This program, aired on August 21, 2025, is a compilation of segments from the Virginia Farm Bureau's 'Real Virginia' and the City of Hampton's 'Round Robin' talk shows. It covers a wide range of topics including invasive blue catfish, gardening, farm child care, cooking, community health, history, and local business innovation. No formal votes or decisions were taken; the broadcast is informational and educational.
Used by the Virginia Farm Bureau. For nearly a century, Farm Bureau has been a friend of the farm for all Virginians. Visit our website at VAFB.com. Hello everyone and welcome to Real Virginia, a show about Virginia agriculture and the people who produce the wonderful local products we enjoy. Brought to you by the Virginia Farm Bureau. Here's what's coming up on this week's show. Blue catfish are eating oysters, crabs, and other marine life at an alarming pace. Chef Tammy shows us how to use grains instead of lettuce for a delicious summer salad. And we look at the creative solutions farm parents are finding for child care. Virginia. Welcome back to Real Virginia, everyone. We're coming to you this week from Amory Seafood in Hampton, Virginia, one of many marinas where watermen head out to fish Virginia's waters. But the blue catfish is eating up many of the crabs, oysters, and other seafood that Virginians have come to enjoy. Catfishing begins in the early morning darkness on the Pomunke River in New Kent County for fishermen Chris Von Hott and Christopher Whitmire. They get on the water at 3 a.m. and work until midday, hoping to catch three to four thousand pounds of catfish before heading back to shore. By daybreak, the fish are definitely still biting. But these watermen and many others are concerned that the catfish are eating up the other species in these rivers that lead to the Chesapeake Bay, making those other fish, oysters, crabs, and clams more scarce. I mean, from the crabber's point of point of view, it's drastically reduced the amount of crabs. I mean, same with the shed, American shed, and the eels. I mean, used to be plenty of eels in this river, and not so many anymore. Wild blue catfish were stocked in the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in the 1970s and 80s as a trophy fish for recreational fishermen. Over the past 15 years, the blue catfish has thrived to the point that they've eaten into the population of many other species in Virginia waters. I mean, they go all the way down to the Chesapeake Bay, down toward, you know, like Gloucester. People have been catching them down there in Gill nets. I know down in Buckaroe on Buckaroe Beach, they've been catching them on fishing poles. Catfish are able to go into salt water, but they eventually need to be back in freshwater, such as the Pomunky River, which leads to the York River, which leads to the Chesapeake Bay. The bay itself is an estuary where fresh water from the rivers mixes with salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. We're kind of on the precipice of what I would say is a catastrophic event in our seafood economy because of the blue catfish. They're literally consuming literally anything they can get into their mouth, and they're doing it very effectively. So while it has become this massive ecological and socioeconomic concern, they also happen to taste really good. And there lies the silver lining in the blue catfish problem. They have more flavor than what most people think catfish taste like. A lot of people receive the word catfish as being a bottom feeder. It doesn't have that good sweet, firm white meat like the wild blue catfish does, and his perception that you got to get over that hurdle and put it in your mouth and try it. It was a great product, white, firm, sweet meat, high in protein and low in fat. Many Virginia restaurants also have started offering blue catfish on their menus. Scrimpshack is one here from DC, down in North Carolina. It's 13 to 15 of those, and they put it on as a seasonal item last year and this year. And they have the same thing, just introducing it to the public and what it is and perceived it's just not catfish. Despite the blue catfish's voracious appetite, not everyone believes they're bad for Virginia's seafood industry. Boat companies, fuel companies, gear companies, distribution companies, trucking companies, packaging coming as food service, retail, and restaurants. The inspection process for blue catfish moved from the Food and Drug Administration to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And that has led to a shortage of processing facilities for these watermen to take the catfish that they catch. Van Hotton and his crew are able to fish in the fresh waters of the Pomonkey River, but he would like to bring in more than just catfish. American shed, American eel, your uh rockfish, strip and bass. All those fish do come up here to spawn. And, well, as soon as they have your little babies, I mean, you got your vacuum clean of going around eating them. I mean, it needs to be removed out of here.