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A12 science
Thursday 23 June 2022

From ‘carp’ to ‘copi’: unpopular fish

getting a makeover

native species like bass
and crappie.
Regulators have spent
more than $600 million to
keep them from the Great
Lakes and waters such as
Lake Barkley on the Ken-
tucky-Tennessee line. Strat-
egies include placing elec-
tric barriers at choke points
and hiring crews to harvest
the fish for products such
as fertilizer and pet food.
Other technologies — un-
derwater noisemakers, air
Asian carp, jolted by an electric current from a research boat, bubble curtains — are in
jump from the Illinois River near Havana, Ill., June 13, 2012. the works.
Associated Press It would help if more peo-
ple ate the critters, which
By JOHN FLESHER The federal Great Lakes are popular in other coun-
AP Environmental Writer Restoration Initiative is fund- tries. Officials estimate up
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) ing the five-year, $600,000 to 50 million pounds (22.7
— You’re in the mood for project to rebrand the carp million kilograms) could be
fish and your server sug- and make them widely netted annually in the Illi-
gests a dish of invasive available. More than two nois River between the Mis-
carp. Ugh, you might say. dozen distributors, proces- sissippi and Lake Michigan.
But how about broiled sors, restaurants and retail- Even more are available
copi, fresh from the Missis- ers have signed on. Most from the Midwest to the
sippi River? are in Illinois, but some de- Gulf Coast.
Here’s the catch: They’re liver to multiple states or “Government subsidies
the same thing. nationwide. alone will not end this war,”
Illinois and partner organi- “This could be a tremen- Goss said. “Private-sector,
zations kicked off a market- dous breakthrough,” said market-driven demand
tested campaign Wednes- John Goss, who led the for copi could be our best
day to rechristen as “copi” Obama administration’s hope.”
four species previously effort to halt the carp inva- In the U.S., carp are known
known collectively as Asian sion and worked on the re- primarily as muddy-tasting
carp, hoping the new label naming project. “The next bottom feeders. Bighead
will make them more at- couple of years are very and silver carp, the primary
tractive to U.S. consumers. critical for building confi- targets of the “copi” cam-
Turning carp into a popular dence and acceptance.” paign, live higher in the
household and restaurant Span, a Chicago commu- water column, feeding on
menu item is one way offi- nications design company, algae and plankton. Grass
cials hope to rein in a de- came up with “copi.” It’s carp eat aquatic plants,
cades-old invasion threat- an abbreviated wordplay while black carp prefer
ening native fish, mussels on “copious” — a refer- mussels and snails. All four
and aquatic plants in the ence to the booming pop- are high in omega-3 fatty
Mississippi and other Mid- ulations of bighead, silver, acids and low in mercury
western rivers, as well as grass and black carp in the and other contaminants,
the Great Lakes. U.S. heartland. Irons said.
“The ‘carp’ name is so Imported from Asia in the “It has a nice, mild flavor
harsh that people won’t 1960s-70s to gobble algae ... a pleasant surprise that
even try it,” said Kevin Irons, from Deep South sewage should help fix its reputa-
assistant fisheries chief with lagoons and fish farms, tion,” said Brian Jupiter, a
the Illinois Department of they escaped into the Mis- Chicago chef who plans
Natural Resources. “But it’s sissippi. They’ve infested to offer a copi po’boy
healthy, clean and it really most of the river and many sandwich at his Ina Mae
tastes pretty darn good.” tributaries, crowding out Tavern. The fish is adapt-
able to numerous cuisines
including Cajun, Asian and
Latin, he said.
Yet it could be a hard sell,
particularly because the
fish’s notorious boniness
makes it challenging to
produce fillets many din-
ers expect, Jupiter added.
Some of the best reci-
pes may use chopped or
ground copi, he said.q