Our Friend the Carp?

Frigid days like these make us all long for the long, languid days of summer when the kids run free, the blooming corn makes bigger thunderstorms, and Lake Herman glitters under the high golden sun.

Of course, we know that by July, that glitter will take on a familiar greenish tint, as the algae comes back and makes walking on water something even mere mortals can do.

I'll still take a steamy summer day with a certain green aroma than our 40th day of subzero sunrise. But if blue-green algae ruins your summer fun, the Chinese may have an all-natural solution: the wily carp:

East China's Anhui Province has resorted to the biological measure of using algae-eating fish to clear the polluted Chaohu Lake, the country's fifth largest body of freshwater.

This week, Chaohu Fishery Administration put more than 50,000 silver carp fry into the lake. It will add another 1.55 million in the coming 20 days, said deputy director Wu Changjun on Wednesday.

A silver carp will have eaten between 40 and 50 kilograms of blue algae when it reaches one kilogram. The school of fish is expected to effectively curb the blue algae pollution.

The fish could also sell for 7.5 million yuan (1.05 million U.S. dollars) on the market by year end, 15 times the investment in the fry. While the fishery authority has paid for the fry, fishermen are free to catch the mature fish, according to Wu [Xinhua news agency, "China to Put 1.6 Million Fish into Lake to Clear Algae," People's Daily Online, 2008.02.21].

No word on how those carp will taste.

Evidently the Chinese aren't worried about other possible ecosystem harms. But if algae is our biggest concern, maybe after last fall's big backhoe harvest, GF&P needs to restock Lake Herman with more of our friend the carp.