WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Maryland Rep. Andy Harris on Wednesday announced plans to make $6 million in grants available to help seafood processors expand their capacity to process invasive, wild-caught catfish.
The funding, available through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program, is aimed at independent businesses that can build or modernize processing facilities, adopt new technology and train workers to increase the capacity for processing invasive catfish.
The grants, which range from $250,000 to $1 million, require a 50% match from the applicants. Applications are due by Oct. 6.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who was confirmed in February 2025, said the initiative would benefit rural communities, fishermen and local food banks.
“The project here in Maryland … is a win for our rural communities who now have a new processing facility that will support good paying jobs, a win for our fishermen who are ridding the Chesapeake of a destructive invasive species, and a win for our local communities who have another source of protein for the charitable feeding network,” Rollins said in a press release.
Additionally, the USDA, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, is launching a one-year pilot program to purchase up to $2 million of Chesapeake Bay blue catfish. The fish will be distributed to families in need through food banks and other food distributors.
“Marylanders are grateful for the partnership and support of U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Rollins—true champions for our farmers, watermen, and agricultural communities,” said Rep. Andy Harris.
“Rural America has no greater ally than the Trump Administration.”
Invasive blue catfish were introduced to Virginia rivers in the 1970s and have since spread throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where they compete with and prey on native species like blue crabs and striped bass.
Photo via Rep. Andy Harris
