A translation by Judith Turcotte.
China not only exports electronic products and viruses like Covid-19 to us, they have also sent us the Asian carp which is in the process of invading the St. Lawrence River. There exist four types of Asian carp: the Bighead carp, the Silver carp, the Grass carp and the Black carp. In the United States we have all seen carps jumping as high as three metres over the surface of the water when startled. It is the Silver carp which plays the acrobat.
For now, the Grass carp is the only one that has been spotted in the St. Lawrence River. In 2017, the scientists from the Forests, Wildlife and Parks Ministry informed us of the arrival of the Grass carp. As they are in the habit of doing, the scientists tell us that the arrival of these undesirables represents an environmental threat and a grave danger for our indigenous fish. They propose ways of limiting the progression but admit that it is impossible to get rid of these carps. Despite this observation, the Québec government has created a program to combat their presence in our waters.
The Asian carp was reportedly introduced into fish farming in the United States in the years 1960–1970 to control the algae and parasites in the aquaculture tanks in the South. Floods allowed these fish to escape. They began to colonize the Mississippi and are now coming to the St. Lawrence passing through the Great Lakes.
There are indigenous carp in the St. Lawrence River; however, they are not well equipped to compete with the Asian carp. First of all, they are smaller. The Asian carps can reach one metre in length and weigh 40 kg in adulthood. They are ravenous and can consume daily up to 40% of their weight. The Grass carp that we find in the river feed themselves with aquatic vegetation and do not leave much for our indigenous species both in food and spawning grounds.
The Québec Environnement Ministry’s experts monitor the progression of the Asian carp in our waters. They have recently caught Grass carps of more than a meter in length in the Lake of Two Mountains. Other catches were made in the sector of Contrecoeur and in the Richelieu River. Only the Grass carp has been detected in the river so far, however, the Silver carp and the Bighead carp are already in Lake Michigan and will soon come to settle with us.
Once in the river, it will be impossible to get rid of them; it seems to me that we should learn how to cook them. The carp is prepared in different ways in many countries but does not often appear on our plates. A good subject for an upcoming blog.