Blue Catfish News

Maryland is being held back from addressing the invasive blue catfish problem by a mix of politics and business that resulted in an onerous an unnecessary federal regulation. In Maryland, where processors operate 24/7 to keep all kinds of seafood moving to market, the regulation is an obstacle to a breakout of blue catfish as a major commercial catch.

Blue catfish cakes make a delicious, affordable, and nutritious alternative to crab cakes.

A new survey shows number of blue crabs dropped to 227 million, marking a low point in 33 years of tracking the crustaceans. The increase in crab predators, such as blue catfish, was one likely culprit of the decline.

At the Sharptown Catfish Tournament, Salisbury University researchers investigated the contents of blue catfish stomachs to gather data on the fish’s diet in Nanticoke River to see if they are eating threatened species, like river herring or Atlantic sturgeon, or economically important species, like rockfish and blue crabs.

Unlike other catfish species, blue catfish are not bottom feeders. In fact, researchers at Salisbury University caught a blue catfish with the remains of an entire wood duck in its stomach!

J.J. McDonnell is trying to raise awareness and sales to get as many blue catfish out of the bay and onto plates. Invasive blue catfish grow fast, live long and have high reproductive rates, resulting in depletion of native Bay species, like blue crabs, striped bass and oysters. But the fish’s mild taste and affordability make it a great eating fish.

The invasive blue catfish is already spreading throughout the Chesapeake Bay, threatening species like blue crabs and rockfish along the way. A new study by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science suggests that continued warming of Atlantic coastal waters may enhance the spread of invasive blue catfish within the Chesapeake Bay and other estuaries along the U.S. East Coast.

The state-federal Bay Program recently released an Invasive Catfish Management Strategy, which represents the first Baywide effort to coordinate actions for dealing with the fish. It promotes eating more blue catfish before they can eat too many native species, bringing awareness to the tastiness of the fish, overcoming misconceptions about the fish being a bottom feeder, and expanding commercial markets for the fish.

The Local Oyster’s Chef Mark Woerner gives a lesson on cooking one of the Chesapeake Bay region’s hottest new culinary trends: wild caught blue catfish.

A study by researchers at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science warns that blue catfish — an invasive species in several Chesapeake Bay tributaries — tolerate salinities higher than most freshwater fishes, and thus may be able to expand their range downstream into mainstem Chesapeake waters, and from there into new bay tributaries and even Delaware Bay.