Congressman: Biden Admin ‘More Concerned with Woke Appearances’ After Renaming Invasive ‘Asian Carp’

The Biden administration renamed invasive “Asian carp” fish over concerns the moniker invokes negative racial connotations.

Blaze Media reported the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “quietly” changed “Asian carp” to “invasive carp” to “move away from any terms” that may “cast Asian culture and people in a negative light.”

The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, which is a collection of U.S. and Canadian agencies battling the species, will change its name August 2, according to KRCG.

“Asian carp” is a collective term referring to large bottom-feeding fish originating in Asia that have found their way to the United States. Perhaps the most notable is the Silver Carp, native to China, which react to boat motor noises by launching themselves into the air, frequently pelting boaters and causing injuries.

North American Fishing produced this in 2013 showing Silver Carp in the Illinois River:

One fish was caught on camera breaking a woman’s jaw as she sat in a boat and it flew through the air at high speed.

Regardless of its origins, the Biden administration is zeroing in on a name that leftists believe may impact Asian humans.

“If you say it’s invasive, bad, and needs to be eradicated, even though it’s because of miscommunication, that’s why there’s talk about cultural insensitivity,” Song Qian, professor of environmental sciences at the University of Toledo, told the AP, according to Blaze Media.

But Kevin Irons, assistant fisheries chief with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said the word “carp” is a “four-letter word in this country.” Irons was featured in the North American Fishing piece.

The fish and wildlife agency continues to maintain AsianCarp.us, a website dedicated to informing Americans about the dangers of Asian carp and its efforts to eradicate them “because they gorge on plankton that other fish need.”

In 2019, the Army Corps of Engineers approved a $778 million plan to keep the fish out of the Great Lakes using “noisemakers, electric cables and other devices,” according to WTTW.

“With the Asian Carp on the doorstep of our region’s most vital natural resource, we have a small window of time to stop this invasive species before it inflicts irreparable damage on our Great Lakes and our $7 billion fishing industry and equally important tourism industry,” Democrat U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH) said.

Minnesota State Sen. Foung Hawj (D) was happy with the change, especially after a sign in the Minneapolis airport read “Kill Asian Carp.”

“It’s a nuisance, a small thing, but it can resonate greatly,” he said.

“Under President Biden, the federal government is more concerned with ‘woke’ appearances than finding tangible solutions to the problems at hand,” U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) told Breitbart News.

“This is absolute window dressing that does nothing to stop the threat these fish pose to the ecology and the economy of the Great Lakes,” he said.

“I’m committed to stopping this invasive species, no matter what we call it, and the Biden Administration is welcome to join me when they are done playing the ‘name game,’” Huizenga said.

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on GETTR.