Fighting the asian carp invasion by cooking them

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – One invasive carp species is taking over rivers in the United States and is now moving into Tennessee.

News 12s Kaylee Nix shows us how the Tennessee aquarium is encouraging people to help cut down on these numbers.

From Mississippi to Tennessee, rivers are being overrun with asian silver carp.

“There are thousands and thousands of asian carp, silver carp in particular and they just stress out the native fishes because there are so many of them.”

Biologists at the Tennessee Aquarium have been studying the invasion of the fish and the toll it takes on local ecosystems by crowding river space and altering the food chain.

“When these silver carp eat these huge amounts of plankton they literally take food away from native species.”

TVA has partnered with the aquarium to monitor the migration of the fish into the Tennessee river system.
Both groups are educating people on ways to help reduce the number of fish in the river.

“We can actually find ways to limit the population such as commercial fishing and bow fishing tournaments. Or hopefully we can have acoustic barriers set up so we can keep em from going through the locks.”

Most people think of carp as a dirty fish, but chef Tammi Cook was on hand to prove making the fish delicious is easier than expected.

“This is one of the easiest fish I’ve ever cooked. It has a very neutral flavor, it takes on the flavor of whatever you put on it and you can also cook it in a variety of ways, were frying it today.”

“It tastes like no other fish I’ve ever had and I’ve been doing this event at the aquarium and developing recipes for fish for 10 years now. I’ve never tasted a fish that’s as clean tasting as this one.”

Reducing the number of carp in the river is also important because they can be dangerous to recreational activities.
In Chattanooga Kaylee Nix News 12 Now.