Maryland congresswoman introduces bill to use invasive blue catfish for cat, dog food
MD congresswoman proposes turning invasive catfish into pet food
A Maryland Congresswoman is proposing turning invasive catfish into food for your furry friends.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A Maryland Congresswoman is proposing turning invasive catfish into food for your furry friends.
Here's the deal:
Rep. Sarah Elfreth represents Maryland's Third District, which includes Annapolis, Anne Arundel and Howard Counties. She says it is a bipartisan solution to a bipartisan problem.
The issue here is an invasive species—the blue catfish—and the proposed bill would pay pet food makers and seafood processors to essentially clean up the Chesapeake Bay by turning the catfish into cat and dog food.
"There's some pretty bad federal red tape when it comes to processing blue catfish," Elfreth explained. "Now, we've tried for years to fix that but haven't gotten anywhere - and that's where we landed on this creative solution."
Elfreth's bill, named the ‘‘Mitigation Action and Watermen Support Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘MAWS Act of 2025," is a three-year initiative that would set aside $6 million—$2 million per year—to pay seafood processors and pet food makers to capture millions of pounds of invasive blue catfish from the bay and turn it into pet food.
It's a pilot program between 2027 and 2029 with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since they are hoping it could be expanded out across the country to deal with invasive species in other waterways like carp in the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers.
Dig deeper:
Invasive blue catfish are one of the reasons bushels of blue crabs are so expensive lately.
"And let's be real, the market isn't quite there for human consumption," Elfreth said. "I order blue catfish every time I see it on a menu and local restaurants are doing a fabulous job featuring it, but this is a millions and millions of pound problem in the Bay so we need a faster solution than just human consumption."
The idea has already received support from the Pet Food Institute - which represents major cat and dog food makers in the U.S. like Blue Buffalo and Purina.