BAIRD, Miss. (AP) - If you can't beat them, eat them.
That's Mississippi's approach to invasive Asian carp, trying to turn the fish into a job-creator by catching them, slaughtering them and exporting them to China.
Moon River Foods said Tuesday that it would invest $3 million and hire up to 100 people to harvest the fish, filleting and packaging them at a plant in Baird, near Indianola.
But Roger Liu, a representative of the Chinese company planning the plant, says Moon River hopes to process 50 tons of Asian carp each day.
Those who study the carp and Mississippi fisheries question whether carp stocks would hold up if fished so heavily, or even if Moon River could find enough fishermen. In 2010, Mississippi estimated 285 tons of carp were caught in the state.