US: NOAA denies Maryland’s request for financial relief from invasive catfish

Published 2024년 1월 8일

Tridge summary

Maryland is continuing its efforts to combat invasive catfish and snakehead in the Chesapeake Bay watershed after a request for a federal fishery disaster declaration was denied in December 2023. Despite the denial, the state is taking proactive steps to reduce invasive fish populations, including hiring a program manager, increasing catfish research and monitoring programs, and encouraging anglers to increase catfish harvests. The federal government has recognized the issue and has committed to discussing future opportunities for collaboration with the state.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The government of the U.S. state of Maryland has vowed to continue its fight against invasive catfish and snakehead in the Chesapeake Bay watershed after NOAA Fisheries denied its request for a federal fishery disaster declaration in December 2023.Maryland Governor Wes Moore submitted the request in March 2023 as his state has struggled to contain an exploding population of invasive blue catfish, which was first introduced to the bay to create a recreational fishery in the 1970s. In the decades since, the catfish population has surged out of control, with local officials concerned they are out-competing and replacing native commercial fish species.“We are beginning to see disturbing trends in both our commercial fishery landings and our survey data,” Moore said. “Since 2012, landings of seven of Maryland’s marquee commercial fishery species which share habitat with invasive fishes at some point in their life cycle have declined between 27 percent and 91 percent.”At the same time, ...

Source: Seafoodsource