Saving Seafood

VIRGINIA: The blue catfish: If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em

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.

Read the full article at WAVY.com

USDA issues USD 2 million in grant funding to improve blue catfish processing capacity

March 23, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued USD 2 million (EUR 1.7 million) in grant funding to two businesses to improve processing capacity for blue catfish, an invasive and prolific species in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

State and federal lawmakers have worked to increase processing capacity and grow the market for blue catfish, a voracious fish that can have a devastating impact on local ecosystems. In 2021, U.S. Congress established the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program under USDA to expand food processing capacity, and lawmakers have worked to ensure some funding is set aside to support catfish processing in the Chesapeake Bay region. Last year, USDA announced USD 6 million (EUR 5.2 million) in grant funding was available through the program for catfish processors.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US House passes MAWS Act

March 19, 2026 — The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Mitigation Action and Waterman Support (MAWS) Act, legislation designed to support the use of invasive blue catfish in pet food products, on 17 March.

“With House passage of the MAWS Act, we are one step closer to creating new opportunities in a growing market for blue catfish, which pose a direct ecological and economic threat to the Chesapeake Bay,” U.S. Representative Sarah Elfreth (D-Maryland) said in a release. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to get this legislation past the finish line. If we can prove this innovative strategy works in the Chesapeake [Bay], my hope is it can utilize similar tools in waterways across the country – like invasive carp in the Mississippi [River] and Great Lakes.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

USDA announces USD 6 million to increase catfish production around Chesapeake Bay

August 8, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced USD 6 million (EUR 5.2 million) in grant funding to increase catfish processing in the Chesapeake Bay region as part of an ongoing state and federal effort to manage the invasive species.

First introduced as a recreational fish in the 1960s, blue catfish quickly spread throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, predating on and taking resources from native species and upsetting local ecosystems. State and federal governments, as well as local nonprofit organizations, have worked to remove catfish from the waters, incentivizing fishers to land more of the invasive species, encouraging consumers to eat more, and finding new applications for the fish.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAWS Act Targets Blue Catfish in Chesapeake Bay

July 14, 2025 — Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) and Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth (D-MD-03), alongside Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02), introduced the bipartisan Mitigation Action and Watermen Support (MAWS) Act on Monday, July 7, 2025. The legislation aims to address the ecological and economic threats posed by invasive blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay by establishing a two-year pilot program within the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office to develop a new market for the fish in the pet and animal food industry.

The MAWS Act will provide grants to pet and animal food manufacturers to incentivize watermen to harvest blue catfish, while establishing infrastructure for transportation, processing, and manufacturing. NOAA will collect data on the program’s ecological and economic impacts, including effects on blue catfish populations, native species, watermen’s livelihoods, and market responses. The agency will report findings to Congress, offering best practices and recommendations for similar programs in other watersheds.

“The Chesapeake Bay is the beating heart of Maryland,” Congressman Hoyer said. “We have a responsibility to look after the Bay, its ecosystems, and the communities that it sustains. I’m proud to join my friend Sarah Elfreth – a longtime advocate for the Chesapeake Bay – on this vital legislation to protect the health of our public waters.”

“The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, with more coastline across the Watershed than the entire coast of California. It is a pillar of our local recreation, seafood, and tourism economies,” said Congresswoman Elfreth. “Invasive blue catfish pose a direct ecological and economic threat to our Bay, which is why I am introducing the bipartisan MAWS Act alongside Congressman Wittman to address the damage inflicted by blue catfish, while also strengthening our local seafood economy and providing a new source of protein to pets nationwide.”

Could pet food be the answer to the blue catfish problem in the Chesapeake Bay?

July 8, 2025 — The Chesapeake Bay has a lot of blue catfish, and that’s a problem.

Now, lawmakers have a plan to see if the invasive fish can be used as pet food.

A bipartisan bill, introduced in Congress, is aimed at getting blue catfish out of the bay and into the pet food industry.

Blue catfish have no natural predators in the Chesapeake Bay, can live up to 20 years, and weigh up to 100 pounds. They prey on economically important species like blue crabs, rockfish, striped bass, and oysters.

Read the full article at WMAR

US lawmakers propose transferring blue catfish inspections back to the FDA

March 27, 2025 — Recently introduced legislation meant to improve conservation in the Chesapeake Bay region of the United States would also reduce inspection requirements for blue catfish, making it easier to operate a commercial fishery.

“The bill would also enable more watermen to improve their bottom line by harvesting invasive blue catfish,” Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek said in a statement. “This would help protect native Bay species and the seafood industry from this voracious predator while supporting the region’s economy.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

VIRGINIA: Virginia lawmakers look to reduce restrictions on harvesting invasive blue catfish

February 6, 2025 — Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Virginia have introduced a bill to eliminate restrictions on harvesting of blue catfish, an invasive species that has devastated ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Since their introduction to the Chesapeake Bay as a recreational fish in the late 1960s, predatory blue catfish have come to dominate waters in Virginia and neighboring Maryland.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

VIRGINIA: VA’s Second Blue Catfish Grant Awarded to Hampton Seafood Company

November 6, 2024 — Virginia is continuing its fight against invasive blue catfish by boosting the fishery and making it easier to put blue cat into markets and restaurants.

The state has awarded a second $247,000 grant in an effort to control the Chesapeake Bay’s blue catfish population.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin recently announced that L. D. Amory Company Inc. (Amory Seafood) of Hampton, Virginia, has been awarded the grant through the governor’s Blue Catfish Processing, Flash Freezing, and Infrastructure Grant Program.

“This reimbursable grant will support the implementation of a modern quick freezer and essential packing equipment that will allow Amory Seafood to increase processing capacity in its Hampton facility,” the governor’s office said.

“Once the expansion and modernization project is complete, Amory Seafood will purchase more blue catfish from local watermen, which supports economic growth and helps to remove the invasive species from Virginia waters,” it stated.

“I congratulate Amory Seafood on this expansion, as this project helps to increase processing capacity of the invasive blue catfish, provide additional market opportunities for Virginia watermen, and boost the Commonwealth’s seafood industry’s economic impact which was over $1.1 billion in 2019,” said Governor Youngkin.

Read the full article at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Why wild Chesapeake catfish should be the new salmon

July 30, 2024 — Restaurants. Stadiums. Prisons. There’s a big new push to get invasive blue catfish out of the Chesapeake Bay and onto a variety of menus.

Why it matters: The Bay’s blue catfish population is booming, which is bad for the native species they outcompete for food and habitat, and those they prey on — especially our dwindling juvenile crab population.

The big picture: Blue catfish get a bad rap. “When I hear ‘invasive,’ it’s like aliens coming down. It’s not sexy, it’s not appetizing,” says Matthew Scales, seafood marketing director for Maryland’s Department of Agriculture.

  • The agency is working with grocers and chefs to show consumers that blue catfish are sustainable and delicious.

Catch up quick: Blue catfish arrived in the Chesapeake Bay only a few decades ago — originally introduced in the ’70s for sports fishing in Virginia — but they’re already in the bay’s top three invasive species.

  • Blue cats can balloon to the size of small kids, over 5 feet long and 100-plus lbs, reproduce like crazy, and travel great distances without food. But when they eat — crabs, menhaden, eels — they’re voracious.

By the numbers: The blue catfish commercial harvest in Maryland and the Potomac River skyrocketed from over 609,000 pounds in 2013 to 4.2 million pounds in 2023 — an increase of more than 500%. But that’s hardly enough to curb the population.

What they’re saying: Part of the problem is branding. “We’re battling the mindset that catfish are these dirty fish, bottom feeders,” Branson Williams, DNR’s invasive species manager, tells Axios. That’s not true, at least with blue cats.

Read the full article at AXIOS