Attack of the flying fish
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an Asian carp with virtually no waste and no odor. The company, founded in 2007 by Illinois resident John Holden, makes protein supplement for animal feed using agricultural byproducts, such as the heads and guts of fish.
Last spring the company opened a “show and smell” plant, its first, in Havana to demonstrate the odorless process of grinding fish, leaving only water vapor as the waste product.
The mobile machinery Heartland Processing uses is designed as a rapid response mechanism for any biological hazard, meaning, for example, that the government could use it on location at a farm to eliminate all of the potentially infected chickens where Avian flu is present, thus stopping a national outbreak.
Leeds sees Asian carp as another type of biological hazard, and although he could make fish meal and fish oil out of Asian carp, those products don’t bring in high enough prices to make the process economical without government subsidies.
Heartland Processing shut down its Havana plant after only four months of operation, when Leeds says potential state funding fell through, but the company is back in talks with the state and other stakeholders and hopes to find a funding solution in the near future.
Lesson learned? The story of Asian carp is a familiar tale, Irons says, pointing to a long list of other invasive species. Starlings, for instance, spread across the U.S. after literary enthusiasts in the late 1800s introduced them as homage to William Shakespeare, who mentioned the bird in his works. Starlings are now abundant and are known for taking over native birds’ nests, eating crops and, moving in large groups, leaving corrosive droppings wherever they go.
Aquatic examples of invasive species include gobies, zebra mussels, white perch and, brought to the U.S. about 130 years ago, common carp.
“[Silver carp are] kind of a poster child of invasive fish where people aren’t aware of fish,” Irons says, adding that the flying fish provide a “unique opportunity” to talk about invasive species.
“This might be a point where we can make some good legislation to prevent moving around too much. There’s certainly a platform we can talk about not dumping your bait bucket into your favorite lake.”
Contact Rachel Wells at [email protected].
