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Monday, February 15, 2010

Asian carp threaten small Illinois town's economy

We've been following the progress of Asian carp toward the Great Lakes, most recently here. The carp are coming from the Mississippi River system, where maky streams have long been under assault from the invasive fish. Some in Illinois already fear Peoria has lost the battle, making Spring Valley the front line of the Asian carp war on the Illinois River. "In Spring Valley, an old coal-mining town 100 miles southwest of Chicago, signs proclaim the city the sauger fishing capital of the world," Joel Hood of The Chicago Tribune reports. "The Illinois River is so critical to the local economy and tourism that area residents say the town might cease to exist without it."

Spring Valley residents say since the Asian carp showed up a few years ago sauger fishing hasn't been the same. The Masters Walleye Circuit event each March is Spring Valley's biggest fishing tournament of the year and used to bring in 225 teams with another 30 on a waiting list, Hood reports. Last year only 100 teams registered and fewer than 40 have registered for 2010 so far. The event brought $1 million to $2 million in revenue to the community in its heyday, Hood writes.

"We need this spring tournament in our town," Spring Valley Mayor Cliff Banks told Hood. "We have one hotel that struggles here. At the gas stations and the grocery stores, we need these people in our town." Banks favors a proposal, suggested by Tim Leeds of Heartland Processing, to build a mobile fish processing plant for Asian carp in Spring Valley. Advocates say the plant could grind up as much as "4,000 pounds of carp an hour to produce marketable products from fertilizers and livestock feed to bulk protein and fish oils," Hood reports. Said Leeds: "If (the government) gets on board, it'll be a win-win for everybody. Except the carp." (Read more)

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