1. OVERVIEW.

2. HARVESTER
   1. The harverster is a chain drive series of baskets made of perforated metal on a steel frame. The frame is about eight to ten feet wide and baskets are placed shoulder-to-shoulder as the ride up the ramp. The baskets are about 3' wide x 3' high x 4' long. There are two rows of these baskets - one left and one right. This conveyor systems rides on a boom ramp which is hinged at the top and which can be raised and lowered. Normally the leading edge of the lowest basket is must above the river bottom. As it moves up, fish are caught in the baskets and lifted to a split hopper, the top of which is about ten feet above the deck of the barge. The hopper on the port side dumps the fish on the port sorting conveyor and the hopper on the starboard side dumps the fish on the starboard sorting conveyor. These sorting conveyors move from the centerline to the outside. The sorting conveyors are about 2.5 feet wide and about 12 feet long on the topside.
   2. There are workers sitting at this belt, picking out the game fish and non-trash fish, then inserting them in tubes which return them to the river. We want ALL game fish return because one of our pitches is that we are changing the balance of carp to gamefish. We especially need to take good care of rare or endangered species of wildlife in this operation and the design and operation must design to be friendly to theses species.

1. The non-market carp and dead fish are ground at the Carp-Avenger grinder, then pumped to the following rendering plant barge. The fish processing barge or boat also grinds the trimmings and pumps the slush to the rendering barge.
2. At the right and left sides of the ramp, there are walls which prevent the fish from going between the sides of the conveyor and the walls – some type of rugged gasket. At the front edge of this wall, wings are hinged. These wings can be moved in or out or up and down or canted so as to avoid obstructions and more or less match the bottom elevation and the banks of the river. These wings are perforated so that small fish can swim through. We don't want to expend much labor sorting very small fish, so the mesh openings in these wings would be to be adjusted to some optimum level of passage of small fish. We expect that some adult carp will get through, under or around these wings and continue to spawn. Repeated annual sweeps will be needed to reduce the adult carp population.
   
3. At the extreme forward corners, we would install knuckle booms with a grapple and an operator to pickup snags and other floating objects in the way of the harvester, hoist them up and drop them on or near the banks, if possible, for later retrieval. If a foreign object was caught in the conveyor basket, the boom could be raised, reversed if necessary, and the grapple used to remove the foreign object.
4. Fish drivers. Ahead of the harvester, two skiffs would drive the carp toward the harvester and use shock to make the fish move away from the skiffs toward the harvester.
5. The barge would be built with a very large tube or rectangle which runs from behind the conveyor system to the stern of the barge. In this race-way is a large, slow turning propeller which draws water through the conveyor so that fish follow the flow of water into the baskets.
   
1. RENDERING PLANT
   1. Oil removal

2. Removal of solids

3. Waste water

4. Transfer of oil and meal.

1. FISH PROCESSING BOAT
   1. The fish processing boat would house the machinery to create fillets from the larger carp. There would be the transfer system for live carp from the Carp-Avenger, and the transfer of meal from the rendering plant barge.
   2. The machinery would also include a gutter, a deheader, a skinner and a fillet machine which avoids the bones.
   3. The fillets would need to be inspected and any red meat and bones removed.
   4. The fillets would be treated, then individually sealed in plastic. The would then be run through a microwave food processing tunnel to kill all pathogens.
   5. The fillets would then be vacuum-sealed, then weighed, flash frozen and then bagged in a larger zip-lock back for retail sale.
   6. The fish plant will need many workers, which means the operation will need a floating dormitory boat ("Flotel"), which will be to be a mini-city with room and board and other needs supplied by the workers. We would need a second boat to serve these needs.. We would be smart to hire as many "locals" as possible and provide daily pickup and return along the river at docks. The idea is to spread the wealth and spread the politics in our favor.
2. QUALITY CONTROL
   1. PCB. Many of the rivers have sediment contaminated with PCBs and other toxi chemicals. The company will need to identify the location, persistence and strength of these toxins and to what extent they enter the food chain of carp. We will need to setup a testing rubric to assure our customers that the fillets are safe to eat and that the fish meal is safe to feed to livestock used for human food and animal feed.
   2. We need to be alert to the removal of other invasive aquatic life which is an environmental danger and which has some residual use, such as animal feed or compost.
3. BUSINESS PLAN
   1. We need a comprehensive study of the above process from an engineering and operational viewpoint. We will need to patent that which is patentable. We need a prelilminary design, a final design, a parts list, sources and prices, and an Project Management Plan with time lines and cost spread in the matrix.
   2. We would also need to draft applications for grants from government and private sources.
   3. We would need to examine, understand and be prepared to obtain all necessary permits.
   4. We will need a funding strategy for matching funds and for equity and debt financing if grants are not available.
   5. We will need a "C" corporation organized and run as a workers' cooperative (deal point for Jim Miller) See: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7565584850785786404&hl=en#
   6. We need a plan for equity funding which allows for worker control and yet invites different sources of equity funding. I am consultant to Bioenergy, a corporation in East London, East Cape, Repulic of South Africa on their business plan. I have devised this system of equity participation:

PROPOSED CLASSIFICATION OF SHARES OF CARP CATCHERS CO-OP, LLC

Class A: Membership. Each natural person, who has been admitted to membership in the Company, who pays or signs an agreement to pay the consideration of 1000 Rand, adjusted for deflation or inflation as established by the Board, and who signs the Organizational Agreement, shall be issued one Class A share. A Class A shall be entitled to one vote on all matters coming before the shareholders at the Annual Meeting or any Special Meeting of Shareholders. Directors shall also hold membership in good standing during their tenure.

Class B: Member Equity Shares. Class B shares may be issued and sold only to holders of Class A shares for the consideration as set by the Board of Directors and shall have the rights as set forth in the Resolution(s) adopted by the Board and approved by simple majority vote of all of the Class A shareholders. Class B shares shall have the priority call on the net assets of the Company as set forth below.

All Class A and Class B shares shall be held and owned by persons who are enrolled as full-time workers and permanent Members of the Company. “Full time” means that the average worker performs compensated or non-compensated work at the direction of the Company for 24 hours per week, calculated on an average during the preceding quarter. The Board of Directors may by resolution establish reasonable and fair exceptions and waivers to this rule, subject prior approval by a simple majority of Class A shareholders.
Class C Shares: Non-member Equity Shares. Class C shares may be issued and sold to persons who are not Members of the Company in accordance with resolutions adopted by the Board of Directors and approved by majority vote of all of the Class A shareholders. Class C shares shall have the rights and privileges as set forth in the issuance resolution, which shall include the priorities set forth below and the right to receive dividends of not less than at the rate of ten percent per annum. Unpaid dividends shall be cumulative. Class C shareholders have no right to elect or remove Members or Directors. Payment of dividends for Class C shares shall have priority over payment of dividends to any other class of shares and no right to elect or remove any Member or Director.

Class D Shares: Social Investment Shares. Class D Shares may be issued and sold to persons who are not Members of the Company in accordance with resolutions adopted by the Board of Directors and approved by majority vote of all of the Class A shareholders. Class C shares shall have the rights and privileges as set forth in the issuance resolution, which shall include the priorities set forth below. Holders of Class D Shares have no rights to receive dividends.

Class E Shares: Worker Contribution Shares. Class E shares are issued at the discretion of the Board of Directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Board and approved by a majority of the holders of Class A shares. The Class E shares are to be issued to holders of Class A who present in writing innovations and cost saving ideas which benefit the Company and/or its workers. Guidelines for awards of Class E Shares shall be adopted by the Board and approved by a simple majority of the holders of Class A shares. Class E shares shall be paid dividends equal to those paid per share for Class B Shares.

Class F Shares: Exemplary Contributions. Class F Shares are issued at the discretion of the Board of Directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Board and approved by a majority of the holders of Class A shares. The Class F shares are to be issued to holders of Class A shares who perform exemplary acts of kindness, generosity, and caring to any person or institution in South Africa. Guidelines for awards of Class F Shares shall be adopted by the Board and approved by a simple majority of the holders of Class A shares. Class F shares shall be paid dividends equal to those paid per share for Class B Shares.

Share Redemption: The shares issued to holders of Class C, D, E and F shall be subject to redemption at the option of the Company. The redemption offer shall be made in accordance with the a resolution adopted by the Board of Directors and approved by a simple majority of the Class A shareholders. Such offer shall be made at not less than the payment of accrued dividends and payment of the principal value of each share based on the price paid for each such share, adjusted for deflation and inflation in accordance with generally acceptable standards for cost of living changes as adopted by the Board of Directors and approved by a simple majority of the holders of Class A shares. The shares held by holders of Class A and B shares shall be redeemed by the Company in full should a holder die, resign, retire from full-time work, be removed as a Member, or abandon his/her membership by prolonged absence of sixty or more calendar days from work without waiver granted by the Board of Directors for good reason, such as accident, disease, disability, deportation by the Republic of South Africa, imprisonment, or other appropriate excuse.

Share Priorities. The shares issued by the Company shall have priorities as follows
Upon dissolution; abandonment; merger or acquisition; the sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company; or the disposition or transfer of more than ten percent of the assets of the business not in the ordinary course of business, the classes of shares shall have the following priorities. “Net Assets” are the remaining assets of the Company after payment of all debts or the reasonable provising for the payment of all debts.

Dividends: Accrued dividends shall first be paid in order as follows: Class C, then Class B, then Class E, then Class F, and then Class A. Principal: After payment of such dividends, the net assets shall be distributed in priority for the principal amounts as follows: Class D, then Class C, then Class B, then Class E, then Class F, then Class A. The values assigned to each share shall be adjusted for deflation and inflation over time in accordance with generally acceptable standards for cost of living changes as adopted by the Board of Directors and approved by a simple majority of the holders of Class A shares.

All Class B, C and D shares shall have the rights of allocation as set forth in the Companies Act of 2008.

7. RESEARCH

1. Asian carp
2. Authority to navigate the rivers of America
3. Authority to take Asian carp commercially from rivers of America

"Bighead, silver, and grass carps are known to be well-established in the Mississippi River basin (including tributaries) of the United States, where they at times reach extremely high abundances, especially in the case of the bighead and silver carps. Bighead, silver, and grass carp have been captured in that watershed from Louisiana to South Dakota, Minnesota, and Ohio. Grass carp are also established in at least one other watershed, in Texas, and may be established elsewhere.
These fishes are thought to be highly detrimental to the environment in the USA where they are established. Because of these concerns, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service convened stakeholders to develop a national plan for the management and control of invasive Asian carps (referring to bighead, silver, black and grass carp).[4] The plan was accepted by the National Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force in the fall of 2007. In July, 2007, all silver carp and largescale silver carp were declared by the U.S. Department of the Interior to be invasive species under the Lacey Act[5]."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_carp

1. Authority to incidentially take game fish.
2. Authority to incidentially take rare and endangered animals
3. Mechanical, hydraulic, electrical engineering, biological, chemical and enrivonmental consulting
4. Biology and chemistry of target rivers
5. Design of systems through all phases
6. Cost estimating for the construction of the system
7. Income and expense projections for the operation of the system
8. Shipboard crew provisioning
9. Project Management Plan-time phase
10. Cruise schedule
11. Port authority permits and licenses
12. Land-side operations
13. Loan sources of financing
14. Equity souces of financing
15. Grant sources of financing
16. Industrial revenue bond financing
17. Marketing
18. Fish processing for the market
19. Fish meal processing for its market
20. Fish oil processing for its market
21. Production of biodiesel
22. Use of glycerol co-product
23. Charity. The production capability of the Carp Avenger staggers the imagination. Rather than slow down the catching to match the available manhours in processing the fish, it struck me that we could involve civic organizations, trustees in prison, churches, bowling leagues, etc., in processing the carp. We could "contract" with these organization to run the fish sorting and fish processing operations during our crew's "days off". The contracted organizations keep what they process for use in their charity and food bank operations. As we move along the rivers, we scout ahead for likely community organizations, give them access to a page on our website and a DVD which is a tour and includes some training sessions for the fish sorters and fish processors. Then we we arrive at their town, we have a signed contract and workers ready to participate.
    
24. Environmental regulations on all of the above
25. Political climate in states of operation. "In October 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or we)
    received a petition signed by 25 members of Congress representing the
    Great Lakes region to add silver, bighead, and black carp to the list
    of injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. 42). A follow-up
    letter to the original petition had seven additional Legislator
    signatures that supported the petition."
    http://www.epa.gov/EPA-IMPACT/2007/July/Day-10/i13371.htm
26. Lobbying for legislation
27. Patenting inventions and licensing them
28. Talent search and recruiting for workers
29. Selection of attorney and CPA and jurisdiction of incorporation.
30. Administrative matters and communication
31. Fish Barriers

Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Aquatic Nuisance Species Dispersal Barrier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_carp

1. 1. Troubled Waters: The Asian Carp Invasion; Unwanted bounty By Dan Egan of the Journal Sentinel; posted: Oct. 16, 2006; As fast-growing fish overwhelm nearby rivers, a wobbly Great Lakes ecosystem looks particularly vulnerable; http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29196154.html
   2.