Asian Carp Invasion Solution
Chef Tim Creehan is extremely excited to be assisting Chef Parola in the charge to harness Silverfin (Asian Carp) as a leading source of affordable, clean, sustainable and great tasting fish to the world. “There couldn’t be a more important project to be involved with!” Creehan says. “Creating jobs for the fishing industry, manufacturing and sales while controlling a fish problem and providing a very affordable protein for consumption, I wish every problem we faced could have such a happy ending.”
View the entire plan to combat Asian Carp at this link.
For more information, visit AsianCarpSolution.com. and SilverfinCraze.com.
 Chef Tim Creehan, right, and chef Philippe Parola prepare food at Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory High School on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011, in Chicago. Launch of a campaign by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to try and change the fish’s image and teach people how to cook the ultra-bony meat. Nam Y. Huh / AP |
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I consider Asian Carp to be an excellent food source for a number of reasons. Like all fish, it delivers a lot of protein and healthy fats. Unlike ocean fish, sustainability is not an issue with Asian Carp. It is overrunning the central American waterways, making it a nuisance and crowding out other species. It feeds on plankton, which is at the bottom of the food chain. This means that progressive food chain concentration of harmful chemicals, such as dioxin and PCB’s, and heavy metals, such as mercury, does not occur in Asian Carp like it does in carnivorous/omnivorous fish. Some would argue that farm raised fish like catfish and tilapia avoid the food chain accumulation of toxic substances but this is not necessarily the case, as such farmed fish are typically fed fish-meal derived from fish that are subject to these kinds of contamination.
Many farmed fish are also given grain-based feeds. This reduces the levels of omega-3 fats and increases the amounts of omega-6 fats in their flesh. Since a proper balance of omega-3’s to omega-6’s is required for proper regulation of inflammation processes and thus good health, the imbalances in grain-fed farmed fish are counterproductive, particularly since most people already have too little omega-3 and too much omega-6 intake.
Another problem with farmed fish lies in the fact that large numbers of these fish are crammed into ponds or pens. This is similar to the concentrated animal-feeding operations such as those used for chickens. These conditions promote growth of pathogens like bacteria, yeasts, and parasites, and significant amounts of antibiotics and pesticides are needed to avoid infection issues. Antibiotics accumulate in the fish flesh and are passed on to consumers of the fish. This can result in issues such as emergence of antibiotic-resistant organisms and disruption of normal bacterial balance in the digestive tracts of consumers. The crowded conditions can also create problems with accumulation of excrement and even dead fish material. This is reduced by filtering and recirculation of the water (assuming these are done), but some contamination from these sources will remain.
*courtesy Detroit Free Press