What is wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish?

The Chesapeake blue catfish was introduced into the Chesapeake Bay decades ago and has drastically increased in numbers. Tasting similar to rockfish, blue catfish are not your typical “catfish.” The fish is a tasty, white flaky fish that is excellent in a variety of recipes, such as our Maryland’s Best recipes.

Eating the wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish is not only good for you, it’s helping the Chesapeake Bay. Blue catfish is consuming other species in the Bay, such as crabs, oysters, rockfish, and anything else in its path, which is causing ecological damage.

Consumers can find the fish in select grocery stores and restaurants. Maryland’s Best has compiled a list of both retail and restaurants that serve the wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish.

To learn more about the species, the history, and best practices for catching it, please visit the Department of Natural Resources.

Recipe of the Month

Each month, Maryland’s Best features a recipe of the month for the wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish. This month’s recipe is Curried Wild- Caught Chesapeake Blue Catfish featuring wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish.

Curried Wild-Caught Chesapeake Blue Catfish

For a full list of Maryland’s Best blue catfish recipes, please click here.

Restaurants and Retail featuring the wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish

To find wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish near you click here.

Help The Bay – Eat More Wild-Caught Blue Catfish

For those establishments who are not serving the wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish, we need your help in asking them to put it on the menu. 

Catching and eating blue catfish is one way to reduce the numbers of these invasive fish in the Chesapeake Bay. Many recreational anglers like to catch these fish, which can grow to five feet and 100 pounds or even larger. We need your help in eating our way out of the problem by consuming more wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish.

 

Don’t see your favorite or local restaurant/retail store on the list? If there is an establishment serving the blue catfish but not on this list?
Fill out the form and we’ll add you to the website!
If you are a buyer interested in looking into wholesale wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish contact matthew.scales1@maryland.gov.
To learn more about wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish check out the following resources:

 

An 8th grade class at the Mill Creek Middle School 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.

Click Here to Read More About What the Students did.