In January 2014, the Oba President Ma announced that the U.S. government would allocate $18 billion over the next twenty-five years to control the population of Asian carp in the Great Lakes region.
The U.S. government has spent $800 million on blackfish in 16 years.
On July 13, 2015, a 30-centimeter-long Asian tiger shrimp was caught in the St. John's River, which scientists say came out of the Carolina laboratory in the 1980s.
Why are these species, which are popular on the continental table, so rampant in the United States? Is it true that the Asian carp that is flooded in the United States is heavily polluted by heavy metals, so Americans refuse to eat it?
Asian carp flood the United States
First of all, the Asian carp that invaded the United States is a general reference, not a carp that we refer to in China, and the Asian carp that floods in the United States include silver carp, bighead carp, silver carp, and grass carp, of which silver carp and bighead carp are the most.
So how did Asian carp get into the United States?
Due to the eutrophication of the water body due to pollution in the freshwater waters in the southern region of the United States at that time, there were crises such as cyanobacteria outbreaks and red tides, which was very serious to the local ecological environment. It is reasonable to say that aquatic plants and algae are the most basic food of freshwater fish, theoretically the more the better, but the overgrowth of these algae will lead to the blockage of waterways, the living environment of fish is limited, and the most direct is to enter the gills of fish and cause death. The death decomposition of algae can also lead to a decrease in the oxygen content of water bodies and suffocation of aquatic animals.
Because Asian carp is a filter food animal, mainly sucking on algae and organic aquatic organisms, it was imported by the United States from Southeast Asian countries to the southern part of the country in the 1960s to remove aquatic plants, algae, pollutants and parasites from fish ponds and lakes.
Rumor has it that the United States does not eat Asian carp because of metal pollution
Judging from the use of Asian carp introduced in the United States, the metal causes too many algae pollution in the water body, and the Asian carp just eats these algae, so it is judged that the heavy metal pollution of Asian carp in the United States is serious.
This inference seems to be valid, but it has no scientific basis.
According to the principle of metal enrichment, metals are absorbed into the organism but cannot be excreted through metabolism, and the more metals are enriched in the organisms in the upper layer of the food chain. Among aquatic organisms, carnivorous > omnivorous> herbivorous, and Asian carp are herbivorous organisms at the bottom of the food chain, with the lowest metal enrichment. Therefore, from the principle of metal enrichment, even the oversized Asian carp will not be as rich in heavy metals as carnivorous fish.
In addition, catfish (cat fish) is commonly known in the United States, and the official origin is in Missouri, Iowa, Tennessee and other places. Its feeding habits are similar to those of Asian carp, and its growing environment is similar, and if Asian carp is too rich in heavy metals, it will certainly exceed the heavy metal standard. But it is one of the most popular local fishing targets, with about 8 million people catching it every year. Judging by the amount of catch and consumption that Americans catch and eat each year, it can overturn the high concentration of heavy metals in this fish.
There are many similar examples, the duckbill native to the Mississippi River Basin in the United States (American spoon-noose sturgeon) is a large economic fish species in the United States. Freshwater fish on the list of the Most Favorite Fish of the American People include yellow perch, glass pike bass, lake trout, etc., which can be found in the Mississippi River Basin and the Great Lakes region. They are also eaten by Americans in the same environment as Asian carp. Once again, the rumor that Americans refused to eat it because the heavy metal of Asian carp exceeded the standard!
Why don't Americans eat Asian carp?
Many of the examples above illustrate that Americans eat freshwater fish, and they eat a lot of it. But why don't you eat Asian carp and let it flood?
This situation should refer to the Chinese crayfish invasion incident, now everyone is accepting crayfish, what spicy, spiced, garlic flavor, dry pot, braised, oil stewed, hot pot a variety of cooking methods, like it, but in the past ten or twenty years you may not have heard of this thing.
It is reasonable to say that Asian carp has been in the flood for many years, and Americans should be used to eating it, but the truth is just the opposite.
China's more than 5,000 years of gourmet culinary culture is not comparable to them, crayfish fried cooking, the whole people like, Asian carp to the Hands of americans, really can't play any tricks, rows of small thorns are difficult for them.
In addition, European and American people use knives and forks to eat, like the separation of bone and flesh, a piece of fish meat has small thorns in the mouth to pluck out, which is difficult for them to do, easy to be stabbed by the fish. It is so troublesome to eat, and the average family is not willing to eat it.
However, in order to make the people willing to accept the prickly fish meat, the US government has also changed its tricks. Don't you think it's too much trouble to handle the little thorn?
The factory can help you remove the small thorns as a fish steak to sell; if the fish bones are too troublesome, you can all crush them, make fish cakes and fish sticks; even without you cooking, directly make canned fish that is ripe and heated.
However, the "temperamental" American people still did not accept the Asian carp!
Although the problem of small thorns is solved, there is a bigger problem: that is, the earthy smell of Asian carp is difficult for the American people to accept.
River fish have a very normal smell of earth, generally eat river fish in the mainland are killed and eaten now, so that you can reduce this earthy smell, so basically will not eat river fish frozen products. In order to control Asian carp in the United States, live transportation is not allowed at all, and the Asian carp that has been killed in advance is certainly not good all the way to the factory and then to the supermarket.
And these Asian carp grow long, large individuals, the earthy taste is heavier, the United States does not need any heavy cooking, simply fried, certainly not delicious ah.
Because of this, it is simply unrealistic to ship the Frozen Asian Carp that is flooded in the United States to China to sell. We eat fish with freshness, even if you chill it by air, no matter how cheap, no one buys it.
The more realistic way of exporting can consider processed products, and in fact some people have already made such attempts.
In mid-2014, a team of Chinese investors announced a major partnership with Two Rivers Fisheries to export 35 million tonnes of Asian carp products, including whole fish, fish chops, fish heads, tails and fish sauce, to the Chinese market over the next three years.
The mainland also has very strict inspection standards for imported food, and fish products that exceed the metal testing standard cannot enter the domestic market. These cans can be exported to the mainland, which once again proves that the heavy metals of Asian carp in the United States have not exceeded the standard!
"Americans rush to the hospital"?
There is such a saying in the United States, and the voice is high.
Because of the flood of Asian carp, the local people specially introduced Asian blackfish to control Asian carp, which sounds quite reasonable. If this is the case, it is a rush to the doctor, blackfish as Asia's top predatory fish, not only amazing combat effectiveness, but also good at sneaking prey, often hiding in the aquatic grass, waiting for opportunities, preying on small fish and shrimp passing by. Small fish and shrimp are only a relative concept, they are very greedy, eat how fast to grow, when the body grows large enough, and even prey on frogs, young birds, as long as they can enter the living creatures, do not let go. Wanton introduction will certainly destroy the local ecology, and the US government should not do this.
So how did asian blackfish get into the United States?
The reasons for the asian blackfish to enter the United States are various, the most direct of which is the release of ornamental fish. The scientific name of the Asian blackfish is the black carp, which also has the title of "rich fish" in China, because the pattern on the body resembles the ancient copper coins. Its patterns are diverse, and cultivated variants are often sold as precious ornamental fish.
Because of how fast it grows, soon the fish tank can not tolerate it, can not raise the nature of someone to release it, do not know that this carnivorous fish on the ecological environment damage is huge.
By reasoning, the author personally feels that the Asian blackfish is likely to have been released into the United States by locals.
Due to the two-year sexual maturity of the Asian blackfish, its spawning period is from May to July every year, and the female blackfish will choose aquatic plants to create ovary laying nests, laying an average of 20,000 eggs. During the incubation of the fertilized eggs, the male and female fish take turns to guard, and the hatched small fish will live with their parents for about 20 days before dispersing. In case of dangerous situations, blackfish will suck the child into the mouth to protect, because of this feature, blackfish in China also has a graceful name "filial piety fish".
Such intimate protection greatly increases the chances of survival of offspring, and after hatching for two weeks, the eggs reach a length of 1.1 cm; after 1.8 cm, small blackfish will begin to eat small crustaceans and other small fish. The killing instinct has been on display since childhood.
Asian blackfish do not have a high demand for oxygen, and the special gills allow them to breathe air on land and live in a water-scarce environment for up to 4 days. In addition, they also have a strong ability to act on land, moving by jumping and swinging, and completing short-range land migration under extreme conditions.
It is for these reasons that it is difficult for Asian blackfish not to flood in the United States. Even if the government reacted quickly and launched Operation Thunder, it would not be able to prevent the expansion of Blackfish. As of 2019, Asian blackfish have been found in 14 U.S. states, invading 20 percent of freshwater waters.
The good news is that compared to Asian carp, blackfish basically have no small spines, and after Chinese people have verified, the meat is crisp and tender, suitable for sliced down to make sauerkraut fish and boiled fish.