March 30, 2026 — Virginia’s Secretary of Agriculture, Katie Frazier, was in Suffolk Friday to hand globally-known Suffolk-based Wanchese Fish Company a check for $248,000, which will allow it to quicky process blue catfish. Beginning in the seventies, the fish was used to stock rivers for sport fishing.
But now it is considered an ecological threat to the Chesapeake Bay. That’s why now, the state’s position is if you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em. According to NOAA, the taste is described as slightly sweet and clean.
“Processing equipment is, obviously, very expensive,” said Joel Richardson, a spokesperson for Wanchese Fish Company. “But we’re also adding jobs, and we’re hoping that over the next number of years, as we grow and we’re working buying fish from local fishermen, and going to be processing it.