DNR would like you to take blue catfish

[DaveP]

I'd almost be in favor of a moratorium on channel catfish so's people can only take blues and flats, but i dont think it's practical.
i personally let go all the channels i catch

They're not native either

 

[DaveP]

The folks who make Old Bay should be developing a catfish cake recipe and sending it to every seafood restaurant in the state. Pre-mixed boxes of Old Bay infused breading with a recipe for catfish nuggets could be shipped to stores. MD politicians showing up at fish fry dinners...

Why not go the whole Perdue route?

Prepackaged, preprepped, ready for the oven, nuggets and catfish " fingers".

One of my brothers was working on the processing equipment for that over 30 years ago, for an.outfit in Louisiana

 

[DaveP]

The irony is that they WERE commercially viable and there was a huge market for them, then the state changed the rules and ended it. They've since changed them back, but they let a lot of time go and lots of population growth

It was a USDA/ FDA mess brought to you by politicians from Southern catfish farming states, to protect their own states' businesses from foreign imports.

 

[gtodave]

They're not native either

They don't devour everything like blues, and they've been here long enough to be honorary native, like smallmouth bass

 

[gtodave]

It was a USDA/ FDA mess brought to you by politicians from Southern catfish farming states, to protect their own states' businesses from foreign imports.

That could be...I don't remember all the details, just the gist and the outcome

 

[DaveP]

They don't devour everything like blues, and they've been here long enough to be honorary native, like smallmouth bass

So what year you giving honorary native status to bluecats?

Cause they're not going anywhere.
LOL, I released all.channels and whites too, but only because they don't taste as good to me

 

[gtodave]

DNR doesn't have the budget for that. That funding would have to come from MGA. Besides, some species will reproduce faster than you can get rid of them. Look at Grass Carp. Snakeheads too.

Here's a related article on a western state that monetizes catch of invasives. They offer $10 per fish.

MSN

Fishermen caught 156k of the fish, which amounts to $1.56 million in payouts. And these are little fish, not 30-50 lb catfish. It would be a big budget hit.

 

[pbharvey]

Why not go the whole Perdue route?

Prepackaged, preprepped, ready for the oven, nuggets and catfish " fingers".

One of my brothers was working on the processing equipment for that over 30 years ago, for an.outfit in Louisiana

I listened to a podcast about the catfish problem in the bay and one of the takeaways was there's no processing plant nearby and it costs too much for the fisherman to transport them.

 

[DaveP]

I listened to a podcast about the catfish problem in the bay and one of the takeaways was there's no processing plant nearby and it costs too much for the fisherman to transport them.

As per Post 103, inspection of catfish, and only catfish, by USDA, vs FDA, was a BIG bottleneck.

Was slid into the Farm Bill by Senators from catfish farming states maybe 15-20 years ago, to protect them from imported catfish.

And as it turned out, from ommercially harvested wild catfish too.

Inspections were at THEIR time and location, which you can imagine, didn't fit most watermen's schedules.

There is currently a good bit of grant money available to facilitate processing ventures, marketing, etc

 

[44man]

My understanding is they force the processors to go by usda processing standards and one of the rules is they can’t process the catfish before or after or during the times they process other fish and they must schedule a usda catfish inspector to be there before processing to check out the area and everything so the processing can start, during processing and then after during cleaning to make sure they don’t process any other fish until they finish cleaning the catfish stuff up.

All this adds so much to the process that it’s hard to schedule and costs are so high that some find it not worth the effort

That’s what I was told by a processor anyway. Take it for what it’s worth

 

[joppaj]

It makes me curious if DNR is teaching or sponsoring classes to teach people how to fish.

 

[Grampa G]

Teen may have set Ohio fishing record for 101-pound blue catfish​

A 15-year-old girl from New Richmond may have broken an Ohio state record on Sunday, April 7, for the largest blue catfish, with the monster weighing in at a whopping 101.11 pounds

Teen may have set Ohio fishing record for 101-pound blue catfish: 'Bigger than we ever imagined'

An Ohio teen, Jaylynn Parker, potentially broke a fishing state record after catching a monster-sized blue catfish weighing over 100 pounds with the jug fishing method.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Mr H]

8PM on MPT...

"Eatin' Blue Catfish"

 

[RFBfromDE]

Eatin’ Blue Catfish is on MPT (PBS) next!

(8:00pm)

 

[Dantheman]

Pretty cool video and YouTube channel. I don't know if the blue cats are just hitting hard this time of year or if more anglers are going after them but either way, cool video:

 

[Mr H]

Maryland is actively pushing the removal of blue cats, AIUI.

I'm also hearing about BC tournaments popping up, which I don't recall before.

We saw fillets for sale in Cockeysville yesterday, for $13/lb, so someone thinks they're more popular!!

 

[gtodave]

So what year you giving honorary native status to bluecats?

Cause they're not going anywhere.
LOL, I released all.channels and whites too, but only because they don't taste as good to me

there's a scientific difference between non native and invasive. Most all game fish here are non native but are treated as native because they are not invasive. invasive means they are taking the place of other species. BC do this. Channel, LM and SM bass do not do this. "Not invasive" would probably be a better term than "Honorary native".

Our only real native gamefish in MD is the fallfish

 

[mpollan1]

Here's a related article on a western state that monetizes catch of invasives. They offer $10 per fish.

MSN

Fishermen caught 156k of the fish, which amounts to $1.56 million in payouts. And these are little fish, not 30-50 lb catfish. It would be a big budget hit.

$1.56M is four years of Freddy Gray payout/off. I know where I would rather have the dollars go. I won't go any further on budget hits as I pretty durn sure you and I have congruent thoughts...

 

[DaveP]

there's a scientific difference between non native and invasive. Most all game fish here are non native but are treated as native because they are not invasive. invasive means they are taking the place of other species. BC do this. Channel, LM and SM bass do not do this. "Not invasive" would probably be a better term than "Honorary native".

Our only real native gamefish in MD is the fallfish

There may be cultural, financial, environmental, and 87 other differences between what you consider non native and invasive species, but scientific ain't one of them.

 

[gtodave]

There may be cultural, financial, environmental, and 87 other differences between what you consider non native and invasive species, but scientific ain't one of them.

It's only my major in college...what do I know?