Invasive Catfish Workgroup
The Invasive Catfish Workgroup coordinates the best available science and develops methods to evaluate the impacts of invasive catfish on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The workgroup also coordinates activities and recommends actions to implement the five policy objectives outlined in the 2012 Invasive Catfish Policy Adoption Statement.
Meetings
ICW Policy Small Group Meeting - June 2025
Invasive Catfish Workgroup Meeting - October 2025
ICW Policy Small Group Meeting: May 2025
Invasive Catfish Workgroup Meeting - May 2025
Invasive Catfish Workgroup Meeting
About
The charge of the Invasive Catfish Workgroup is to coordinate activities and recommend actions to implement the five policy objectives outlined in the Invasive Catfish Policy Adoption Statement, signed and adopted by the Fisheries GIT Executive committee on January 24th, 2012. The Workgroup emphasizes bay-wide communication among jurisdictions and engagement of a broad group of members representing the commercial and recreational fishery, seafood processing industry, state agencies and the science community.

The Invasive Catfish Workgroup is responsible for coordinating the best available science and developing methods to evaluate the impacts of invasive catfish species on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The role of the Invasive Catfish Workgroup will be to regularly report out on current knowledge of the issue and incorporate all available information on blue and flathead catfish to inform a management strategy for handling these invasive species across all jurisdictions.
Publications
2020 Invasive Catfish Management Strategy
Publication date:This document includes current efforts and management approaches for reducing the abundance and mitigating the spread and ecological impacts of invasive catfishes in the Chesapeake Bay.
View document [PDF] 2020 Invasive Catfish Management Strategy
Our Members
- Bruce Vogt (Chair)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bruce.Vogt@noaa.gov - Christina Garvey (Coordinator)
Chesapeake Research Consortium christina.garvey@noaa.gov - Christina Garvey (Staffer)
Chesapeake Research Consortium christina.garvey@noaa.gov - Meade Amory
Amory Seafood meade@amoryseafood.com - Mike Bednarski
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources mike.bednarski@dwr.virginia.gov - Jorge Holzer Bilbao
Maryland Sea Grant jholzer@umd.edu - Ingrid Braun-Ricks
Potomac River Fisheries Commission ingrid.braun-ricks@prfc.us - Noah Bressman
Salisbury University nrbressman@salisbury.edu - Beth Brewster
Charles County Public Schools brewster.amanda@ccpsstaff.org - Joseph Capella
Pamunkey Tribe joseph.capella@pamunkey.org - Gregory Casten
greg@profish.com - Allison Colden
Chesapeake Bay Foundation acolden@cbf.org - Christine Densmore
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) cdensmore@usgs.gov - Mary Fabrizio
Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) mfabrizio@vims.edu - Alexa Galvan
Virginia Marine Resources Commission alexa.galvan@mrc.virginia.gov - Greg Garman
Virginia Commonwealth University ggarman@vcu.edu - Pat Geer
Virginia Marine Resources Commission pat.geer@mrc.virginia.gov - Corbin Hilling
Virginia Tech chilling@vt.edu - Mike Hutt
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Mike.Hutt@vdacs.virginia.gov - Tom Ihde
Morgan State University Patuxent Environmental & Aquatic Research Laboratory thomas.ihde@morgan.edu - Yan Jiao
Virginia Tech yjiao@vt.edu - Adrienne Kotula
Chesapeake Bay Commission Akotula@chesbay.us - Chengchu Catherine Liu
Maryland Sea Grant cathyliu@umd.edu - Chris Moore
Chesapeake Bay Foundation cmoore@cbf.org - Clint Morgeson
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources clinton.morgeson@dwr.virginia.gov - Thomas O'Connell
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) toconnell@usgs.gov - George O'Donnell
Maryland Department of Natural Resources george.odonnell@maryland.gov - Matthew Ogburn
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) ogburnm@si.edu - Mike Ostrander
mike@discoverthejames.com - Chris Ottinger
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) cottinger@usgs.gov - Stephanie Pazzaglia
JJ McDonnell spazzaglia@jjmcdonnell.com - Tiffany Risch
Snookiefishing@gmail.com - Chris Rubino
JJ McDonnell crubino@jjmcdonnell.com - Daniel Ryan
DC Division of Fish and Wildlife daniel.ryan@dc.gov - Matthew Scales
Maryland Department of Agriculture matthew.scales1@maryland.gov - Sarah Schenning
sarah_schenning@vanhollen.senate.gov - David Sikorski
Coastal Conservation Association davidsikorski@mac.com - Geoffrey Smith
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission geofsmith@pa.gov - Chris Sopko
Sea Farms INC chrissopko@seafarmsinc.net - Brenda Stahl
Profish bstahl@profish.com - Michael Steiger
Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife Michael.Steiger@delaware.gov - Trey Thrope
FishinwithFatt@gmail.com - George Trice
thetricecrew@gmail.com - Troy Tuckey
Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) tuckey@vims.edu - Heather Walsh
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hwalsh@usgs.gov - Margaret Whitmore
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources margaret.whitemore@dwr.virginia.gov - Branson Williams
Maryland Department of Natural Resources branson.williams@maryland.gov - John Page Williams
johnpagewilliams@gmail.com - Roxanne Wolf
Shore Gourmet roxanne.shogo@gmail.com - Dan Zimmer
dan@ihsanfarms.com - Alex Swanson
Office of Senator Van Hollen Alex_Swanson@vanhollen.senate.gov - Annalise Kenney
Maryland Sea Grant akenney@mdsg.umd.edu - Andrea Ostreff
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) aostroff@usgs.gov - Ashley Goetz
Maryland Sea Grant goetza@umd.edu - Benjamin Simon
George Washington University bsimon@gwu.edu - Brent Hunsinger
brent.hunsinger@riverfriends.org - Cambria Miller
East Carolina University millerca23@students.ecu.edu - Charles Frederickson
caf.kmf@gmail.com - Chris Jones
George Mason University christopherm.jones@maryland.gov - Chris Luckett
Maryland Department of the Environment chris.luckett@maryland.gov - Cody Paul
cpaulcrabpots@gmail.com - Connor Bevan
American Sportfishing Association cbevan@asafishing.org - Daryl Wiley
addictionbaits@yahoo.com - David Secor
UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) secor@umces.edu - Donald Orth
Virginia Tech dorth@vt.edu - Gary Lengerhuis
glengerhuis@yahoo.com - Gina Hunt
Maryland Department of Natural Resources gina.hunt@maryland.gov - Hannah Mast
Office of Senator Van Hollen Hannah_Mast@vanhollen.senate.gov - Howard Townsend
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Howard.Townsend@noaa.gov - Jack Buchanan
Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) jrbuchanan@vims.edu - Jaclyn Higgins
jhiggins@trcp.org - James Morley
East Carolina University morleyj19@ecu.edu - Jamie Brunkow
James River Association jbrunkow@jrava.org - Jaymee Galbasini
jayrfishing@gmail.com - Joseph Love
Maryland Department of Natural Resources joseph.love@maryland.gov - John Garland
john5112@aol.com - Johnny Moore
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control johnny.moore@delaware.gov - Kaleb Page
kaleb@catchthefever.com - Kendall Weingard
Salisbury University klweingard@salisbury.edu - Kevin Dockendorf
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Kevin.Dockendorf@ncwildlife.org - Lisa Ghidotti
lghidotti@radford.edu - LW Nixon
lw@nixonfishery.com - Madeleine Jepsen
Maryland Sea Grant mjepsen@mdsg.umd.edu - Matt Balazik
Virginia Commonwealth University balazikmt@vcu.edu - Megan Kepler Schall
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) mvk10@psu.edu - Michael Fisk
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission michael.fisk@ncwildlife.org - Pat Hudson
pat@truechesapeake.com - Pat Welsh
Reliant Fish Company pwelsh@reliantfish.com - Pete Springer
springer704@gmail.com - Rachel Hoch
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission rachael.hoch@ncwildlife.org - Richard Bending
jayrfishing@gmail.com - Rob Emens
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality rob.emens@deq.nc.gov - Rocky Rice
rrice209@gmail.com - Ryan Walsh
James River Association rwalsh@jrava.org - Sean Rafferty
Pennsylvania Sea Grant srafferty@psu.edu - Steve McHenry
smchenry@marbidco.org - Steven Pearson
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation steven.Pearson@dec.ny.gov - Stone Slade
Maryland Department of Agriculture stone.slade@maryland.gov - Todd Van Middlesworth
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission todd.VanMiddlesworth@ncwildlife.org - Tim Suhgrue
Congressional Seafood tim@congressionalseafood.com - Wayne Morris
morrissfd@outlook.com - Wendy Stuart
Wide Net Project wendy@widenetproject.org