Common Carp - As Food and Sport

As Food and Sport

Cyprinus carpio is the number one fish of aquaculture. The annual tonnage of common carp, not to mention the other cyprinids, produced in China alone exceeds the weight of all other fish, such as trout and salmon, produced by aquaculture worldwide. Roughly three million tonnes are produced annually, accounting for 14% of all farmed freshwater fish in 2002. China is by far the largest commercial producer, accounting for about 70% of carp production. Carp is eaten in many parts of the world both when caught from the wild and raised in aquaculture. In Central Europe, it is a traditional part of a Christmas Eve dinner. Many people in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia buy a live carp and bring it home three or two days before Christmas Eve. It is kept one or two days in a bathtub, and then killed. Traditional Czech Christmas Eve dinner is thick soup of carp's head and offal, fried carp meat with potato salad or boiled carp in black sauce. In some Czech families, the carp is not killed, but after Christmas returned to a river or pond. Slovak Christmas eve dinner is quite similar with soup varying according to the region and fried carp as the main dish. In Western Europe, the carp is cultured more commonly as a sport fish, although there is a small market as food fish. Carp are mixed with other common fish to make gefilte fish, popular in Jewish cuisine.

Common carp are extremely popular with anglers in many parts of Europe, and their popularity as quarry is slowly increasing among anglers in the United States (though destroyed as pests in many areas), and southern Canada. Carp are also popular with spear, bow, and fly fishermen.

The Romans farmed carp and this pond culture continued through the monasteries of Europe and to this day. In China, Korea and Japan, carp farming took place as early as the Yayoi Period (c. 300 BC – 300 AD).

Carp eggs used for caviar is an increasing popularity in the United States.