The mandate for biofuels is forcing Mississippi Delta catfish farmers to have to drain their ponds, according to this informative New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/business/18catfish.html?hpThis depresses me something awful because good American farmed catfish is a clean, delicious fish. It's the only freshwater fish I like. The type of 'catfish' which is imported from Vietnam and China is a whole different species called 'basa.' It has a mushy, less flaky flesh and tastes sort of nasty and funky. It's always frozen and is an inferior product grown without controls for antibiotic use, etc.
Please email your representatives in the House and Senate and ask for something to be done about this, whether it's subsidies for catfish farmers or a change of policy. This topic post isn't political: it's about whether we in North America will be able to buy and eat clean healthy foods sourced from our own hemisphere. It's bad enough we're dependent on imported oil, but we needn't be made to be dependent on imported fish, especially when that fish isn't even good! :mad