Workers try to turn Asian carp into fertilizer

LA SALLE—Workers along the Illinois River are trying to prevent an invasive species of fish from threatening the Great Lakes by catching it and turning it into fertilizer.

The (La Salle) News-Tribune reports that contractors pulled 65,000 pounds of Asian carp from the Illinois River in two days.

That’s a sliver of the population of the voracious, 100-pound fish, which can starve other river wildlife and could threaten the $7-billion-a-year fishing industry in the Great Lakes.

State fish biologist Ken Clodfelter told a group of fishermen in LaSalle that he watched workers load carp into air-conditioned trailers to be taken for processing as fertilizer.

Some businesses also process Asian carp into fillets to be shipped abroad.