Oh Carp! We’ve got to Stop the Spread!

The aquatic invasive species are not only colonizing American waters, they’re wreaking havoc with fishing stocks, spoiling recreational areas, depressing property values, and running up legal bills and undermining our fragile economy.

In the Western U.S., several species of native trout are now threatened by a European parasite that attacks the fish’s nervous system; in the Great Lakes, a $7 billion fishery is endangered by the Asian carp, which eat their daily weight (40 to 90-lbs) in plankton and are working their way northward via the Mississippi and other rivers. The estimates of damage and control costs of invasive species already amount to $138 billion per year in the U.S. alone. If these factoids were not enough to leave us all seriously disturbed: of all 1,880 imperiled species in the United States, 49% are endangered because of introduced species alone or because of their impact combined with other forces.

Oh Carp! We’ve got to Stop the Spread!

Last week, a federal judge in Illinois found that damage to the lakes from Asian carp was not likely or imminent. I wonder if this judge has spent anytime on the Wabash River or the Mississippi River south of sanitary zone? As a result, he refused to close shipping locks in the Chicago area, a step that would provide additional security against the carp beyond the electric barriers currently operating elsewhere in the waterways that link the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying the possibility of closing the Chicago connection between the two mighty water basins, but its report isn't due for five years. By then, all recreational boat manufactures will be issuing standard protective nets and first-aid kits.

Only when the masses become enraged, will our government leaders solve this problem. 

Bob Lake and Wildlife Forever have joined forces to educate and advocate on behalf of our native species. Starting in January, Bob Lake viral campaigns are going to be released to the masses, and we hope you'll spread them around.

Join the movement, recruit a friend, and wear Bob Lake. Our native species are counting on you.

Winston

Chief Bobber, Bob Lake

What's For Dinner?

Haven’t yet left the house for work, and you’re already thinking about dinner? Being that you didn’t make it to the grocery store over the weekend, you haven’t got a clue about what is stocked in the pantry. Football and pulling in the dock for the winter took precedence.  Let’s run down the possibilities. Tuna fish, you always have tuna fish in the cabinet.

Tempting Tuna Salad is a possibility… but then again, little Bobbie always complains when you serve this dish up.  Love tuna and goat cheese tomatoes. However, looking out the kitchen window, the tomatoes are slightly past their prime and it’s cold outside. A warm hot dish is starting to sound better and better.

But something’s still missing… No cans of tuna fish, but there are plenty of cans of wild Mississippi river fish. Holy Carp!

Yep, you heard correctly. New Orleans-based French Chef Philippe Parola, has started serving up for human consumption Asian Carp and regularly demonstrates fish preparation techniques.

Then there is the Big River Fish Corporation in Pearl, located along the Illinois River, and they have secured a $2 million federal grant to send 30 million pounds of Asian carp to China - ironically, the very place the invasive fish came from. The fish will be marketed as a delicacy and will be marketed as "wild Mississippi River fish," much like we American’s appreciate and buy “wild Atlantic salmon.”

I guess the strategy here is if we can’t control Asian Carp, why not eat them.

Any culinary and angler enthusiasts care to comment? By the way, Bob Lake Mississippi Tuna Tees are coming soon!

Welcome to the Chief Bobber’s Blog

Maybe you never realized you wanted, needed or cared for aquatic invasive species, or frankly the induction of an Asian Carp Czar. But when you start getting tangled up in Ms MILFoil’s lakeside fantasies, the US Fish & Wildlife’s latest assault on Chinese Mitten Crab, updates from President Obama’s Asian Carp Czar – John Goss, visuals of bikini clad beauties and, um, curiously playful bantering on who’s more prolific and invasive between Ms Zebra Mussel and Ms Loosestrife, you get it and you’re hooked.

I jumped into this world of Bob Lake eight months ago, and decided that it would be a lot more fun creating naughty invasive tees, promoting our heroes in uniform (conservation officers), and do something novel for our environment, than continue in my dead-end corporate job.

So do what you can to spread us around… Tweet, friend us on Facebook, and wear a Bob Lake tee.

Come on… jump in and get wet!