Dynamics and Role of Non-native Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus in Virginia’s Tidal Rivers

This report summarizes progress on research on the population dynamics and trophic role of nonnative Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus in Virginia’s tidal rivers. The research has been organized in three parts. First, we quantify the diets of Blue Catfish in terms of relative importance of diet items across freshwater, oligohaline, and mesohaline zones of the James, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Rappahannock Rivers and examine factors related to variability in Blue Catfish diets. Second, we analyze demographic trends and population size in Blue Catfish based on commercial harvest (VMRC) and electrofishing catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) surveys. Finally, we integrate our findings on diet and population biomass to derive estimates of consumption of major species of concern and examine what management strategies may be appropriate.