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Subscribe to RSSBEIJING -- Wanted dead or alive: two Chinese piranhas.
News that piranhas, which are native to the South American waters of the Amazon, have come to the Chinese city of Liuzhou, has compelled local authorities to offer a $150 reward to anyone who can land one of the fish, any way they can.
Amateur fishermen have flocked to the city, in the southern autonomous region of Guangxi, to take part in the hunt. Issued fishing poles and doled out portions of meat for bait, these sport fishermen have been warmly encouraged to perch up on the banks of the Liujiang River to take a stab at hooking the beasts.
Dozens of experienced local fishermen have also been hired by the city government and relevant departments to trawl the river – normally forbidden by city ordinance – in a dragnet that has run systematically through the river.
Though the piranhas are not native to the region, ancient Chinese fishing techniques have been employed to hook the foreign invaders. Fishermen in Liuzhou were using banzeng, a system in which a net baited with one and a half pounds of pork is suspended from a series of bamboo poles and alternatively lowered 11 inches into the water and raised every 10 minutes.
Local media noted that the fishermen operating the four banzeng were operating them on 24-hour watches, dutifully fighting what some Chinese microbloggers have dubbed "the people's war against the piranha."
Bitten while bathing his dog
It all started earlier this week when Chinese state media reported that two men in Liuzhou were badly bitten by piranhas as they enjoyed the warm waters of the Liujiang River.
Zhang Kaibo was swimming and washing his dog in the river when at least three red-belly piranhas attacked him. Zhang managed to catch one of the piranhas with a net after he and his dog leaped out of the water – but not before Zhang was badly bitten on his hand, requiring stitches.
The local fisheries department held an emergency meeting and came up with a rash of policies, including the bounty, to hunt down the piranhas still at large.
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‘Intensive fish hunt’
NBC News attempted to contact the local city fisheries department on Thursday, but was told breathlessly that the entire department had gone down to the river to participate in the hunt.
An official who requested anonymity later contacted NBC News and said that despite days of intense fishing, none of the remaining piranhas has been caught.
"The latest development is that we will suspend our intensive fish hunt at 6 p.m. tomorrow," the official told NBC.
"[The hunt] has been a serious disturbance to the ecological system here since we are catching a huge number of carnivorous fish every day and the cost is also very high," the official said.
Exotic fish owners to blame?
The official blamed local exotic fish owners who had been unaware of how expensive it costs to maintain carnivorous fish like piranhas for their presence in the Liujiang River.
"I can only speculate that these were kept as ornamental fish and the hosts were probably intimidated by their appetites and released them," the official said.
Want to get rich in China? Foil a hijacking
Earlier this week, Zhou Quan, a spokesman for the Liuzhou government told the China Daily newspaper that, "residents in this city have no need to worry about piranhas in the Liu River." Zhou cited the fact that the fish cannot survive in water cooler than 59 degrees Fahrenheit, making it likely that the piranhas would freeze once the cooler winter months arrived.
Loose controls
That assessment was shared by Wang Songjin, Senior Officer for the World Wildlife Fund’s China Marine Program.
"In China there are some nasty stories of invasive species,” said Wang, "but I don’t actually think piranhas should be the species we should be most concerned about."
Wang noted that while laws and regulations exist that restrict the import of invasive species into China, they can sometimes be loosely enforced, especially when it involves financially lucrative animals. In the case of piranhas, Wang noted that in his investigations, fish markets around China were selling common types of piranhas for up to $160 per fish.
"With species that can bring in a lot of money, the controls can be rather loose," Wang said.
Sizable reward
Still, the intense fish-hunt has generated interest throughout the country and especially on China's websphere. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, many netizens were getting a good chuckle at the fat bounties placed on the heads of these two fish.
"When you work 30 days and only get 10,000 yuan [$1,568] a month … fishing in Liuzhou for 1,000 [yuan] a fish is like heaven!"wrote one user.
Another Weibo user had another solution for dealing with the piranha threat: "Just ask some medical expert to declare piranha organs as beneficial to human health. ... That should put them into extinction soon enough."
NBC News’ Tianzhou Ye contributed to this report.
Correction: July 13, 2012
This version corrects an earlier currency miscalculation. 10,000 yuan equals $1,568.
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Leave a Comment:
If the Americans had the nerve to do something like this then perhaps the United States would still be a great country, too bad their all hyped up on "human rights" nonsense to do what is efficent and logical
Seems to me this is not very smart, spending all of tha money and resource to catch two fish that are going to die anyway when winter comes. Sorry, but I don't see how this equates to greatness, stupidity possibly, but not greatness.
I'm guessing that some local government official has found a way to pay his brother in law sick amounts of money to go hunt two fish that are not a problem anyway.
Victory, what are you talking about? How would the US be a greater country by using unnecessary resources to chase down a couple of fish who would die anyway? Really, what do you mean and how do these fish or their silly efforts have to do with how great or not great the US is?
"...since we are catching a huge number of carnivorous fish every day"
Sounds like more than two billybob. If you hold up all your fingers, that's usually ten.
This may be what the United States needs to do. Much of our environment is being destroyed by non-native species, especially the asian carp in the mississippi, which our government is spending a bundle to make sure does not reach the great lakes. These species destroy everything in their path because they have no native predator. Much of our forests, lakes, and rivers, are being overtaken and we do nothing about it. A bounty system would sure as hell bring these species in line
Frugal, yes, a bounty campaign on Aisian carp would help, with unlimted harvest controls, but I don't know if that'll encourage more people than the current #s of fishers to go out to fish for them. Maybe if someone comes up w/ a delicious recipe for them (& a name change would be help) & there becomes a ready # of customers for them, some enterprising souls will decide they could make a living catching them. And doesn't fish meal make a decent fertilizer? What about pet food? Find a use for the damn things, preferably multiple uses, before they take over & eat everything else. Promote eating them as a "green" thing to do, being as they will destroy the environment, given enough time.
where is PITA?
I'm sure all the piranhas will be eaten before they know it.
The next chinese delicacy.
For $150 per fish, I would skip work and get out there with my fishing pole!
Sounds like they already are.
I would rather put up with a piranha in a river than a shark in a boardroom.
They don't care about poisoning every part of their environment with every known toxin to man, or mass killings of whales, shark fins, rhino horns. etc.......but let a piranha in China and its a National Crisis.......I am still baffled by how they survived as a culture this wong........... :(
Skull, that was my thought too. Strange indeed.
As opposed to here in the US where we're fighting to teach creationism in schools, fighting against clean US sourced renewable energy in favor of massive oil exports from countries that hate us, fighting against scientific research, fighting against clean air and water standards, etc.
While we have millions of out work and crumbling infrastructure we're fighting over whether we should allow employers to ban employee contraception.
Our culture is clearly superior.
Real world you just pulled the ultimate liberal self contradiction and dont even know it. Mining natural recources creates jobs, always has. Green energy companies go bankrupt (solyndra?) because theyre highly inefficient and money has to go to R&D rather than wages to keep them afloat if even possible. You libs dont even know how economics works. You cant cut the mining industries and scream we need jobs in the same sentence.
Skull - if you start the rumor that eating piranha gives you a large member then you will see piranha farms popping up all over and that river will be a protected site.
That is reason why the asians are so intent on killing rhinos and other endangered animals.
I'm sure that's the same reason why Teddy Roosevelt went to hunt lions and bears.
thatguydownsouth- you think that mining companies don't invest in R&D? Many green companies are doing extremely well, and at least their source won't run out one day.
I'm not saying mining is bad, its both good and necessary. However, that does not mean that green companies are bad, nor that there should be no environmental or safety regulations on mining
When I hear "fighting against clean air and water standards" the first thing that comes to mind is the "end fracking" crowd. Have you seen the unemployment numbers in fracking towns? Near zero.
Now that is funny, I don't care who you are......Good One......... :)
RealWor1dProgressive & thatguydownsouth......... You both make good points..... I personally feel that Hydrogen is the way to, atleast as a minimum way to run our power plants........And do not give me that crap that it's too costly for R&D.......I can make pure hydrogen gas in my garage.....Take a car battery charger, a beaker of "salted" water, put in two separate conducting rods ( I used 12 ga. copper wire) ....attach the battery charger leads, one to each rod (+) & (-).....plug in charger on trickle charge and watch the bubbles coming from each rod....one set of bubbles is PURE oxygen, the other set is PURE hydrogen.......now take a match and hold it next to the bubbles.......the oxygen side will do nothing.....on the hydrogen side, the bubbles will snap and pop from the hydrogen combusting........now for a 100% renewable source....for the minor electric charge needed to make this possible, you could use wind power, hydro (dam) power, or solar panels to generate the electric needed to make this happen...........And people pay 10's of thousands to go to college (JOKE).....and others pay 100's of thousands not to pursue this method, because they make too much $$$$ from mining, or drilling, and destroying our Environment...... hydrogen fueling pumps and fuel cells are already in production, and older car conversions are not that expensive....but a new hydrogen car design would need to be done.....and that is no problem at all either...............
True Realworld, America is confounded by stupidity. Americans just loves to be lied to. Cheaper, convenient more renewable energy is there for the taking but our Politicians and Lobbyist have blinded many to believe that Solar, Hydrogen and Ethanol is too expensive. This is a Wall street type LIE. BIG EARL (OIL) is the reason why Big Business and Politicians don't want competitors.
BIG EARL (OIL) is KILLING AMERICA.
America is relying too heavily on OIL because our greedy Politicians and Lobbyist have investments in OIL which is a Conflict of INTEREST.
The article never said the river only had 3 piranha in it, but that a man was bitten by 3 of them.
You would think the three spotted is just what was seen, like with an iceberg there is lot going on you can't see.
I didn't think it was too funny to suggest that a medical authority state that piranha organs are a health aid as an eradication strategy. I'm frankly tired of hearing about the slaughter of animals by Asians to be ground up and used as folk remedies for what ails them. Just to be fair and not single out Asians, I think man in general has improperly prioritized animal sustainability way too low. From naval sonar deafening marine mammals to death, to rare whales being struck by cargo ships, destroying wilderness for mining or logging that animals depend on to thrive, to pouring poisonous trash into the ground and waters all over the planet.
Man vs. the Animal Kingdom...It's simply too big of a problem to fix. Capitalists will fight any cause that means they have to shrink profits to save the animals. Everyone wants a quick and free fix but who really would be willing sacrifice whatever it takes for the betterment of lesser species? It would require that every man without a conscience, for some external reason, to all wake up one day with a conscience, and the desire to solve ecological problems no matter what the cost to humans are. God will have to appear in the sky speaking thousands of languages at once so everyone can hear His wishes and His way out of the dilemma we are in. Of course too many will say He is not real, He is some alien race that has an agenda and is just manipulating us.
I reckon the day or reckoning is near.
Skunky Shoes -Everyone wants a quick and free fix but who really would be willing sacrifice whatever it takes for the betterment of lesser species.
Animals are not lesser - they are different. Many terrible policies have been created though history, based on the premise that "others" are lesser. (Irregardless of what some man wrote in a "divinely" inspired passage thousands of years ago)
That's what you get for putting snakeheads and asian carp in U.S. rivers and ponds
@ the editor, you need to check your yuan>$ conversion rates. Your story has no credibility because it makes no sense....$10000 yuan does not equate to $4700...do any of your other numbers make sense?
"...get 10,000 yuan ($4,700) a month … fishing in Liuzhou for 1,000 [yuan] a fish is like heaven!"wrote one user."
If you work it over with some of that fancy third grade reading there billybob, you'll see those are the words of one user. I done ciphered that from the last few words.
Try $1569 instead.
They should just start a rumor that piranha meat is an afrodisiac, the Chinese will hunt them to extinction.
They should just announce that piranha eyeballs are a better aphrodisiac than rhino horn. Problem solved.
They should be worried about the piranha becoming numerous. Everyone knows that after you eat Chinese , you're hungry again in 2 hours ! If they make it to Japan the headlines will be " Sushi Strike Back."
I think professional writers should also have to use calculators. additionally they should use internet listings for current conversions of currencies. You should say "Just over $150," or, "Around $150."
Also, most workers in china make under 4000 RMB per month. fishing is not one of the jobs to earn more than 4000 either.
writers should all learn how to use tools such as calculators and currency converters (there must be a dozen online).
Additionally, I know for a fact that fishermen do not make 10,000 Yuan in china. School teachers and policemen would be lucky to earn that much.
Summary: do your math, do your fact checking, do your damn editing.
Good call. I noticed that too but you beat me to it :)
At first I thought - what a great idea, we should send all of our folks to Washington, D.C. to do this.
The I realized that the article was only about killing the FISH called a Piranha.
Why not just say they are good for improving your sex life. There won't be a piranha in China by the end of the week.
1.5+ billion people. I'd say their sex life is pretty damned good already.
maybe they need an aligator or 2.
I didn't read the story, but I understad China has put a bounty on Lawyers?
'"When you work 30 days and only get 10,000 yuan ($4,700) a month … fishing in Liuzhou for 1,000 [yuan] a fish is like heaven!"wrote one user.'
The truth is 10,000 yuan is only about $1,550.00 per month. MSNBC needs to hire reporters who passed first grade math.
Huh! Ive been to Guanxi provonce, on the north border of vietnam, and I am not real sure, as it was 7 years ago, but 10,000 yuan was 1250 bucks, not 4,700... and people there make more like 500 bucks a month, if they're lucky. people that make the kind of money they are talking about are factory owners , or live in Shanghai...
Is there any way we can let these fish swim thriugh the Halls of Congress? Great way to cut the budget. Congressmen die and we don't even have to attend a funeral or pay for it All in favor say aye, AYES. All opposed say Nay. .... No one......THE AYES HAVE IT
uh-huh, 2 fish in one river is it??,.. sure pal,, your going to catch them,,, not!!,, ha ha...people are strange at times are they not??..an interesting study in human psychology and the power of money[that most evil of poisons]...some interesting comments here this am,..re;carp??.. I have eaten them, millions of asians eat them,. in fact they encourage them into their rice paddies in flood periods as pest control and food,,,they are a little course, but not bad and very good in stews etc,..and they are not just carnivorous,, they will eat literally anything,, vegetible and animal, insects, whatever,..and that is the problem,,if they ate one thing they could be much easier to control,,BTW, in Burma & area,, if you dig a hole, let it fill with water,, carp will appear,,,even though it is not!! connected to any other waterways,their eggs can live in soil for very long periods[interesting no??]..also, re;cheatah and hydrogen?.. yes indeed,, we are surely missing the boat with that,..a very efficient fuel,, available to all, cheap or no cost at all,, non polluting, has 5 times the available btu,s per unit versus gasoline,..otherwise known as..."water"...yes, thats right,, H2 and!! O...mix the two?[as gases] and stand back,, way back!!.[the "O" acts as a multiplier]..there are methods of "cracking" it that use zero energy[it is shape defined[ think, penguin etc],.. almost all engines in use already can be converted to H use at low costs[relatively speaking]...it is the old "100 mile carbeurator" story again,,, no one wants to develop it because it is cheap and even free[imagine filling your vehicle with your!! garden hose, ]...sometimes,,OOTB works out,,,btw,, in a turbine??.. huge power gains and zero emision damages[water is the only discharge]...methinks, some OOTB on the Carp question could also bring results,..no??..as for these "man eating" fish in china?? nature will look after them come the winter,..someone must have had them for a long time for them to get so big??.lets hope if some lucky person does manage to do the impossible[it does happen now and again],,and we will get that story too,..
Obama just promised $5million to Vietnam to help their economy. What is this nit-wit thinking? He can't even turn our economy around and he is going to help Vietnam? Guess we'll be borrowing $5 mil from China to support Vietnam. This administration is a bunch of a**es.
The only problem is if you tell the Chinese that Piranha's a sexual stimulant, good for their manhood or whatever the next thing you know their won't be a Piranha in all of South America or Africa or where ever the things live. I do think it funny as H*ll that China is having problems with some idiots letting invasive species since their dumb A$$ have been doing ever where else in the world
In the US, we would have the local Christian church baptized the piranhas and registered them as members of the church. Then, we would only see them on Christmas and Easter ;-)
Don't the Chinese know that Piranha is a great aphrodisiac, making a man (and a woman) very aggressive sexually? Especially during a full Moon or on days of the week ending with "ay". As in "aaaayyyyyyy!"
(That should do it!) : )
"What comes around goes around" "Pay back is a b-tch" comes to mind.
Tired of the term "invasive species". It suggests the species somehow invaded a new territory on its own. Fact is they got pulled from their native environments by man, transported by man, and in sometimes a round about way was introduced into a new environment by man. They should call them "unwillingly relocated species".
Invasive species makes it sound like they are the bad guy in the room, when in fact they are just doing what they do...Surviving! But then again it would be hard to campaign for a war against "unwillingly relocated species", we however pick up the war stick easily to fight off invaders though!
The crime to humanity is in the hands of man.