Slimy ‘Frankenfish’ with gaping maws, sharp teeth, and a colossal appetite for native fish—or a delicacy on par with Maryland’s popular striped bass? These accounts may seem at odds, but both have been used to describe the northern snakehead. Fisheries managers hope that inspiring a snakehead-sized appetite in seafood consumers will put a dent in the invasive fish’s numbers.
Northern snakeheads are native to Asia but have been in the Chesapeake Bay since the early 2000s. They have big appetites and few natural predators, and sometimes carry pathogens that can harm other fish. That likelihood to cause harm to the economy, environment, or human health is important. It’s the factor biologists take into consideration when upgrading a species from nonnative to invasive. Many familiar plants and animals of the Chesapeake Bay region are considered invasive species. Among them are species as infamous as nutria (Myocastor coypus), zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), water chestnut (Trapa natans), and blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus).
Once an invasive species is established, it is nearly impossible to eradicate. Instead, managers often focus on population control, and increasingly, they are recruiting the public’s help. “We’re working to inform the public that it’s OK to eat invasive,” says Branson Williams, invasive fishes program manager at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
In fact, it’s more than OK. It’s encouraged. Just this year, Maryland legislators approved a bill to change the common name of the northern snakehead (Channa argus) to Chesapeake Channa. They hope renaming the fish will make it even more palatable to restaurant-goers and grocery store shoppers. It’s a familiar marketing tactic in the seafood world for both invasive and noninvasive species.
The menu at Leo, a restaurant in Annapolis, Maryland, features invasive Chesapeake Channa (northern snakehead) and blue catfish.
Like snakeheads, news coverage of the blue catfish—one of the Bay’s buzziest new invaders—has not always been kind. A 2010 article from The Virginian-Pilot described blue catfish as aggressive, slimy creatures that grow big, ugly, and gray, and croak like pigs. But like snakeheads, managers hope to rebrand the blue catfish as a tasty, nutritious, and sustainable catch—one people will pay to have on their plate. “You can grill it, fry it, bake it, broil it…I think it’s just a matter of getting folks comfortable, too, in cooking blue catfish at home,” says Matt Scales, seafood marketing director with the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
In a creative bid to manage aquatic invasives, state and federal agencies across the US have started promoting them as a nutritious and sustainable seafood choice. “Invasivore” campaigns that encourage people to eat invasive plants and animals have cropped up with increasing frequency in the last decade.
From green crabs to lionfish to wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish, explore how states are encouraging the public to help remove invasive species from their waters, one bite at a time:
Green crab
We can probably credit the modern invasivore movement to the green crab (Carcinus maenas). The term “invasivorism” was coined in the early 2000s by a University of Vermont researcher studying the crab’s arrival and expansion in North America.
Green crabs arrived in the 1800s, likely after crossing the Atlantic in the ballast water of merchant ships. Today, the crabs destroy New England’s eelgrass beds and gorge on clams and oysters. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates green crab predation results in losses of $18-22 million per year for East Coast shellfisheries and eelgrass restoration efforts.
The team behind the nonprofit organization greencrab.org works with harvesters, wholesalers, restaurants, and chefs to build culinary markets for the green crab while spreading awareness of its invasive impact. Today, chefs across New England feature green crabs on their menus .
New Hampshire Sea Grant’s Green Crab Guide , published in 2022, teaches people how to forage, process, and prepare green crabs at home.
Lionfish
Lionfish, from the Indo-Pacific, threaten Atlantic reefs along the southeast coast of the US, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Likely released from home aquariums, they were first spotted in Florida’s waters in the 1980s. They feed on small crabs and fish, including grazers that keep coral reefs healthy by eating algae, and they have few natural predators due to their venomous spines.
In 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) partnered with the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) to launch an Eat Lionfish campaign . They have trained hundreds of divers and snorkelers to safely hunt lionfish. REEF compiled a lionfish cookbook and maintains a list of restaurants serving the invasive fish.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hosts an annual lionfish challenge for commercial and recreational divers to catch two species of lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles). REEF also hosts an annual lionfish derby in the Florida Keys—their divers collected 1,898 lionfish in 2023.
Asian Carp
Four species of Asian carp—bighead carp, silver carp, grass carp, and black carp—were introduced to the Midwest in the 1970s. In 2022, Illinois unveiled its campaign to rebrand the Asian carp as “copi”—a play on the copious amount of these invasive fish found in the state’s rivers and lakes.
The rebranding effort was led by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and promotes copi as a safe, healthy, and sustainable fish to eat in restaurants and at home. At choosecopi.com consumers can learn more about the fish, where to find it, and how to prepare recipes like a copi spicy fish burger and copi smoked fish dip.
Blue catfish
“Save the blue crab, eat the blue catfish” is the tagline for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ latest blue catfish campaign: MAWS. A play on the movie Jaws, the campaign has produced a cinema-worthy poster that is popping up at marinas and public fishing areas throughout Maryland. The department hopes the playful, attention-grabbing approach will get more Marylanders excited to fish for and eat blue catfish.
The poster is one component of a broader outreach campaign. A series of videos on DNR’s website teach people how to catch and cook blue catfish. Department staff also talk to the public about blue catfish at community events, like the Maryland State Fair. They have more plans for MAWS next year, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Jaws.
“The department’s only so big. We only have so many boats. We can't remove the biomass needed to try to limit the growth of these populations,” says Williams. To supplement their efforts, DNR encourages people to harvest and eat blue catfish and other invasives.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture is ramping up outreach to chefs, restaurants, fish processors, grocers, and consumers through public tasting events and trade shows. Their Maryland’s Best website helps people find recipes, restaurants, and retailers of wild-caught Chesapeake blue catfish. “We’re really trying to drive up that demand,” says Scales. They want to see blue catfish on more menus, in more stores, and in more home kitchens.
Maryland’s Catfish Trail helps anglers find prime fishing spots in different regions of the Bay, offers tips on how to catch blue catfish, and promotes invasive fishing tournaments and events.
Resource managers are keeping a close eye on commercial and recreational blue catfish landings. They hope to see harvests increase alongside greater awareness and appetites for the invasive fish.
Ready to put blue catfish on your plate? Check out our video with chef Keyia Yalcin of Baltimore’s Fishnet restaurant and food truck teaching you how to cook blue catfish tacos at home.
