Why Asian carp are the most useful fish in America right now
Asian carp have been in the Illinois River since the 1970s. They got there the same way most invasive species do — through a combination of optimism and poor planning.
Asian carp have been in the Illinois River since the 1970s. They got there the same way most invasive species do — through a combination of optimism and poor planning. Aquaculture operations in Arkansas imported silver and bighead carp to control algae in their ponds. Flooding in the early 1990s did the rest.
Fifty years later, they comprise up to 90% of fish biomass in some stretches of the Illinois River. They've disrupted the food web, starved native filter-feeders, and made life difficult for commercial fishers trying to catch literally anything else. The state of Illinois has spent tens of millions of dollars on removal programs. The fish keep coming back.
The removal problem
Here's the thing about invasive species removal: you can't just stop. A single female silver carp produces up to one million eggs per year. Remove a population and the survivors fill the gap within a season. The only sustainable approach is continuous, large-scale removal — ideally tied to a use case that makes the effort economically viable.
That's the gap Fallow is trying to close. Every bag of silver carp strips we sell is tied to a documented removal harvest from Illinois DNR-partnered fisheries. The fish that go into our products are fish that would otherwise be composted or returned to the water. We're not the solution to the carp problem — no single company could be — but we're one small part of making the removal effort more sustainable.
Why they're actually good for dogs
Set aside the ecological story for a moment and just look at the nutrition. Silver carp are filter feeders, which means they accumulate almost no heavy metals or environmental contaminants — a genuine problem with many ocean fish. They're extremely high in protein (38g per 100g) and rich in omega-3 fatty acids. They have a clean flavor profile that dogs respond well to.
The honest version: we didn't start with the fish and work backward to find a use. We started with the ecological problem and found that the best protein source for solving it happened to be genuinely excellent dog food. That's the Fallow loop.