Chapter 1

It's 1979, the Japanese were invading America in a different manner.  With their introduction of Datsun cars and much more efficient motors, America's industry was struggling.  It was easy to see that America was headed down a path of another Great Depression if we didn't change as an industrial nation.

My name is Jack.  I'm a USGS biologist.  The story starts in Arkansas.  It's the state where fish farming is the mainstay.  Most farmers farm catfish for the South.  It's a delicious meal in cajun cooking but that's not what we're here about.  We are here to tell the story of Asian Carp.  A fish that invaded our lakes and eventually destroy everything we enjoyed about our rural states.

"Hello Jack, I'm Laura, a daughter of the Arkansas Catfish Farm.  I just wanted to let you know that we've kept the ponds clean and our catfish are up to the standards of the FDA.  There are no parasites in our fish, hun."  says Laura.

"Laura, I really appreciate your Southern Hospitality.  I'm here to do my job and stay out your way of business.  As you know I'm always favorable to the American businesses.  Thank goodness the Japanese haven't invaded our fish markets yet."  says Jack.

In rear of the office, the conversation at Arkansas Catfish Farm was different.  Laura's father, Bill was in talks with a Chinese fishing farmer to try and keep the ponds clean to the specifications of the FDA.  Obviously the farm was indeed struggling to keep it clean enough to keep it open.

Mr. Xie Chen was in talks with Bill attempting to bring in cheap sustainable carp which would eat up any unwanted vegetation which was seen as harmful to the edible catfish for market.  What was originally seen as a genius idea soon would later change the course of history.

First, Mr. Xie Chen suggested three types of carp.  Grass Carp, Common Carp, and Black Carp.  These fish were beautiful.  The grass carp was the most prized fish in China.  It's stream submarine bullet shaped body really made it a desirable shape to sell in the Chinese fish markets.

The common carp was a pest fish in America.  The Germans brought them to America hoping they would become sustainable fish for the new settlers but it never took hold.  Americans didn't want carp nor wanted to eat carp.  Even though the common carp was European in origin.

The Black Carp was much harder species to maintain.  Similar to the shape of grass carp, black carp relied on crustaceans.  They ate crawfish and mussels.  This meant that farmers had to feed these fish different things in the pond to keep them going.  However, in China, Black Carp was more expensive than some salmons.

At the time Jack never realized the problems that Arkansas was facing.  They were struggling to keep their ponds open due to the water conditions. Catfish was born out of necessity during the Great Depression in the South as a main source of food.  It was also one of the few bottom feeders that Americans ate in the early 1980's.

As Jack left the compound, Bill and Chen came out talking about shipping in the carp.  Laura was stunned.  She couldn't understand why a Chinese farmer would be in the South while the Japanese were already destroying the very foundation of American automobiles in Detroit.  It was as if Bill, her father, turned to the dark side betraying what it mean to be American, or Made in the USA.

Bill pulls Laura aside and explains, "Laura, the Chinese have been farming fish for over 2,000 years.  They have insight and experience that us white folk don't have.  Trust me on this, the carp will keep our business going."

Laura just sighs and agrees with the assessment that something had to be done to keep the business afloat.  You see, all around Arkansas, the Japanese Inc. was bypassing America in every field except farming.  GE and Zenith had just fallen under by better Panasonic televisions.    Toyota was building cars faster and better than anything Ford could conjure up.

And although the cow industry and fish industry was purely American in nature, it wasn't long before the fish farmers realized that the Japanese may come into America introducing their own versions of better beef and fish.

Mr. Chen speaks about the fish.  "Bill, the carp is a hardy fish.  It's cherished and worshiped in China.  You only need to keep it in the pond and it will clean it for you.  You need not feed them.  Sir, it's a magical fish which can be cooked and eaten over sweet and sour sauce.  You cannot go wrong sir."

Bill smiles, obviously knowing that carp would never be another catfish nor salmon.  It just didn't fare well in the South.  Most rural Americans saw carp as garbage fish.  They would make thousands of jokes about carp.  It was a pest fish.

Both Chen and Bill stood by the fish pond.  With a bucket of fry, they released some Asian Carp into the ponds as little critters.  The carp swam away beautifully as you would see them in paintings in China.  These weren't the specially bred species that most of us are used to seeing in koi ponds.  These were just gray fish, happy to swim in the waters.  No matter how dirty the ponds were.

Little did Arkansas know that they started something that would become irreversible in nature.  Carp would not only stay in the ponds to clean, they would eat so much vegetation that they would thrive in the pristine American water ways.

Eventually Jack the USGS biologist would return for inspections at Arkansas Catfish Farms.  Jack walks up and looks bewildered.  What he saw was a pond so clean that he just smiled.

"Bill, Laura, how on Earth did you manage to keep the ponds so clean?  I mean look at them catfish.  I feel like taking one out now and cooking it up in oil.  Sheesh..."  says Jack.

"Look, I'm no rocket scientist, but I am a certified biologist, and I'm seeing something here that could save America from the Japanese invasions.  I mean this could change fish farming forever."  Jack continues...

"What's that additional fish in the ponds?"  Jack asks. "Is that common carp there?"

"No." says Laura. "That's grass carp.  Mr. Chen suggested that we use these Chinese variety to eat up the vegetation and it wouldn't interfere with the catfish."

"That's just amazing stuff."  says Jack.  "Okay well I'm going to pass this idea along to every fisherman in our area.  I mean the waters never been this clean since we started inspections."

Jack was right.  What the USGS wasn't telling fish farmers was that the Chinese and even the Vietnamese were working to import cheaper fish from abroad.  Big chain stores like Sams and Wal-mart weren't interested in patriotism.  They cared about cheaper labor and bigger margins.

It wasn't long before GE, Zenith, and even American Motors were gone.  Much of what we saw as American icons in the industry began dying off.  Soon, the Japanese owned everything.  Pebble Beach CA became a Japanese company.  GE sold it's television unit to Japan.  Zenith as a brand just faltered.

And the catfish?  Well the farmers fought hard.  It wasn't long before the Vietnamese introduced their own native catfish.  Known as "Swai" or "Basa", these fish were easy to grow, they were easy to fillet, and these catfish were easily 1/2 the price of American catfish.

It wasn't long before swai fish became a staple in cheap American grocers.  Vietnam fish were seen as acceptable.  As were much of the ocean fishes which were caught off waters in other nations.  Except in this case, they weren't ocean fish, they were river fish.

What was happening to the auto industry and the consumer electronics industry was just getting started with the fish industry.