What’s in a name? Illinois hopes to make invasive carp fish more palatable

(Reuters) – Illinois is rebranding an invasive carp within the hopes of encouraging folks to eat it – and fixing a decades-old problem that has been threatening the ecosystem of the U.S. state’s waterways.

“We have launched a brand new identify, ‘copi’, to assist folks devour this scrumptious fish and assist us do our work in protecting them out of the waterways,” stated Kevin Irons, assistant chief of fisheries for the Illinois Division of Pure Sources (DNR).

Irons and the DNR need everybody to begin calling the ample fish previously often called Asian carp “copi.”

“Names imply one thing,” stated Irons. “Again within the 70s, there was a fish referred to as ‘slimehead,’ under-utilized, however if you go to a restaurant and get orange ruffi, all people’s like, ‘oh, that is superior.’ So, a reputation means one thing and it is the identical fish,” stated Irons.

The state of Illinois even launched a brand new web site, choosecopi.com, the place information, dietary data and recipes for the fish are supplied.

“Something you do with floor meat you are able to do with copi,” stated Dirk Fucik, proprietor of Dirk’s Fish and Connoisseur Store in Chicago.

Fucik says he is been promoting the fish in his retailer since 2010. “So, burgers are hottest for us right here, however… we have performed sausage, tacos, all that form of stuff. All the pieces we have made folks like.”

Since 2004, over $600 million in state and federal funds have been fed into fixing the issue of the invasive carp.

Irons says Illinois additionally intends to ask the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to formally change the identify and is planning to register “copi” as a trademark.

(Reporting by Eric Cox; Enhancing by Diane Craft)