Authorities around Japan's largest lake have launched a "catch-and-eat" drive to eliminate the bluegill as the emperor himself voiced regret about introducing the fish.
Emperor Akihito, a fish expert, brought the bluegill from the US a half-century ago when he was crown prince, hoping to offer a new source of food to Japan.
But the bluegill, once celebrated as "prince fish," has turned into a nuisance in Japanese rivers and lakes by feeding on native species.
The central province of Shiga has introduced what it calls "catch and eat," encouraging people who fish bluegill in Japan's Lake Biwa not to release but to eat them.
The prefecture's official Web site has pictures showing how to slice open the fish, along with recipes to make bluegill fries and cook them with sweet-and-sour sauce.
"The fish taste very good," Shiga fisheries official Kunihiko Kuwamura said.
Bluegill is common dinner fare in the US and is the state fish of Illinois, where Chicago's legendary mayor Richard J. Daley offered the fish specimen as a gift to the visiting Akihito in 1960.
Akihito voiced regret in a speech at a fisheries event on Nov. 11, saying Lake Biwa's catch had plunged because of foreign-origin fish.
"I brought bluegill back from the United States nearly 50 years ago and donated them to a research institute of the Fisheries Agency," said Akihito, whose public remarks are usually ceremonial.
"Its cultivation started as there were great expectations of raising them for food in those days. My heart aches to see it has turned out like this," Akihito said.
Kuwamura said the prefecture has tried for years to get rid of foreign-origin fish and that the emperor's remark "is a boon for us."
"We will keep pushing ahead," he said. (AFP)
日本天皇表示後悔引進大翻車魚的做法後，日本最大湖泊鄰近區域當局發起了一項「釣魚、吃魚」運動，希望消滅湖中這個外來魚種。
本身是魚類專家的明仁天皇，在五十年前他還是王儲時，從美國引進大翻車魚，本意是為日本提供新的食物來源。
大翻車魚一度被稱為「太子魚」，但因牠們掠食日本原生魚種，成了日本河川和湖泊中不受歡迎的魚類。
日本中部的滋賀縣推行了一項名為「釣魚、吃魚」的運動，鼓勵在琵琶湖捕捉到大翻車魚的民眾，不要放生，而是把牠們吃掉。
滋賀縣在官方網站以圖片教導民眾如何將大翻車魚切片，還搭配酥炸糖醋大翻車魚的食譜。
「這種魚非常美味，」滋賀縣水產官員桑村邦彥表示。
大翻車魚在美國是常見的晚餐菜餚，也是伊利諾州的州魚。芝加哥的著名市長理察J.達利在一九六Ｏ年將該魚送給訪美的明仁皇太子作為禮物。
本月十一日，明仁天皇在一場水產活動的演說中對此舉表達後悔，他表示，這種外來魚種導致琵琶湖的漁獲量驟減。
「將近五十年前，我從美國引進大翻車魚，並將其捐給水產廳所屬的一個研究所，」鮮少發表個人觀感的明仁天皇罕見地說。
「當時為了增加食物，才開始大量繁殖這種魚。看到情況演變成如此，我感到十分痛心，」明仁天皇說。
桑村表示，滋賀縣多年來都在嘗試消滅外來魚類，天皇的言論對我們來說是「一大福音」。
「我們會持續推動該計畫，」他說。
（法新社／翻譯：袁星塵 )
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