Asian carp, the invasive fish species which, since the 1990s, has flourished in Midwestern waterways and crowded out native populations, has a new name: copi.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a rebranding effort and landed on the name “copi,” to reflect the copious amount of the fish that live in Midwestern rivers and streams.
The goal is to attract restaurants, chefs, fish markets and fish consumers to buy, cook and eat what was formerly called Asian carp and, ultimately, to take more of them out of the water and onto food menus. It’s not the first time a fish species has undergone a rebrand: Chilean sea bass was formerly known as Patagonian toothfish, and orange roughy used to be called slimehead fish.
“In the Illinois River, as much as 70% of the biomass — or weight of fish — are Asian carps,” said Kevin Irons with the Illinois DNR. That’s crowding out native fish species, he said, creating more competition for food sources like phytoplankton.
The goal is to prevent the fish from entering the Great Lakes, where they could disrupt the lake ecosystem and find their way to other estuaries further upstream. Currently, Illinois has electric barriers and targeted removal efforts in place to prevent that spread.
But the fish’s reach extends far beyond Illinois, Irons said, including throughout the Mississippi River basin and the central and southern U.S.
Asian carp were initially introduced to the area to help clean up waterways, which, in the 1970s, were suffering from intense algae blooms. But some fish escaped confinement, ultimately establishing a self-sustaining population.
“This is the largest, most impactful initiative IDNR, or any other environmental organization, has ever instituted in the Midwest to control carp,” Irons said.
The ‘copi’ marketing campaign targets restaurants and markets as well as consumers of fish in an effort to create a food-based market for the fish. Some restaurants in the Chicago area are already on board, touting dishes like copi burgers and copi po’ boys.
“I think one of the best things is that it’s extremely versatile,” said Brian Jupiter, one Chicago-based chef. “You can create all these different types of dishes, but also use spices that you really like because the flavor of the fish itself isn’t gonna overpower anything.”
