Text | Amin
Editor|Qingshi
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With the development and maturity of science and technology, people's methods of environmental management have become more and more gentle and effective, from the initial human intervention to the current biological control, the possibility of wanting to manage the environment well but harming the environment is minimized.
But everything has positive and negative sides, biological control is the same, a little careless, it is very likely to trigger the invasion of alien species and other bad events, and the United States has suffered losses in biological control.
In 1963, in order to improve the water environment, the United States specially adopted biological control methods and introduced Asian carp, but this was a move to lure wolves into the house.
The United States has been fighting with it for 60 years, and finally ended in defeat, and I saw that the Asian carp of the United States was as fat as a pig, carrying the rack of bandits, and advanced into the Great Lakes with a high profile, causing the United States to lose hundreds of millions of dollars directly or indirectly.
Later, the United States really had no choice, so it turned to China for help.
So, how did the Asian carp defeat the native American fish and become the hegemon of the lake? What happened between the two in these 60 years?
Reason for introduction
Since the first industrial revolution occurred in the United Kingdom, the state of the world's environment has taken a sharp turn, and the black smoke and industrial wastewater discharged into the natural environment without treatment have caused great damage to the environment.
Paris, the capital of Britain, is known as the "fog capital", and to measure whether an Englishman is a gentleman, it depends on whether he has an umbrella, and the British start with "Do you bring an umbrella?" ”
This is not because the weather in Paris is bad, nor because the British have romance in their bones, but the industrial revolution has made the British environment worse and worse, the sky in Paris is gloomy every day, and the British are forced to develop the "good habit" of wearing umbrellas.
The same is true of the United States, which has always known how to seize the moment or not become a superpower, and although the first industrial revolution took place in Britain, the United States is not in a passive situation.
They actively imitated Britain, and the development of industry even surpassed that of Britain in some aspects, which brought about economic improvement and a worse environment.
Tens of thousands of industrial wastes are discharged into the sky, forests and lakes around the clock, causing many animals and plants to become extinct and ecosystems have lost their ability to repair themselves.
The Mississippi River, for example, is the largest river in the United States and the fourth longest river in the world, with a basin area of 2.98 million square kilometers.
Once such a large river is polluted, the consequences are unimaginable. However, at the time of the industrial revolution in the United States, the Mississippi River was already destroyed.
By the time the United States reacted, the water source of the Mississippi River had been severely polluted, most of the fish living in it had disappeared, and algae plants covered the surface of the river densely, mercilessly competing with fish for living space.
Coupled with the pollution of heavy metals, more and more fish in the Mississippi River have died, even the plants on the shore have not been spared, and although the United States has won the initiative of the industrial revolution, it has lost the ability of the ecosystem to heal itself, I don't know whether it is lucky or unfortunate.
Fortunately, not all Americans are lustful, and some biologists have issued a warning.
"If this continues, the money we worked so hard to earn from the industrial revolution will be used to clean up the environment, and worse, we may not be able to prevent it."
This is not alarmism, the increasingly smelly river has caused a water crisis and a production crisis, and many farmers' interests have been violated, and they are angry and demanding a solution from the federal government, otherwise they will rush into the White House to "reason".
Because the United States is a capitalist country and has always put the interests of businessmen first, in 1963, the US government finally decided to clean up this mess and began to clean up the water environment.
Biologists believe that biological control is the best option. And Asian carp that are hardy, alkali and oxygen-resistant enter their sights.
Asian carp, killing all sides
Asian carp is the common name of the Americans for carp, blue carp, grass carp and other carps, they are a delicacy in China, and "bandits" in the United States, so much so that the United States has to ask Chinese to eliminate them.
At first, Asian carp were capable, they swept away algae plants in the water, and rivers heavily polluted by heavy metals not only had no effect on them, but made them resistant, simply put, evolution.
After eating up the algae, the water has no restraint on them, and they begin to swim downstream, so to speak, swimming wherever they eat.
Everywhere they go, there is no grass, native fish finally have space to live, and the American ecosystem is slowly recovering.
Within a few years, the waters of the United States changed dramatically, the flooded algae were eaten by Asian carp, the obese Asian carp wagged its tail, gnawed the remaining moss on the stones, ate the small fish and shrimp in the river, and the advantages of biological control were perfectly displayed at this time.
In fact, Asian carp are fierce omnivorous fish, and they have the potential to become a hegemon. Although the fish species in American rivers are abundant, they are very gentle, and once the Asian carp begins to flourish, they have to give in.
Asian carp eat more than 40% of its body weight a day, that is, the larger the fish, the more it eats, coupled with the introduction of a large number of Asian carp by the Americans, the Mississippi River is quickly "eaten poor".
The lack of food has made these Asian carp feel angry and dissatisfied, and their growing bellies seem to contain not internal organs but their accumulated grievances.
As a result, they set their sights on the food of native fish, and the huge Asian carp will not only rob the native fish of food, but also encroach on their territory. Since they are alien species, they have no natural predators there.
Fortunately, as there are fewer and fewer native fish, there are more and more Asian carp, whose bodies are four or five times the size of native fish. American fishermen often see the fat pig-like Asian carp at the bottom of the river, too large for rocks to cover.
Someone once grabbed a random piece and weighed it, and was surprised to find that the fish weighed 50 kilograms and was about one meter and two meters long. And Chinese saw such a huge Asian carp, but they sighed.
"In front of this group of Chinese carp, our carp is really a younger brother."
You know, the Asian carp in China's professional breeding bases weigh no more than 3 pounds and are only 20-30 centimeters long. Could it be that this group of Asian carp that migrated to the United States was mutated?
No, this is actually caused by Chinese love of eating, Asian carp has not had time to grow up into our stomachs.
And the Chinese's "can eat and eat" has long spread all over the world, whether it is flying in the sky, running on the ground, swimming in the river, it can become a delicacy on the Chinese table.
Crayfish, once classified as an invasive species, can be eaten by Chinese to the brink of extinction, not to mention professionally farmed Asian carp.
Chinese know very well when this fish is best eaten, so it is impossible to let it grow. And the Chinese carp that immigrated to the United States, which has neither natural enemies nor salivating Chinese, will naturally grow out of control.
Now, we're back on their battle with native fish.
The native fish of the United States are cornered and can only bravely compete with Asian carp for territory, but they do not put the native fish in their eyes at all, and as soon as the tail sweeps the mouth, the native fish return to other places.
When the Americans checked the number of fingerlings, they finally noticed that something was wrong, and the waters of the United States had become the kingdom of Asian carp, and the dense concentration of Asian carp in the river made their scalps tingle.
To make matters worse, they found that Asian carp are not afraid of humans, and even like to bully humans, such as Asian carp in Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, which have seriously affected the physical and mental health of tourists.
These two lakes are famous attractions in the United States, and before the introduction of Asian carp, many people used them as summer resorts, inviting friends to enjoy the sun on the lake, which is a favorite activity of tourists.
But now? There are fewer and fewer tourists coming here for no other reason than that the Asian carp living here actively attack tourists.
The Chinese carp seem to be particularly interested in moving things, and as tourists paddle over their heads, some land on the boat, spitting dirty mucus at visitors before wagging their tails back into the lake.
If that's nothing, they'll jump out of the water and slap visitors in the face with their tails.
An Asian carp weighs 40-50 kilograms, and tourists will be unconscious on the spot when they are slapped, and some tourists are even beaten to the point of blood.
Such violent Asian carp makes tourists stay away from these scenic spots, and the person in charge is also bitter, since this happened, they have been losing money and apologizing to tourists, and eliminating Asian carp has become their most wanted thing to do.
Of course, Asian carp do much more than that, moving their families, expanding their territory by fifty kilometers a year, and starting to swim in the direction of the Great Lakes, where even the president of the United States cannot sit still.
In fact, since Asian carp encroached on native fish territory and brutally killed native fish, some American biologists have proposed plans to eliminate Asian carp.
Lost the war, turn to China
The "mermaid war" between the United States and Asian carp has been going on for 60 years.
To prevent them from entering the Great Lakes and killing native fish, the Americans went to great lengths, spending nearly $200 million just to develop acoustic water guns and build protective dikes.
As if that wasn't enough, the federal government has also launched a "Hunt for Asian Carp with Prizes" campaign, in which fishermen are rewarded with five cents for each Asian carp they kill, and in some areas ten cents.
Correspondingly, the federal government also requires American universities to develop a drug to eliminate Asian carp as soon as possible, and also calls on the American people to use Asian carp as food to contribute to the restoration of the American ecosystem.
However, Americans do not like to eat freshwater fish, especially Asian carp with many bones and raised in heavy metal waters.
In order to solve this situation, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has worked hard to study the body structure of Asian carp and make it into sashimi, which to a certain extent meets the taste of some Americans.
But Asian carp have strong reproductive ability and fast growth, and the speed of eradication by the Americans is far less than the speed of their reproduction, and eventually the Great Lakes are still attacked by them, and a new ecological crisis arises.
The 60-year effort of the United States is like a joke, to be precise, the United States has also accelerated the evolution of Asian carp, and Chinese netizens have left messages.
"The United States is too weak, why can't you even beat fish?"
"Why don't Americans eat freshwater fish? If they were in China, such a large carp would have been eaten and extinct. ”
"As long as the president of the United States is willing to pay for my round-trip, I will eat all their children and grandchildren."
In desperation, the United States can only take the initiative to seek China's help. Since they heard that Asian carp is a Chinese meal, they can't wait to contact Chinese universities, and Southwest University in China is one of their exchange partners.
Because of the magnitude of the matter, Chinese scholars did not refuse the US request. At the exchange meeting, Chinese scholars conducted professional analysis on the habits of Asian carp, and also gave detailed analysis and solutions, as for whether American scholars accept it, it is not within the scope of Chinese scholars' consideration.
The United States spent 60 years fighting a war with Asian carp, and in the end, it actually lost, and in addition to being funny, it taught the world a lesson: biological control cannot be used indiscriminately.
Advantages and disadvantages of biological control
Since the beginning of the last century, "biological control" has become one of the hot words, and many countries have used it in environmental governance, because its advantages have far outweighed the shortcomings.
But why did the United States fail? In the final analysis, it is still overconfidence and impulsivity that cause them to understand neither the native ecosystem nor the habits of alien species, which will inevitably cause irreversible consequences.
Biological control is a risky approach in itself, and if neglected, the native ecosystem will fall into greater crisis, and the United States is a prime example.
All in all, biological control has advantages and disadvantages, and should be cautious when using it, and do not use it rashly without full certainty, otherwise it will become the second United States, and whether the original problem can be solved has to be marked with big question marks.