Annual fishing tournament raises awareness on invasive fish

SHARPTOWN, Md.- Salisbury University’s second annual Nanticoke River Invasive Fishing Derby made a return in Sharptown Sunday.

Participants competed to catch as many invasive species as possible, including blue catfish and northern snakehead. More than 700 blue catfish and 5 snakeheads were caught last year. 

The tournament was free to enter, courtesy of The Salisbury University Foundation and the Graduate Research Department. We’re told the goal of the event was to encourage the community to catch, remove, and even eat those invasive species.

Assistant Professor of Physiology Dr. Noah Bressman and his lab students actually keep the fish caught to do research on what kind of impacts they have on the local ecosystem. We’re told grant funding from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will help support their data analysis.  

Dr. Bressman says the more fish that are removed, the less they can prey on things like blue crab. He adds the event was also an educational opportunity for the public. “Something different about these blue catfish that our research is showing is that when they get to over a foot long, they switch from being a muddy bottom feeder to an active predator. They’re eating crabs, white perch, and more things we like to eat. We’ve seen a whole lot of wood ducks in their stomachs too. They’re eating things we like to eat so that’s going to make them even tastier,” Dr. Bressman said.

$2,000 in prizes from several sponsors were given out for a variety of categories including biggest catch of the day.

Organizers say some of the fish caught will also be given to local food pantries.