While humans are their closest native predator, Sedlacek said the difficulty of getting the fish to market may hinder the commercial fishery market for the catfish. The difficulty stems in part from the fact that catfish are the only seafood that the United States Department of Agriculture has inspection authority over due to the fact that catfish were primarily farm-raised.
Sedlacek said that has since changed, "Now that we have this wild caught catfish industry developing, we need something more similar to all other seafood which is inspected by FDA."
Sedlacek said the USDA is a more time-consuming inspection process, which has slowed the growth of he commercial catfish industry in the region. If that process was quicker, it would allow fishermen to get their catfish to market faster.
The Chesapeake Bay Conservation Acceleration Act is a new bill designed to help improve this process. The bill has support from U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Time Kaine of Virginia, as well as bipartisan support from Representatives Bobby Scott, Rob Wittman, and Jen Kiggans.
This idea has been proposed before, and I wonder why it hasn't gained more traction. It seems like such an obvious step. Blue cats are good eating. One problem is that the market just doesn't have much demand, and prices are low. Finding new markets might be more help.
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