Rename that fish!

By ⋅ April 28, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
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American catfish farmers imported Asian Carp in the 1970s to control algae in their fish farms. Some fish escaped and are now headed toward the Great Lakes, posing such a threat that the White House even convened an “Asian Carp Summit” earlier in the year. One possible solution to deal with the expanding Asian Carp population is to have Americans eat the fish but, as Alex Gallafent found out, the current name doesn’t sell the fish – so maybe under a different name? But what should that name be? Share your ideas for a new name for Asian Carp by posting a comment below.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN:  It sounds like something out of a horror film, a large and voracious fish invades U.S. waters and kills off local species.  That’s what happened with the Asian Carp.  American catfish farmers imported the fish in the 1970′s to eat up algae in their fish farms.  Some fish escaped, their numbers multiplied, and now they’re headed toward the Great Lakes posing such a threat that the White house even convened an Asian Carp summit earlier in the year.  One possible solution to curb the growing number of Asian Carp is to have Americans eat the fish, only under a different name, and that’s where things get complicated as The World’s Alex Gallafent reports from New York.

ALEX GALLAFENT:  Salmon is salmon.  Tuna is tuna.  But in the life aquatic, things aren’t always so straight forward.  For instance, the King Mackerel is also the Hog.  The Whitefish is also the Gizzard fish and a crawfish is also, believe it or not, a mudbug.  Names matter, as this old-fashioned domestic scene illustrates.

MALE VOICE 1:  Hello darling, what’s for dinner?

FEMALE VOICE 1:  Patagonian Toothfish honey, with a lovely butter sauce.

GALLAFENT: Oh, let’s try that again.

MALE VOICE 1:  Hello darling, what’s for dinner?

FEMALE VOICE 1:  Chilean Sea Bass honey, with a lovely butter sauce.

GALLAFENT: Much better.  Same fish.

LEWIS SPADA:  You know if you have Patagonia Toothfish on my display, I don’t think it’s going to sell as much as Chilean Sea Bass.  You know it sounds a lot more appealing to people.

GALLAFENT: Lewis Spada is the manager of Fish Tales, a fishmonger in Brooklyn.  Like everyone else, he sells plenty of Patagonia Toothfish. Under the name Chilean Sea Bass, even though it’s not actually a bass.  And Spada would sell Asian Carp, too, but only if it had a different name.  One state fishing authority has conjured up the name Silverfin.

SPADA: If there was a calling for it sure, I would definitely carry it.  I mean Silverfin is definitely a little more appealing I think to most Americans than Asian Carp.

GALLAFENT: Others have plumped for the name Kentucky Tuna.  Fishmonger Lewis Spada thinks the fears about buying Asian Carp are partly to do with the recent cases of tainted products coming fro parts of Asia.

SPADA: That alone will kind of turn people off to that whole experience with the fish.  I think it’s a little unfair because it could be an excellent fish and people could enjoy it.

GALLAFENT: But the bigger public relations challenge for the Asian Carp is American confusion with the more familiar common carp.  Those fish are bottom feeders, taking in a diet of insects and worms.  Asian Carp grow big, 50 pounds or more, on plankton, much more appealing, although they are rather bony.  Still, in some part of Asia it’s a fine meal.

THOMAS LEUNG:  In Cantonese it’s lei yu.

GALLAFENT: Thomas Leung is a fourth generation herbalist, based in New York City’s Chinatown.  His family is from southern China, in Guangdong province.  Indeed, Leung’s father, also an herbalist, says carp, Asian Carp, is familiar fare.  His son translates.

LEUNG:  Different areas they prepare the carp differently.  In my hometown, we pan fry the fish and then we stew it with peanuts.  In the south it has always been regarded as a tasty fish.  I don’t understand what the reason is why Americans would not like the fish.

GALLAFENT: In time, perhaps they will.  And perhaps they won’t know it.  For The World, I’m Alex Gallafent in New York.

WERMAN:  So what do you think?  Silverfin?  Kentucky Tuna?  Send us your ideas for a new name for the Asian Carp at the world dot org.


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Discussion

33 comments for “Rename that fish!”

  • ERIN

    HOW ABOUT
    THE RIVER RANGER
    OF WE CALL IT FISH PHISH MM MMM MM GOOD!

  • Suzy George

    Because of their great escape, I think these carp should be named: Dont-B-Koi or the Asian Smart Fish.

  • Mary

    List Asian Carp as “Asian Cyprinid” on the menu – It is still a correct name but sounds exotic and makes you think of Cyprus and Mediterranean islands and sunshine and seawater and fresh fish grilled outside.

  • Erin Cizina

    How about if we used the individual names or the particular carp, such as “bighead”, “silver”, “black” or “grass” and put them together to make a new name, such as the Black Grass fish or the Silver Bighead fish? I happen to like the Black Grass fish myself.

  • sam

    The name Silverfin reminds me too much of silverfish, and I already have enough of those in my apartment.

  • dmotorhead

    I think we should call them PCB-Quicksilver Fin Poison fish.

  • Prid

    chicken

  • tim smith

    how about “the fish formerly known as carp”?

  • Eric

    The reason Americans are so picky about their food is because most of them have no idea what it means to actually be hungry. Many people in the world are lucky if they eat meat once a year not once per meal. We should call it “Be thankful you don’t have to eat dirt fish”.

  • Garrison Evans

    How about jumbo koi?

  • Tyna

    I agree with Sam. Just say no to Silverfish, I mean Silverfin. I’d rather eat a carp.

  • Bob

    How about calling it cat food?

  • Alex

    First I’d like to note that there are pontentially multiple species that fall under the description Aisian Carp. you can find this @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_carps. Having said that I think that “silver jump fish” “jump fish” or jumper would be an appropriate name choice for at least one species the silver carp has a tendency to jump into the air when startled by boats. Sounds like a fun fish to fish to me

  • jeroboam bramblejam

    My nom-de-fin for the Asian Carp: The Four-Barbled Quibble; barbles are the soft, sensory whips aside its mouth, and quibble is a more genteel form of carping – something one would never do in the fine restaurants now serving this exotic delicacy.

  • http://beautypersoni.livejournal.com Christopher-J Carlson

    At the beginning of the program, “mudbug” – a regional moniker for some kinds crayfish/lobsters – is also mentioned as a hard-to-sell name.

    Being a fan of both hockey and names, this perked my ears since there is a minor pro team in Louisiana called the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

    They play in the Central Hockey League and their logo features an angry, red cartoon crayfish holding a hockey stick and wearing a jersey. Quite amusing!

    Anyhoo…

    • CHARLES

      I was a Mudbug season ticket holder for years…go Mudbugs.
      Oh…make it easy, like Asian Catfish or Asian Seabass. In Baltimore they have all these Lake Trout places…noone knows what that is so maybe River Trout or Lake Trout.

  • Mike

    It worked for Chile – How about ‘Asian Sea Bass’?

  • http://scienceandstory.blogspot.com Elefolio

    kimono koi

  • http://hubpages.com/hub/Asian-Carp-Invasion-Resolution-Step-By-Step Ron

    You all really need to take this issue serious. This stands to become a A Disaster Of Epic Proportion!

    Get Real !

  • Marie

    KOI — the Japanese word for carp, because it also means “love.”

  • brad

    How about you try to stop the problem instead of coming up this easy fix solution that still won’t solve the problem. Changing the name of the fish will not stop them from reaching the great lakes or the irreversible harm they will cause. Typical US government, The US caused this problem but they won’t try and fix it.

  • http://themartianembassy.com robert chadis

    poor richard.
    or marsfish

  • Don

    Before I finally retired, I had several business trip to Asia and regularly ate and really loved Asian Carp. So, why not just call them “Asian Carp”? They are delicious.

  • Robert Hubert

    CARPAMARI – Italianize it and it will sell like calamari (squid).

  • Danfish77

    “Eastern Lakefish”

  • Bob

    I partly serious and partly joking about calling Asisan carp “cat food”.

    Animal feed need protein and it doesn’t matter too much where it comes from; as long as it’s not the same species. Cows turned into cow food = mad cow disease.

    Carp are boney. Boney fish are a lot of work to debone but highly ground up it can be turned into a protein booster, for humans or animals.

    There’s a rodent that digs up everthing in Lousianna; like a possum but not. They’ve spent a couple of years trying to get people to eat it to cut the population. Contact them for advice on selling unpopular fish.

  • jeroboam bramblejam

    I wasn’t able to hear the host’s revisiting of the subject on the 30th; nor am I able to hear the mp3… can anyone tell me the gist of it?…

  • Ms. Jay Lynn

    It depends on what it tastes like, what fish it tastes similar to. Although I try to stick to a vegetarian diet, I would rather have the fish eaten than poisoned, this will harm the ecosystems no matter what the “experts” say.
    Try to begin the name with “Tasty” or advertise it with eaters saying “it is finger licken’ good!” Use the word “fried”; say “it tastes good with French fries.” With the oil spill, people are going to be short on fish to eat. It is a crime to poison the fish, or to have good food go to waste when millions of Americans go hungry every day. Also, the fish could be frozen and sent to Haiti or Chile, sites of earth quake disasters. About the oil spill: genuine oceanography experts should discuss the possibility of ‘dumping’ old cars and trunks with their engines, all toxics removed – in order to create and underwater mountain to try to slow down the oil movement. Even though it won’t stop the flow, it might be worth it to slow down the movement. Free t-shirts should be given to the fisherman: “BP PAY US $1,000 A DAY NOW!!!! DON’T DELAY AND DENY US REPARATIONS LIKE US HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES DO! BP PAY FISHERMAN BEFORE THE POLITICIANS!!!!

  • Dave Kaplan

    There was a review in the Chicago Tribune by food critic Phil Vettel about a local restaurant: “Lockwood’s Phillip Foss puts invasive species where it belongs: On a plate”

    Check it out:
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/dining/ct-play-0422-vettel-asian-carp-taste-20100421,0,3613355,full.column

    “Foss may indulge in a little word play, perhaps calling the fish “Shanghai bass.”

    There it is: Shanghai Bass, what do you think? I like it. I may have to get out and try some.

    Dave

  • Ling

    Silverback, Silverfin

  • Earl D. Egdall

    Eastern Cod
    Golden Asian Bass

  • OKE Ebenezer

    I just saw a documentary on the invasion asian silverback carp in the Great lake do I decided to know more on the Web. I am a farmer in Nigeria, and I am interested in Aquaculture of this carp in tanks. Is there any information on the artificial culture of this fish, I see this quest as an opportunity to meet the protein demands in this part of the world and would greatly appreciate any assistance I can get.