In the Chesapeake Bay, the Wide Net Project hopes to harness the human appetite as an ally to save the blue crab and other native marine life, says Civil Eats. The blue catfish, “an opportunistic and adaptable apex predator,” was introduced into the Bay in the 1970s for recreational fishing. “Forty years later, wild populations have skyrocketed,” in raw numbers and in the size of fish; 60-pound specimens are routine. There’s a year-round fishing season for the blue catfish but not much of a market. The Wide Net Project has “built relationships with everyone from regional restaurateurs to the food service giant Sodexo in an effort to re-brand the lowly catfish as cheap, local, sustainable and tasty. Wide Net expects to sell 75,000 pounds of catfish to consumers in the region and to donate tens of thousands of pounds of the fish to food-insure families this year, says Civil Eats.