Invasive species can wreak havoc on ecosystems and are very hard to combat. In Chesapeake Bay, a surprising and delicious strategy may help curb the population of blue catfish.
Virginia Tech News wrote on how anglers and fans of eating fish can help combat an aggressive invasive species. Michael Schwarz, director of the Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center, believes using these fish in restaurants and on home tables may be the solution.
The article explained, "Schwarz is seeing more chefs, restaurants, and seafood lovers embrace the attributes and nutritional profile of blue catfish."
Blue catfish were introduced to the Chesapeake Bay watershed in the 1970s, and their population quickly grew. NOAA fisheries claimed part of their success is their ability to swim through brackish waters: "That means that they can swim out of one river, into the more brackish Bay, and then into a different, fairly fresh river."
According to Virginia Tech's reporting, "Blue catfish are capable of consuming up to an estimated 60 million pounds of seafood from the Chesapeake Bay every day."
This threatens the livelihood of anglers and the wildlife that calls the bay home. This ecosystem is famous for its blue crab used in crab boils. If this invasive species gobbles up all the crab, Marylanders may need to find new uses for their Old Bay seasoning.
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Eating invasive species is an interesting tactic and has been used in other cases. Scientific American wrote about what it calls "invasivorism," finding that while it has been touted as a method for combating everything from lionfish to kudzu, it has not been widely studied. However, there are a few studies showing that harvesting invasives for consumption does work.
The article wrote, "In 2013, a group of researchers from the Netherlands working on the southern Caribbean islands of Bonaire and Curaçao found lionfish biomass near Bonaire in areas where harvest was encouraged was a third of that in areas where it wasn't."
On The Water reported that efforts to encourage harvesting blue catfish have been quite successful, stating, "In 2022, about 3.6 million pounds of blue catfish were harvested, up from 2.8 million in 2021."
🗣️ Should the government be paying people to hunt invasive species?
🔘 Definitely 👍
🔘 Depends on the animal 🤔
🔘 No way 👎
🔘 Just let people do it for free 🤷
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
While the future of these fish is unknown, hopefully locals can enjoy some new recipes while keeping populations down.
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