The Wild-Caught Chesapeake Blue Catfish – Mill Creek Middle School Takes Action

What’s The Big Deal?

The Chesapeake Bay has been home to the wild-caught blue catfish since the 1970s for sport fishing. Now, they outcompete native fish, disrupting the ecosystem.

The good news?

Eating blue catfish helps the Chesapeake Bay! Plus, they’re delicious, nutritious and high in protein. Eating more wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish can help save the other species in the Bay that we love, such as the blue crab.  

Even Secondary Education is getting involved! 

An 8th grade class at the Mill Creek Middle School, located in Calvert County, were tasked with a delicious assignment, to develop marketing campaigns for the wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish. Students learned all about the blue catfish, marketing tips from the Maryland Department of Agriculture/Maryland’s Best, and developed posters and websites to market the fish and to spread awareness about the problem- and the tasty solution!

Students created creative marketing campaigns, integrated with websites that list places to buy the fish, recipes and restaurants who are sourcing the blue catfish. Let’s take a look at some examples:

More schools are starting to carry the wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish in their cafeterias with the blue catfish cake sandwiches. Maryland students and faculty are stepping up to the plate (pun) to serve more local Maryland seafood, and serving up their minds with ways to tackle a problem with creative marketing.

To get involved with serving wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish, reach out to Matthew Scales, matthew.scales1@maryland.gov.