Asian Carp Being Sold Illegally in Southeast Michigan

[lonehunter]

[font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][#00e010]DNR Conservation Officers Seize Asian Carp Being Sold Illegally in Southeast Michigan [/#00e010][/font]
[font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][#00e010]Contact: [/#00e010][/font] [font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][black]Det. Sgt. Wade Hamilton 231-922-5280 ext. 6804 [/black][/font]
[font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][#00e010]Agency:[/#00e010][/font] [font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][black]Natural Resources[/black][/font]

[font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][black]May 18, 2006
Law enforcement officers from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, along with agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture, seized 84 Asian carp Wednesday that were being sold illegally at two food markets in southeast Michigan.
The joint operation was conducted this week following recent intelligence-sharing with the two federal agencies that live Asian carp were being imported into Michigan and being offered for sale at local markets. Possession or transport of live Asian carp, which includes the grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp and black carp, as well as snakehead, is prohibited by state law. DNR officials said it was the first seizure of these prohibited species in Michigan.
On Wednesday the officers contacted approximately 35 businesses in the region looking for the prohibited species of fish. The effort resulted in the seizure of 84 grass carp from two food markets in Ypsilanti and Southfield. Legal action is pending for the violation of offering to sell a prohibited species.
As national and state efforts continue to prevent Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan via the Illinois River, DNR officials are concerned that these non-indigenous species have the potential to cause great harm to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Non-indigenous species that are successful in establishing populations usually are impossible to eradicate, and difficult and costly to control.
"This cooperative effort with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture underscores the critical need for increased inter-agency enforcement," said Alan Marble, chief of the DNR Law Enforcement Division. "The sharing of expertise and knowledge is key to preventing the introduction, or spread, of these invasive exotic fish species."
Anyone having information of the possession, sale or importation of live prohibited species is urged to contact the DNR Report All Poaching Hotline at (800) 292-7800.
The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural resources
for current and future generations.
[blue] Great Lakes, Great Times, Great Outdoors[/blue][/black][/font]

[davetclown]

for starters all carp in america are indirectly from asia.

I saw on the news last week that we have some asian comunities here who now only were selling them but releasing them in to the waters, one baby for every one sold in the bucher shop. This is part of their heritage, I am not aposed to that, I just think they should think about releasing other more benificial species and have qualified goups release them. they can get more fish released for thier dollar if they allow others to handle it.

after discovering the dammage that the current carp causes I shutter to think what another carp species would do in an already unstable fishery environment.
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[lonehunter]

For eating , I don't see a problem with importing the carcas of a fish species that is enjoyed by a segment of the population [cool].
If the fish were alive , yea, I myself would be quite upset with that , we have enough invasive species of fish to deal with as it is[pirate] .
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[davetclown]

I am afraid that was the case, they were alive like lobsters in a tank. 20-25 inch carp...

the fish shop in the news reel said they had no idea thay were illegal and would stop selling them emediatly...

as to weather or not they got fines I dont realy know, the news did not go in to that much detail.
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[lonehunter]

I had a fellow bowfisherman that ran into a guy that would get about 30 of the fish and then sell them in the dearborn/delray area to the independant meat markets .
$5.00 a fish was the price he recived , "Whitefish" had a big section on the shelves he told me .
He said that that guy was bowfishing for weeks at a time in the spring .
I often wonder if he ever got cought .
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