FEDERALSBURG, Md. - The first "Madness on the Marshyhope" fishing tournament might not be its last.
Troubled waters are flowing through the Marshyhope Creek in Federalsburg, with a blue catfish problem that is stretching to the Chesapeake Bay.
Federalsburg Mayor Kim Abner calls the blue catfish a "swimming dumpster," saying the invasive species is destroying Marshyhope Creek.
"It's estimated that 70 percent of the biomass and all of Maryland waters is now the blue catfish," Abner says. "They are eating rockfish, the baby sturgeon, and crabs, and they pulled one out of the Marshyhope that had an adult wood duck in its stomach. They're also eating oysters and clams. Anything they can get their mouth around, they will eat."
Abner continued, "I've seen 45-pounders coming out of that river. But, it's generally in the colder temperatures."
According to the mayor, 70 anglers tried to reel in the problem during last weekend's fishing tournament. She says they caught 193 blue catfish. And it could have been more or larger fish if the weather wasn't so warm Saturday.
"I was happy with anything they pulled out because the more we get out the better," Abner says. "We'll never get rid of all of them. But, if we can control the population and make it manageable, then that would help tremendously."
Dr. Noah Bressman, an assistant professor at Salisbury University, says part of the reason for the event is an effort to protect an endangered species called sturgeon. He brought a team of graduate and undergraduate students to research the catfish by looking at their stomachs.
"The Marshyhope is their last remaining spawning ground in Maryland. We want to see if these catfish are eating these sturgeon. We want to see if they're eating these little baby sturgeon, as they're just hatching and starting life. If they are, then that's really problematic," says Bressman.
One of the 70 anglers was Ray Parsons. He says he wants to see this event as an annual occurrence if not multiple times a year to decrease blue catfish breeding.
"Once in a while, you'll catch small ones and they're breeding big time," Parsons says. "They're going to destroy our river."
Ryan Koski agreed with Parsons and is glad the tournament was a part of the community.
"I grew up on the Marshyhope," Koski says. "I was always out on the boat and there were always fishermen here. You don't want invasive species in a place like the Marshyhope. It's just too special to most people around here."
