Lawmakers have introduced legislation targeting an invasive species in the Susquehanna River\u2019s major outlet.<\/p>\n
The Southern Maryland Chronicle reports<\/a> that members of the US Congress from Maryland and Virginia have introduced the Mitigation Action and Watermen Support Act, or MAWS Act, targeting blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n The Susquehanna River is the major tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, and the the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has warned<\/a> that the river is also at threat from the invasive species. <\/p>\n The MAWS Act incentivizing the capture and harvest of the blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay, via a pilot program through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. <\/p>\n The program would provide grants to animal food manufactuers that prioritize harvesting the fish, as well as building infrastructure to process and ship them.<\/p>\n Data collected by the NOAA would then be used to promote recommendations for similar programs nationwide.<\/p>\n \u201cInvasive blue catfish pose a direct ecological and economic threat to our Bay,\u201d said Congresswoman Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth of Maryland, according to the Chronicle. <\/p>\n Elfreth is one of the bill\u2019s sponsors, along with Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, and Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans of Virginia.<\/p>\n Blue catfish live up to 20 years and can grow to weigh over 100 pounds. <\/p>\n The species lacks natural predators in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and as they eat nearly anything, they threaten several other species and the biodiversity of the region.<\/p>\n The MAWS Act was introduced<\/a> to the House of Representatives in July and went before the Natural Resources Subcommittee on July 22.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawmakers have introduced legislation targeting an invasive species in the Susquehanna River\u2019s major outlet. The Southern Maryland Chronicle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-63509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}