Asian carp controversy: The view from Shanghai

Great Lakes invasion
Two Asian carp are displayed Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment hearing on preventing the induction of the carp, a aquatic invasive species into the Great Lakes. The Asian carp, which can grow up to 100 pounds, were caught in Havana, Ill.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

The Obama administration's Asian carp czar, John Goss, is among those officials meeting Thursday in Bloomington, Minn. to discuss the invasive fish's spread as part of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.

The group is charged with trying to come up with strategies to stop the Asian carp, especially over in Illinois where the fish is nearing the Great Lakes.

In Minnesota, there are efforts underway to address the fact that the fish is already in the Mississippi River. Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr will be in Bloomington Thursday.

The carp is native in Asia, but harder to find. Adam Minter, a native Minnesotan and writer, now lives in Shanghai. He noticed a recent flurry of social media activity in China about the American debate over the carp. It turns out there are plenty of people in China who love the fish as a food item and don't understand the controversy.

Minter joins The Daily Circuit Thursday.

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