Experts Suggest Eating this Ugly Fish May Help Save the Environment

The toughest freshwater fish in America have the power to save the Great Lakes or restart the Midwest's fishing industry. Your appetite determines a lot of things.

Not any fish, though. Yang is wholly fixated on one kind. Although technically a collection of four distinct species-bighead carp, grass carp, black carp, and silver carp-it is frequently called "copi." In the U.S., this fish is commonly perceived as a threat, particularly to the Great Lakes. It is an invasive species that has spread over American streams in the South and Midwest, becoming so numerous that it has wiped out native species and altered the environment. Yang wants to encourage people to perceive it as a potential food supply that is both viable and abundant.

I remember seeing them on the dinner table as a youngster," Yang adds, "so the idea that people weren't eating them didn't make sense to me." The fish has been eaten there for thousands of years and is still popular today. Yet, it wasn't easy to find in Chicago and most other American cities until recently. Yang had grown weary of making large online purchases by the time she went bowfishing. She has an Instagram account devoted to showing off various ways to eat it and is an enthusiastic home cook. She raves about copi to everyone she encounters, praising its versatility, flavor, and unfair slander.

Eating Copi

Yang is not the only person who has become obsessed with this fish. Scientists, chefs, and the U.S. freshwater fishing industry are leading a rising push to restore copi's reputation and persuade Americans that it is an undervalued, cost-effective protein that is good for the environment rather than a nuisance.

Since being brought by ecologically conscious aquaculturists in the 1970s to clean catfish retention ponds, copi have been present in several southern U.S. waterways. They were viewed as a greener substitute for chemicals at the time. They could have remained that if they had not escaped during floods, infiltrated other streams, and eventually wholly overpowered every creature. Over all things, these fish are incredibly resilient and adaptable. Irons did everything he could to comprehend them once they reached his territory. He claims, "I was traversing the world lecturing about these critters. Illinois hired him in 2010 to develop a method to cope with the invasive animal.