Workgroup Established to Consider Chesapeake Bay Menhaden Regulations
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission workgroup will eye precautionary, Bay-specific menhaden fishery management measures to protect predators like ospreys and striped bass
The Menhaden Management Board (MMB) of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted yesterday to establish a workgroup to consider options for precautionary management of the Chesapeake Bay industrial menhaden fishery, including time and area closures, to account for seabird and fish diet needs at critical points in their life cycles. The workgroup will be organized over the coming weeks and will start the process of thinking through what future management measures for the Bay menhaden fishery might look like, to lower the pressure that ospreys and other menhaden predators are facing in one of America’s most important estuaries.
Menhaden are baitfish that play an essential role in marine food webs, providing a vital food source for not only ospreys, but many larger species like striped bass, redfish, whales, dolphins, and seabirds.
The motion to establish a workgroup, which was unanimously supported by the MMB, was put forward by the Maryland ASMFC delegation’s Allison Colden, who is also Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The group should begin to answer some of the questions that conservation groups have had for years about the menhaden fishery’s impact on the Bay ecosystem, and will propose potential sustainable solutions for the ASMFC to deliberate.
“We’re seeing some major ecological red flags in the Chesapeake Bay,” said Allison Colden, CBF Maryland executive director. “From struggling osprey populations to dismal menhaden bait landings, it’s clear that additional precautions are needed.”
Photo Credit: Gaelin Rosenwaks
Chesapeake Bay residents and scientists have been sounding the alarm about a lack of menhaden in the Bay leading to lower osprey chick-rearing success. This led to the MMB inviting the U.S. Geological Survey to make a presentation on Aug. 6 to inform the Board about the status of osprey in the Chesapeake Bay, and the problems these birds of prey are currently facing. Data shows that ospreys in some parts of the Bay are particularly reliant on oil-rich menhaden as food for their young, especially in the spring and summer months during chick-rearing season when male ospreys must bring in extra food to feed their mate and offspring. In recent years, the numbers have shown that ospreys in parts of the Bay are unsuccessful in raising enough young each year to sustain stable long-term populations, due in part to a lack of food availability for young chicks.
While the Atlantic menhaden fishery is already managed to account for the diet needs of multiple fish predators, such as striped bass and bluefish, to leave enough forage in the water for those fish to eat, osprey are not explicitly included in that management structure despite their clear reliance on menhaden in their diets. Updated stock assessments will be published in fall 2025, which will essentially model how menhaden have been interacting with the Atlantic ecosystem in recent years, and will help managers set appropriate harvest quotas in future fishing seasons. Unfortunately, those assessment calculations are not detailed enough to determine how the menhaden fishery is impacting the ecosystem in specific zones, such as within the Chesapeake Bay region, where harvest is concentrated.
“Setting specific regulations tailored to regional differences in harvest, based on what we know now, is a way to manage the menhaden fishery in a precautionary manner until the stock assessment science can catch up,” said Jaclyn Higgins, forage fish program manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “We have a wide range of longstanding seabird data that has been collected for decades, which shows us the ebb and flow of osprey populations along the Atlantic. We know that osprey chicks aren’t getting enough to eat in the Chesapeake, and we know they are reliant on menhaden in that important chick-rearing timeframe.”
Higgins says that establishing regulations that leave more menhaden in the water in the Bay at critical times, based on osprey needs and the needs of other Bay predators, is an ideal way to expand upon the ecosystem-based management framework that the ASMFC already uses to manage this iconic forage fish.
“The TRCP is excited to support this movement towards further refining the ecosystem-based management of the Atlantic menhaden fishery,” Higgins said. “Refining the spatial components of the ASMFC’s menhaden management structure will further improve the sustainability of this fishery, and will allow for more predators to have sufficient access to this critical forage species into the future.”
The workgroup expects to present their findings to the MMB at its October 2024 meeting.
For more information about the key role menhaden and other forage fish play in marine ecosystems, visit TRCP’s forage fish recovery page.
Banner image of osprey with menhaden courtesy Chesapeake Bay Program
Fishing’s Most Wanted: Catch & Eat These Tasty Invasives
Support sustainable native fisheries by targeting, removing, and cooking up these four delicious, invasive fish species
Many aquatic invasive species (AIS) are causing harm to American fisheries and affecting recreational fishing, from flora like hydrilla and hyacinth to fauna like zebra mussels and Asian carp. For this reason, TRCP and its partners convened an AIS commission in 2022. But not all AIS issues can be targeted by anglers, and fewer still are good to eat. We narrowed the list to TRCP’s top four AIS species for anglers because they are fun to catch and good to eat, and our fisheries benefit when we remove them.
If you decide to pursue any of these fish, search for the competitions set up to incentivize their removals. And even if you elect not to eat them, if you ever catch them in locations where they are considered problematic and are not protected, remember that it’s best to not return them to the water.
Northern Snakehead
Snakeheads can reach over 3 feet in length. Photo credit: Noah Bressman
Take some regular old freshwater fish and Frankenstein it – giving it the head and elongated body of a serpent, the teeth of a wolf, and the abilities to wriggle over land and survive out of water for more than a day – and you have yourself a northern snakehead. Native to China, Russia, and the Korean Peninsula, these bizarre, air-breathing fish probably became established in the U.S. after aquarium owners and others intentionally released unwanted specimens into local waterways. These aggressive top predators can outcompete native fish for food, with adults consuming smaller fish, crustaceans, reptiles, amphibians, and even some birds. Anglers prize them for their explosive strikes and delicious filets. While now established in the Mid-Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay regions, as well as in Arkansas (and recently spreading from there to the Mississippi River), they’ve also been detected in other states like California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, but have no established populations there.
Size: Typically, mature specimens are in the 18- to 30-inch range, but can reach over 3 ft. in length and more than 20 lbs.
Where to Target: The Potomac River drainage and other portions of Virginia and Washington, D.C., as well as in Maryland; Arkansas, New York, and Pennsylvania also offer limited opportunities
How to Catch: Focus on slow-moving or stagnant freshwater streams, rivers, or ponds with aquatic vegetation present, and fish for them as you would for largemouth and smallmouth bass, using spinners, frogs, buzzbaits, bladed jigs, and topwater lures; bowfishing can also be used to harvest these fish
Best Times: Early April through early October; live bait can also be used for fishing during cooler fall and winter periods
How to Prepare: The snakehead’s mild, flaky-but-firm, low-fat flesh is versatile and ideal for pan-searing, grilling, frying, smoking, or stews, with little seasoning required; just be sure to remove the skin before cooking
Blue Catfish
Blue catfish taste much better than they look — trust us. Photo credit: Joe Schmitt/ Virginia Sea Grant
While a native species in the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Rio Grande river basins, blue catfish were introduced in the Chesapeake Bay area in the 1970s. As an apex predator that can thrive even in brackish waters and grow to more than 100 pounds, their population eventually exploded and they are now wreaking havoc on local ecosystems by eating a wide range of important native species in the Bay region, including menhaden, herring, striped bass, and blue crabs. Blue catfish can be found even far up Nanticoke River tributaries in Delaware, and are present in many Southeastern states, where they are considered more naturalized and populations have not exploded like they have in the Mid-Atlantic. Even if blue cats are native where you live, they’re still worth targeting for their sheer potential size and deliciously mild, firm flesh. There’s so good to eat, in fact, that a commercial industry now targets them in the Chesapeake Bay region to supply local restaurants and markets.
Size: Up to more than 6 feet and 100+ lbs.; avoid eating fish over 30″ long
Where to Target: Freshwater and brackish Chesapeake Bay river systems and tributaries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Delaware; click the state links to see fish consumption advisories to avoid eating these and other fish from areas with high contaminant levels in the water
How to Catch: Blue cats will eat anything, are fairly easy to catch, and a good choice for targeting with kids or inexperienced anglers, fishing near the bottom using fresh cut baits like shrimp, chicken liver, or fish, or live bait for larger catfish; trot lines can also be used if the goal is simply to catch as many fish as possible
Best Times: Can be fished year-round, with the spring months being particularly good; in the winter they are biting when not much else is, mainly in the warmer daytime periods; nighttime and low-light conditions are best in warmer summer months, and give anglers quarry to pursue to give striped bass a breather
How to Prepare: Blackened, pan-seared, deep fried, broiled or grilled (catfish filets hold up remarkably well on a grill); be sure to remove the skin before cooking
Lionfish
Lionfish, which must be harvested with a spear gun, wreak havoc on reefs. Photo credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
An attractive, audacious, and venomous marine species native to Indo-Pacific coral reefs, lionfish were first detected in U.S. waters off Florida roughly 40 years ago. It’s thought that people also inexplicably have released them from home aquariums into the Atlantic Ocean multiple times since. (A good reminder that people should never release any pets into the wild!) They have now unfortunately spread throughout the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean from New England to Texas and the Bahamas to the Greater Antilles. Their heaviest concentrations are in Florida, the Keys, and most Caribbean islands, with detections even having occurred in the saltwater portions of the Everglades – as if South Florida and the Everglades didn’t have enough invasive species problems to deal with already. Lionfish have become a serious problem because they gorge on dozens of species of juvenile reef fish that would ultimately grow to be bigger fish we like to catch. They can eat prey more than half their own length; have no real predators in the Western Hemisphere; and compete for food with important sportfish like snapper and grouper. Despite having venomous spines (which are painful, but not deadly), the flesh is perfectly safe to eat.
Size: Up to 15 inches or more and about 2.5 lbs.
Where to Target: Artificial or natural reefs and structure (the deeper, the better) off Florida and Alabama; internationally, in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas
How to Catch: Spearfishing (pole spears or Hawaiian slings) using scuba or snorkeling gear; they are surprisingly easy to harvest, due to a lack of predators that makes them unlikely to evade pursuit
Best Times: Any time of year, ideally near dawn and dusk
How to Prepare: They are in the same family as Pacific Coast rockfish, which are prized for their meat; their mild, buttery filets have been compared to grouper or mahi-mahi
Yellowstone Lake Trout
Angler with a Wyoming lake trout. Photo credit: Noah Bressman
Though most coveted trout species are actually considered invasive in at least parts of the U.S., they have long been established and often support economically important fisheries. However, some trout species in some areas are considered more destructive than valuable, so fisheries managers are working to eradicate them. The Yellowstone National Park region is home to non-native rainbows, browns, and brookies, but it’s the lake trout that are a problem. Both lake trout and native cutthroat trout are found in Yellowstone Lake, the largest high-elevation lake in North America, with lake trout both preying on and competing with cutthroats. A single lake trout can eat dozens of cutthroat trout every year, and this loss of the native fish is contributing to declines in many other wildlife species. In Yellowstone Lake, park regulations actually require anglers to keep or at least dispatch all lake trout they land. Added good news is that you’ll probably also be able to catch (and release) some big cutthroats when you’re out there.
Size: Around 20 inches typically, but up to 36 inches and nearly 40 pounds in this region
Where to Target: Yellowstone Lake, WY; noted spots include Carrington Island by boat or shore fishing in the Bridge Bay and West Thumb areas
How to Catch: Fly fishing by stripping a streamer with a baitfish pattern, or gear angling using deep-diving lures or vertical jigging in deeper water; guided fishing tours and boat rentals are available
Best Times: Legal in the park from Memorial Day weekend until early November, but fall is the best time, when lake trout move into the shallows to spawn
How to Prepare: High in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, they can be pan-fried or baked; they also cook nicely over an open fire in a grill basket (bring some butter and lemons)
What We’re Doing About AIS
TRCP recently worked with Yamaha Rightwaters, YETI, the American Sportfishing Association, Bass Pro Shops, and other partners on an AIS commission to address the need for better prevention and mitigation of aquatic invasive species. The commission’s final recommendations, finalized in 2023, included the need to modernize federal law and policy, increase targeted funding, maintain fishing access, and increase public education. See the full Aquatic Invasive Species Commission report here.
A special thanks to Noah Bressman, an assistant professor and AIS expert at Salisbury University, for helping confirm information for this blog, and for providing the snakehead photo in the banner image.
TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.
Jon “Hoss” Haas
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona Occupation:Television show host/producer, conservation director for the Mid-South Fly Fishers club, and fisheries advocate Conservation credentials:Producing and hosting an Emmy-nominated angling show focused on conservation issues and serving in board and director roles for conservation organizations, including being a past board member and communications director for the Coastal Conservation Association Oregon.
Jon “Hoss” Haas is host and executive producer of Emmy-nominated “Hoss Off the Grid,” which invites viewers into the rush of adventure-destination sportfishing. He’s a hardcore lifetime fisherman, whose endeavors are framed by a conservation focus in which he uses his sportfishing quests to highlight the need for fisheries stewardship. Hoss has also personally documented the menhaden reduction industry fleet removing these critical forage fish from the Chesapeake Bay, and freely shared that footage for conservation purposes.
Here is his story.
I was lucky enough to have a best friend when I was young, around 9 years old, who had a much older stepbrother who liked to fish. He took us with him on occasion. This was mainly fishing in lakes and ponds for panfish, bass, and catfish in Arizona, but it gave me an appreciation for being in the outdoors and especially the bug for fishing at an early age.
Once my buddy and I were fishing in a park lake in Phoenix. It was an old, concrete-lined lake that had several fingers running out of it, and in one of them I saw a deeper hole at the bottom. In the hole I spied a round object that had moved slightly. Thinking it was a turtle, I dropped a worm on a hook down into the hole and to our surprise the “turtle” opened up and gulped the bait. It wasn’t a turtle at all, but a giant catfish.
Once hooked, it took off out of the concrete into the lake for a fight. We could see it was a big catfish and watched it tearing up the reedbed across from us. Eventually the line broke, but the impact forever changed me because I realized fishing was magical, it was a key to adventure since anything could happen.
If I could hunt or fish anywhere, I would pick a fly-fishing trip in the Seychelles off the coast of Africa for giant trevally and bumphead parrotfish. The evolution of a fisherman generally goes from most, to biggest, then to hardest. For many species, hardest equates to the biggest on a fly. Those Seychelles fish are unique, aggressive at times, and very strong. Trying to land them on a coral atoll will test your skills and your gear. And being in a place like the Seychelles, remote and beautiful, with a limited footprint from mankind, is always rejuvenating to me. So, when I finally get there and hook one up, I’ll be scratching one off the top of my bucket list and recharging my batteries.
Conservation has enhanced my life significantly because without it being fought for by past generations, I don’t think there would be much wildlife or wild places left for my generation to enjoy. Being active in conservation is an opportunity for each of us to show we care about what happens to the world, now and in the future. Simple things like picking up the trash off a riverbank or donating to a conservation organization show you care. I have been lucky enough to travel the world and fish in a lot of wild places for great fish. The reason I did the television show “Hoss Off the Grid” was to show the great fisheries that are still left and why we need to fight to protect them.
“Without people being actively involved in conservation, there will likely be nothing left to conserve.”
I recently moved to Memphis, Tenn., and here we fish for big trout in a lot of the tailwaters below dams in northern Arkansas. Two of these rivers have produced world record-size brown trout and have robust trout fisheries. The Little Red River produced a 40-pound brown in 1992 and the White River produced a record 40-pound, 4-ounce brown that same year. These tailwaters are controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers for hydropower and flood control and have no minimum flow requirements that must be adhered to.
This last winter we saw water so low on the Little Red that it exposed the spawning beds upriver for over a week during the brown trout spawning run. That’s an issue. It’s never easy to get federal agencies to move quickly, so we will have to coordinate our efforts to magnify our individual voices to stop it from happening again.
I think conservation is a duty we all have to ourselves, the natural world, and future generations of outdoor enthusiasts. Without people being actively involved in conservation, there will likely be nothing left to conserve within a short period of time. A natural resource will always have folks who want to exploit it, and in most cases, if left unchallenged, they will overexploit it to the point they abandon it and move to the next thing to exploit. The Chesapeake Bay menhaden reduction fishery is a prime example of overexploitation to the point of decimation. I saw the same thing on the Columbia River in Oregon, around commercial fishing for salmon when Endangered Species Act-listed runs of fish were trying to make it home through the same waters from which they originated.
It’s important for me to know I’ve contributed my part to try to make things better for the generations coming behind me. Conservation is really the only thing that will keep the wild places wild and ensure fish and other wildlife are available for the next generation of hunters and anglers to enjoy. I’ve already seen the degradation of some incredible fisheries in my lifetime and hope that our efforts to preserve ecosystems and guard our world’s natural environment from overexploitation will allow some of them to eventually recover. Without continued diligence on conservation efforts, we can’t hang on to what we have or make it better. That’s why it’s so important to get young people involved in conservation as much and as early as possible.
I also challenge the next generation to join conservation groups, since regulators care about votes. Membership in a group represents votes to those in power, and tells them they need to listen.
The TRCP is your no-B.S. resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.
Blue Catfish in the Chesapeake are Gobbling Up Everything in It
This aquatic invasive species eats the striped bass, menhaden, and blue crabs so vital for the Bay’s health, recreational fishing, and economy
Great tasting: check. Will pull the rod from your hand: check. High chance of success: check.
It probably sounds like I’m talking about peak-season Gulf redfish or Long Island striped bass, but believe it or not, I’m talking about blue catfish – an incredibly resilient invasive species that is taking over the Chesapeake Bay’s waterways and harming important fisheries as it gobbles its way through them.
While native to middle America’s Mississippi and Ohio River watersheds, blue catfish are considered an aquatic invasive species in the Chesapeake Bay. Like other AIS threats around the country, their presence negatively impacts recreational fisheries, ecosystems, and economies. When TRCP and its partners convened an AIS commission two years ago, we had harmful species just like this in mind.
Photo Credit: Rocky Rice
As the largest species of catfish in North America, blue cats can exceed 100 pounds thanks to a voracious appetite, unmatched adaptability, and a willingness to live just about anywhere and eat just about anything. So what are they doing in the Bay, and what can be done to blunt their impacts?
Unforeseen Consequences
In the mid-1970s, the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries were overfished and highly polluted. In response, fisheries managers in Virginia decided they needed to stock a different type of fish – a hearty specimen that could handle the poor conditions, offer anglers a good fight, and provide nice table fare. They settled on blue catfish. An added benefit they saw to this freshwater species was that it wouldn’t be able to spread beyond the targeted rivers.
“They thought because they are river fish they wouldn’t tolerate the saltwater conditions in the Bay,” said Dr. Noah Bressman, assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Salisbury University. “But they were wrong.”
Managers initially released blue catfish into the James and Rappahannock rivers, but they have since spread widely throughout most of the upper Bay. Today, blue catfish can be found in every major tidal river in Maryland, and in some locations make up as much as 70 percent of the total biomass.
Photo Credit: Noah Bressman
“As an apex predator, invasive blue catfish continue to impact the ecological balance of the Chesapeake Bay by competing with native species for important forage species like menhaden and herring,” said Dave Sikorski, executive director of Coastal Conservation Association Maryland.
Not a Picky Eater
Dr. Bressman is a top expert on invasive blue catfish, researching such areas as their primary diet, feeding behavior, and ecology in the Bay. His lab uses boat-based electrofishing with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to catch hundreds of thousands of blue catfish for research. What they’ve learned is that these generalistic, opportunistic omnivores—much like coyotes or cockroaches—will eat anything.
Bressman’s research has turned up a 47-pound catfish with a whole adult wood duck in its stomach, and a 30-inch catfish with a 19-inch striped bass inside. Blue catfish eat many millions of blue crabs per year, and readily gorge on white perch, menhaden, striped bass (also known in Maryland as rockfish), even turtles and muskrats and their own young. On the Eastern Shore, they also target other important forage fish species – alewives and blueback herring. Tissue sampling evidence even suggests they are eating the eggs of striped bass, herring, and other fish, and as top predators they also compete with sportfish for the same prey.
Photo Credit: AKZOphoto
“People think of catfish as slow-moving bottom feeders,” Bressman said. “But these are active predators. They eat anything and everything they can get their mouth around.”
If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Eat ‘Em
Ask anyone, and they will tell you this problem is not going to go away. Bressman said that blue catfish are the most abundant fish, by biomass, in the rivers around the Bay. The problem has gotten so bad in the last couple decades that it’s actually generated a growing commercial fishery.
“What started as me targeting striped bass and hard crabs, and only fishing for blue catfish in between, has now gotten reversed,” said Rocky Rice, owner and operator of Piccowaxen Creek Seafood.
Rice has been commercially targeting blue catfish in the Potomac River for the last 12 years. He started fishing for these invasives merely to generate income in slow seasons, but now blue catfish are the main focus of his operation. Using primarily longlines and hoop pots, he targets fish in the best eating range of about 3 to 10 pounds.
Photo Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program
And Rice is not alone. In 2022, commercial harvesters on the Potomac reported more than 3.1 million pounds of blue catfish landed, according to the Potomac River Fisheries Commission. This number far exceeds those for all other finfish species, except menhaden, harvested in the brackish river. By comparison, striped bass was the next highest fish species commercially landed at 428,000 pounds. And that’s just in the Potomac.
Unlike striped bass, whose numbers have been trending lower for years, blue catfish populations are practically impossible to eradicate, or even stunt. Rice says it’s one reason he targets this invasive.
“Granted I’m a fisherman and I need to make money,” Rice said. “But if I can minimize negative impacts on our native species also it’s a win-win.”
Dr. Bressman says just to keep the blue catfish population stable, fishermen must remove 15- to 30-million pounds of catfish from the Chesapeake Bay each year, and much more to reduce it. He asserts that without active human intervention, catfish could likely become the dominant predator in brackish portions of the Bay.
Photo Credit: Rocky Rice
Fun to Catch
So the best solution to keeping blue catfish populations in check, and to help protect native species, is one that offers real rewards: Go fishing. Blue cats are known for growing big, fighting hard, and tasting far better than most people expect. They’re also fairly simple to coax a bite from, and in Maryland there’s no catch limit.
If you’ve got a rod and reel, and willingness to target a different sort of fish, Rice says you can fish virtually anywhere in the brackish and fresh portions of the upper Bay. Dr. Bressman can back this up. In a previous tournament targeting blue cats, he fished from shore to pass the time while he waited for boats to come back in for weigh-ins. He had to stop one hour into the eight-hour tournament, and still almost won the shore fishing category with a half-dozen fish.
Photo Credit: Noah Bressman
CCA Maryland, along with partners like Yamaha Rightwaters, is working to raise awareness with recreational anglers to help get them into the game. To target the threat of aquatic invasive fish species in the state, they offer fishing tournaments and other events to help engage anglers. A good example is the Great Chesapeake Invasives Count, which launched April 1 and runs through March 31, 2025.
“To combat this looming issue, and empower anglers to do their part, CCA Maryland is proud to partner with Fish & Hunt Maryland, Maryland DNR, Maryland’s Best Seafood, and others to promote the opportunities for fishing that invasive catfish present, and support data collection efforts to help guide future management actions,” said Sikorski.
Even Better to Eat
“These aren’t your muddy-bottom catfish,” Bressman said. “They eat things we like to eat and that makes them taste better than other catfish.”
Bressman, Sikorski, and Rice all say they love dining on firm, flaky blue catfish filets, which taste quite similar to those of striped bass – largely because both species are active predators that compete for the same prey. The culinary value of this fish is catching on. Maryland’s Best, a state-run program that connects consumers with locally sourced agricultural products, offers a listing of 16 grocery stores and 24 restaurants that sell wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish, to help support the state’s watermen and fight this invasive.
“It makes no sense for someone to buy a catfish that comes from overseas, because we have a better quality product right here,” Rice said. “We have to eat our way through this problem.”
Photo Credit: Stephen McFadden
Rice says he personally likes to deep fry the white, flaky filets, but has broiled and blackened them too. He’s even had blue catfish pot pie. He said their versatility and palatability is probably why chefs like these fish so much.
“I’ve fed it to a lot of my friends who’d said they didn’t like catfish,” he said, “and now that they’ve had it it’s one of their favorite foods.”
Do Your Part
If you do head out looking for blue catfish in the Bay area, be sure to share the photos and filets with family and friends – especially via online imagery – to help drum up interest. And whether or not you target these fish, if you ever catch one, be sure to not throw it back into the water alive (an exception being some parts of Virginia, where you need to be aware of a daily 20-fish creel limit and allowance for only one catfish over 32 inches).
Also important to note is that in some areas around the Chesapeake Bay, catfish – especially larger ones – along with other fish species like striped bass may have unsafe contaminant levels due to poor water quality. Avoid eating catfish over 30 inches long, remove the skin and fat when preparing, and and keep up with each state’s fish consumption advisories like those for Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Delaware.
If you don’t want to catch or cook blue catfish, you can always support Bay-area businesses that offer locally sourced blue catfish filets. The bottom line is that dealing with blue catfish is an all-hands-on-deck situation, so the conservation community needs a lot of people working to tackle it in different ways.
“We need a cultural shift,” Bressman says. “The more catfish you eat, the more striped bass and blue crabs will be in the Bay.”
The TRCP is your no-B.S. resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.
Louisiana Issues Regulations to Protect Nearshore Habitat from Menhaden Industry
In the most significant Gulf menhaden conservation outcome to date, the state’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission approves half-mile coastwide buffer prohibiting pogy boats from netting, increases fish spill penalties
(BATON ROUGE, La.)— Louisiana’s coastline, gamefish, and recreational angling opportunities will now receive greater protections from the industrial menhaden fishery, after the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission approved a revised Notice of Intent (NOI) at a Special Commission Meeting today in Baton Rouge.
The NOI expands the current ¼-mile no-fishing buffer zone, which prevents industrial menhaden harvest near the coast, to ½-mile coastwide, with a broader 1-mile buffer added off Holly Beach. It also establishes more stringent penalties and reporting requirements for future fish spills.
The commission initially decided to take action last October, suggesting a 1-mile buffer after 18 separate fish spills, accounting for over 2.5 million wasted menhaden and at least several hundred dead, breeding-sized redfish, occurred in 2023 alone. Most notably, three spills in early September fouled popular beaches and exacerbated user conflicts with recreational anglers and boaters, and again raised public concerns over the damage being caused to shallow waters by the menhaden industry. The industry firmly opposed the initial NOI.
Following a public comment period and a public hearing at the Feb. 1 meeting, the commission voted to again ask representatives from the menhaden industry and recreational fishing advocacy and conservation organizations to reach a compromise. The compromise modified the NOI to ½ mile, while retaining new penalties and reporting requirements for future net spills from the original NOI. The commission also voted to allow the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to implement the new regulations immediately, ahead of the menhaden season’s start on April 15.
“We were asked by the Commission and Governor Landry to get in a room with the industry and work on a compromise, so that’s what we did. As with any compromise, there is some give and take,” said Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana Chairman Charlie Caplinger. “That said, these new regulations on the industry are a very positive step forward for Louisiana’s coastal zone that will provide much-needed protections for our fragile shorelines and the fish and wildlife that live there. CCA and our coalition partners would like to thank Governor Landry, the Commission, and the new leaders at Wildlife and Fisheries for helping to facilitate this agreement.”
Gulf menhaden, also known as pogies, are a critical food source for iconic Louisiana sportfish like redfish and speckled trout. Approximately 1 billion pounds of pogies are harvested by the industrial Gulf of Mexico menhaden fishery each year, mainly from Louisiana waters. To date, pogy boats have been allowed to fish closer than 500 yards from Louisiana’s shorelines, where the boats often make contact with the water bottom while stirring up sediment with their massive purse seine nets, affecting feeding and spawning for a host of sportfish, birds, and dolphins.
A coalition of recreational fishing, wildlife and habitat conservation, and boating organizations has been working for five years to expand public awareness about the impacts of the Gulf’s industrial menhaden fishery and advocate for some basic conservation measures, such as the ones included in the NOI.
“Conserving and protecting Louisiana’s vast but diminishing coastal fisheries and critical barrier islands, beaches and marshes has been the goal of our coalition for the last five years,” said Chris Macaluso, director of the Center for Marine Fisheries for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “We have consistently worked with the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries staff, concerned anglers, charter captains, conservationists, lawmakers at every level, and the menhaden industry to enact meaningful regulations that can help accomplish that goal while recognizing the importance of commercial fisheries to Louisiana’s economy and culture. The Commission deserves a lot of credit for recognizing the validity of our coalition’s concerns and taking a big step forward in protecting Louisiana’s coast.”
Photo Credit: Healthy Gulf
In 2021, Representative Joe Orgeron (R-54) first introduced a bill in the Louisiana Legislature which proposed a nearly identical buffer to this NOI (HB 535). Due to industry opposition, the bill ultimately did not pass, but it did jumpstart a dialogue between the public, legislators, and other decision-makers about the impacts of intensive purse seine netting activity along Louisiana’s fragile coastline, and the impacts of bycatch on economically important species for other user groups, particularly redfish and speckled trout.
“For over three years, efforts have been made with little progress to get some common-sense regulations and policies put into place for the Gulf of Mexico reduction menhaden industry,” said Representative Joe Orgeron (R-54). “It now appears that these actions by the commission going forward will provide both increased scientific gathering on Louisiana’s largest fishery segment, as well as a better balance between the involved stakeholders for the upcoming 2024 season.”
“We commend the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission for this important step forward to increase the menhaden harvest buffer zone, as well as address the conservation and user conflict benefits that will come with it,” said Richard Fischer, CEO for the Louisiana Charter Boat Association, the nonprofit trade association that represents the best interests of Louisiana charter captains. “We also thank Governor Jeff Landry for exhibiting strong leadership by overseeing the brokering of this agreement, as well as Representative Joe Orgeron for being such a strong and vocal buffer zone champion in the Louisiana Legislature.”
The NOI will now go through a 30-day oversight period, where the joint Legislative Oversight Committees may choose to review it and make alternative recommendations. If they take no action, the NOI will be formalized as a final rule ahead of the 2024 menhaden fishing season.
Gulf Menhaden Coalition members include the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), CCA Louisiana, CCA Mississippi, CCA Alabama, CCA Texas, CCA Florida, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Louisiana Charterboat Association, American Sportfishing Association, National Marine Manufacturers Association, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, International Gamefish Association, Angler Action Foundation, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Audubon Delta, Guy Harvey Foundation, Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, Mississippi Wildlife Federation, and Wildlife Mississippi.
Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.
$4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue their efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.
