carp

While Illinois deals with invasive Asian Carp in its waterways, medical marijuana plants are ripening for sale across the state. 

The Pekin City Council voted down a motion to receive and file a study of markets for Asian Carp.  The study looked at a market for human consumption of the fish:

Teams of bowfishermen are hitting the Illinois River Saturday morning for the first Flying Fish festival and bowfishing tournament.  The goal is to rid the river of the invasive Asian Carp species while bringing awareness to the sport of bow-fishing.  Jim Goff is General Manager at Bass Pro Shops that’s helping put on the event. He says sponsoring the Flying Fish festival fits the company’s values to help conservation and preservation efforts of area waterways.

A carp processing facility on the Illinois River is still being considered. It’s estimated such a facility could create 40 initial jobs and cost as much as $10 million to build. That’s according to Peoria County Rural Economic Development Director John Hamann. He says investors from China, Texas and New York are looking at building a possible carp facility. Hamann says Peoria, East Peoria, Pekin and Chillicothe have also identified physical sites where a plant could locate. He says an ideal location can be tricky to nail down:

The Peoria area needs a facility to process carp from the Illinois River.  That's the message from government and fishing industry officials during a meeting to talk about the invasive fish.  The nearest processing facility is in Thomson, Illinois.  Area fisherman Orion Briney says having a local facility would boost his bottom line: