During the large floods in the '90s, many of these ponds overflowed their banks and the fish were released into the Mississipi River drainage. They have been making their way north ever since.
The Mississipi connects to the Great Lakes through the Illinois River (Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal).

The problem with these Asian carp is they are filter feeders, and can consume somewhere near 2/3 of their weight in plankton each day. They breed so prolifically and "filter" the water so effectively, that they diminish the basic foods of native fry fish. When plentiful they effectively remove the bottom of the food chain.

Also, since they are filter feeders, they are not a species that can be angled for with much success.

Burt


----------



## blackninja (Dec 3, 2009)

If you watched videos of the carps jumping out of water and torpedoing the speed boaters. They appear to have the advantage of taking anglers out. We don't find things sporting when the other fella strikes back.


----------



## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

doesn't it make them easier to catch if they are jumping out of the water? maybe they should be made into pet food if people don't want to eat them. they can't be that bad


----------



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Actually no... there are numerous reports of anglers being injured by these flying fish... the weight of some of these fish is getting into double digits


----------



## vrb th hrb (Feb 20, 2010)

if you read the ontario outdoors mag the problem is just starting to get serious.

hopefully they find a way to cull these fish out so they dont destroy the salmon and rainbow fisheries in ontario


----------



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Interesting article about the Great Lakes cleanup proposed by the Obama Administration

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/02/21/great-lakes-jackson.html


----------

