"Thar's gold in them thar gills!" Why this Peoria fish company wants to come to Pekin

Many central Illinois residents see Asian carp as an invasive species and a hazard to public waterways. But a wholesale and retail fresh water fish processing company sees them as an opportunity, and wants to set up a facility in Pekin.

“Choosing Pekin is probably the right choice for us because we have access to the boat ramps around here,” said Jared Vogel, an engineer for the Peoria-based company Freshwater Select Corp. “As the Asian carp industry begins to proliferate, more people will come online, such as boat manufacturers and net manufacturers.”

Freshwater Select processes Asian carp out of the Illinois River and other central Illinois waterways. The company targets four species: the silver carp, the grass carp, the bighead carp and the black carp.

Commercial fishermen will be able to take their fish to the Pekin plant for sorting by size and species before they are processed.

Vogel noted that commercial fishermen have been netting carp on the Illinois River for “quite a few years.” While those fishermen have always had access to carp processing plants, he believes Freshwater Solutions proposed Pekin facility can potentially operate on a larger scale.

“It’s not just the Asian carp we’re targeting,” he said. “It’s all freshwater species in commercial fishing. What we’re trying to do is build an old industry anew right here in central Illinois.”

Vogel added that the greater Peoria area gives Freshwater Solutions and the commercial fishermen who will supply the plant access to about 50 million pounds of fish per year and that fish are obviously a renewable resource. While they may be a nuisance to local boating enthusiasts, Asian carp is a highly sought-after fish globally. In terms of nutrition value, wild-caught Asian carp is second only to wild-caught salmon.

“Every other country around us uses this fish, “Vogel said. “They are asking for us to get it out of here and ship it to them. So, the demand is there.”

Freshwater Select’s mission includes working toward a “blue economy,” according to Vogel. The company uses renewable energy to collect and process the fish so as to have as minimal an impact on the environment as possible.

“When we started to do this business, we wanted to do it right,” said Vogel.

The Pekin Daily Times reached out to Freshwater Select Chief Executive Officer Matt Sulkowski for further comment but has not yet received a response.

This article originally appeared on Pekin Daily Times: Freshwater Solutions seeks to start fish processing plant in Pekin