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Post by catmandewe on May 25, 2007 8:08:08 GMT -5
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KG1960
has rocks in the head
Member since August 2008
Posts: 512
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Post by KG1960 on May 25, 2007 18:35:41 GMT -5
There have been newspaper articles (one just yesterday) about this. The location in the video is the Peoria - Pekin, Illinois area on the Illinois River. I recognized many scenes. The two tall smoke stacks are the Ameren CILCO generating station just south of Bartonville. Also saw the bridges for I-74, I-474, Rt. 9, and the railroad lift bridge in Peoria. Saw the river front of Peoria.
It looks like loads of fun! These fish are Asian carp and jump out of the water when disturbed (a passing boat is enough).
The bad part is people have been injured and/or knocked unconscious. Think about getting hit in the head by a 20 lbs carp while you are running down the river in your motorboat. Another bad part is that they are pushing out native fish and greatly harming the river's ecology. A big fear is that they will eventually get into Lake Michigan and the other great lakes. There is an electric fence in the river near Joliet or Lockport. So far it has kept these fish from Lake Michigan, but no one expects the fence to work perfectly forever; it's merely a delaying tactic.
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Post by Cher on May 25, 2007 23:18:19 GMT -5
Isn't that sad, do they have any idea where they came from? Do they have open season on them?
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KG1960
has rocks in the head
Member since August 2008
Posts: 512
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Post by KG1960 on May 26, 2007 10:00:25 GMT -5
It's open season year round, by most any method. They reproduce faster than the young can be eaten by other fish, and they grow fast and become too big for the predator fish to eat. At one time it was hoped they wouldn't survive the winters, but they have been around here for at least five years.
There have been occasional news reports (I know, slow news day) of people trying various recipes to make make them palatable, but not much success.
Just the other day at work we were just shooting the breeze and thought that instead of using bow and arrows shotguns would be allowed. Like a skeet shoot. Realistically, a lot more than just the fish would end up getting shot, but it was fun thinking about it.
If my memory is correct (a very extreme assumption!) I kind of remember hearing that the fish were imported to be farm raised for a food source, not necessarily for humans, but some escaped into the natural waters. I think they first appeared in the Mississippi River and made their way up the Illinois R.
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