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Text | Utopia on the clouds
Edit | Utopia on the clouds
Preface:
In the United States, there is such a group of carp that gives a "headache". Their unscrupulous "barbaric growth", desperately squeezing the growth space of other creatures in natural waters, only caring about their own "brain full of fat", the largest of which can even grow to more than one meter long and weigh hundreds of pounds, which is really a flood.
In fact, this group of carp is also an alien species, and their homeland is in Asia. In 1970, the Americans used Asian carp as a "rescuer" to the local area, but what they didn't expect was that 50 years later, the "rescuer" became a "bomb" that made them cry bitterly. How many chances do Americans have of winning this mermaid war?
The "past and present" of Asian carp
How did Asian carp "cross the ocean" to the United States? If you want to explain the ins and outs behind this, I am afraid that you have to go back to the time when the American continent was first discovered.
At that time, the American continent not only had fertile soil, wide and flat terrain, but also had a unique irrigation water source for the Mississippi River, which could be described as a "treasure land" with great development value.
The European colonists were keen on colonial expansion at that time, and naturally coveted the American continent. They soon came to North America, built a large number of factories near the Mississippi River, and developed an industrial civilization day and night. In addition to irrigation, the Mississippi River has taken on new tasks, such as shipping, fishing, and so on.
This is naturally effective for the development of local economic benefits, but at the same time, there is also a huge safety threat, a large amount of industrial wastewater produced by the factory is dumped in the Mississippi River, and the originally clear and clean river water has gradually been seriously polluted.
This situation went on for a long, long time without attracting attention. It wasn't until the seventies of the twentieth century, when the locals looked at the murky Mississippi River in front of them, and the disgusting weeds, algae, and insects that they could no longer fool themselves.
The United States is anxious to find a one-size-fits-all solution to the pollution of the Mississippi River and return it to its former state. But how easy is that? The United States has introduced the Clean Water Act and launched various measures, but unfortunately they have not been effective.
Later, some experts had a flash of inspiration and proposed that "bio-restricted organisms" could be used, that is, fish that could eat "dirty things" in the waters, and then vigorously farmed, and over time, the Mississippi River must be completely new!
This proposal attracted the attention of the entire United States, so they began to look around for such an effective "biological rescuer". Later, they set their sights on Asian carp. The food source of Asian carp is not single, underwater aquatic plants and plankton can become their delicious meals, which does play a certain role in improving water quality in rivers.
The Americans were overjoyed after learning about the living habits of Asian carp, and said that the "rescue" had been found, so they couldn't wait to introduce a large number of Asian carp from Southeast Asia and China. In fact, contrary to what most people think, the so-called "Asian carp" does not refer to a type of fish, but a general term for blue carp, grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp.
Seeing this, some friends may feel puzzled: these four kinds of fish are delicious and delicious ingredients, if they are in the mainland, I am afraid that they will be caught and eaten before they are flooded, how come it has become a "disaster" in the United States?
"Tangerines are oranges when born in Huainan, and citrus when they are born in Huaibei", and the same is true of Asian carp, which quickly changed their "face" after arriving in the United States. Please read on.
"Saving soldiers" is rampant
After Asian carp came to the Mississippi River, which has accumulated pollution for a hundred years, it can be said that it has found a promised land. They open their mouths wide and swim in the water while devouring all kinds of algae and plankton. When Americans saw this scene, they were all happy and laughed, and they all admired the true value of these "rescuers"! But after a while, they couldn't laugh anymore.
Perhaps because there are too many Asian carp "good meals" in the Mississippi River, they eat all the "pot-bellied", and soon someone caught a large fish more than one meter long in the Mississippi River, and its weight reached an astonishing 100 pounds, and the weight was not much compared with some adults.
The Asian carp that has become "strong" has almost no opponents in the Mississippi River, and how much the living space of the original small animals in this water area has been squeezed, it is natural to imagine that many species have even reached the brink of extinction. Looking at this fierce and abnormally large fish in front of him, not only other small animals are afraid, but Americans are also helpless.
However, they are still a little lucky in their hearts, because fortunately, only Asian carp were caused in the Mississippi River, and they are all downstream, and they cannot swim upstream, so at least they will not affect the waters of other rivers in the United States. However, what the Americans don't know is that soon these huge Asian carp will "plug in their wings" and go to the Great Lakes of the United States.
In the nineties of the twentieth century, there was a big hurricane in the United States. A large number of power grids, dikes, and fish ponds were almost flattened by the hurricane, and the Asian carp, who had long been "bored" in a body of water, seemed to have planted wings and "moved to a new home" and came to other natural waters of the United States to "take root".
Speaking of which, one of the characteristics of Asian carp must be mentioned, that is, they are very good at jumping, and ordinary interception facilities really can't stop them. The Asian carp jumped, hunted, and moved forward, jumping and jumping all over the rivers of the United States.
According to data released by the American Wildlife Conservation Association, Asian carp has invaded 23 states in the United States, and what is more frightening is that Asian carp have almost no natural enemies in these places, and they themselves are omnivores, and all kinds of fish and shrimp can become their belly food.
In addition, the reproductive ability of Asian carp is also very strong, a female carp can lay more than 100,000 eggs a year, under the influence of many factors, Asian carp soon flooded in the United States, some local native fish, but some can not survive, American herring, black bass, minoan and other fish, and even show signs of extinction.
Americans look at the state of the local ecological environment, they are heartbroken, but they really can't blame others, after all, these carp were originally "invited" to the United States by them as rescuers.
Mermaid "Wars"
Americans know that since this is the end of the matter, there is no point in discussing the previous right and wrong. So they began to think bitterly, trying to find a way to curb or even eliminate the Asian carp population.
In order to achieve this grand goal, the Americans started a "mermaid war" from both the official and civil levels. The United States first wanted to use the most direct method to directly poison Asian carp by putting effective drugs into the water. This is indeed an efficient method, and the large number of Asian carp has a white belly in the water.
However, the negative harm brought by this approach is too great. The first is that other "innocent" fish in the waters often die from ingesting the drug. Secondly, the carcasses of these poisoned fish are swallowed by other fish, and the toxicity spreads rapidly in the waters. Only then did the Americans realize that they had made another big mistake and quickly stopped the medicine.
Since the drug did not work, the Americans began to use the traditional method - fishing. In order to encourage local people to fish, the United States has even held a competition to allow the people to have a few more "fishing experts". This method is not only a lot of environmental protection, but also a healthy entertainment activity, and has received a good response for a while.
Unfortunately, it has already been mentioned how amazing the reproduction and growth rate of Asian carp is. These carp fishing competitions are held quarterly, and even if they are compared from morning to night every day, the damage to the entire Asian carp population is probably only a drop in the bucket.
The ordinary mermaid war continues to this day, and so far, the Americans are still in the inferiority. Not only do Asian carp still thrive and forage, but they even entered the Great Lakes of the United States fourteen years ago.
The Great Lakes are extraordinary for the United States, which not only has great tourist value, but also the last home of freshwater fish in the United States, if the Asian field "captures" the Great Lakes, whether it is economic losses or ecological losses, Americans are unwilling to bear.
To that end, the United States has invested an astronomical $18 billion to build high levees to stop the expansion of Asian carp. As for how long it can be stopped, I am afraid that anyone who looks at it will feel unoptimistic.
Why don't Americans eat all these carp?
The proliferation of Asian carp in the United States may seem like an incredible thing in the eyes of many food lovers. It has also been suggested that instead of spending all kinds of money to curb the spread of Asian carp, it is better to introduce a few more recipes, try chopped pepper fish heads, chrysanthemum fish, grilled fish, sweet and sour fish, boiled fish, fish balls... Perhaps, before you know it, these carp will be eaten.
In fact, Americans have not thought about this method, and the government of one state in the United States has even cooperated with enterprises to hold an "Asian carp whole fish banquet" in 2019. Unfortunately, this approach did not achieve much success in the end.
Why is that, don't Americans love fish? In fact, there are probably two reasons why Asian carp is difficult to popularize on American tables.
One is because of differences in eating habits. Americans eat fish on a very important premise, that is, there must be less thorns. After all, they use knives and forks as cutlery most of the time, and it is really not easy to remove fish bones.
The flooded Asian carp is generally dominated by white carp and tarpon, both of which have bones. Therefore, Americans may be more inclined to choose tilapia with fewer spines in their daily diet, which can not only be cooked and eaten, but also made into sashimi. By contrast, Asian carp is hard to really take on the American table.
The second reason is the problem of the growing environment of Asian carp. Flooded Asian carp generally grow in natural waters rather than artificial farming, they usually grow up with various plankton in the draft and even aquatic plants and manure, which itself has a relatively strong fishy smell.
And how single the American cooking method is, everyone also knows, nothing more than fried, grilled, raw food so few. And these cooking methods, obviously difficult to achieve fishy seasoning, at most can only put more seasonings to forcibly suppress the fishy smell, taste naturally difficult to say. And there are so many Asian carp that it's a bit whimsical to beat them in the kitchen.
epilogue
In this "mermaid war" that lasted for decades, the Americans have not gained the upper hand, and the local ecological environment and the lives of ordinary people have also been significantly affected. For such a situation, although the Americans are anxious, they are already somewhat helpless.
Such a process may seem incredible, but in fact, it is still relatively common in cases of invasion of alien species. This also brings us an important enlightenment, that is, before using the means of "biological control", we must be thoughtful, carefully combined with the local ecological situation, and must not rashly introduce species that are not available in the local area to the United States, which eventually caused the farce of "it is easy to ask God to send God".