JACKSON - Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) staff accompanied Mr. Charlie Hogue of Warmwater Pond Management, Inc. to the Pearl River near The Stennis Space Center where he released about 1,100 harvestable-sized blue catfish on January 29.  These fish were donated by Mr. Chat Phillips of Phillips Brothers Farms in Yazoo City.  

The blue catfish are part of a continuing recovery effort for the area of the Pearl River affected by a discharge of black liquor from the Temple-Inland Paper Mill in Bogalusa, Louisiana. The discharge resulted in a massive fish kill in August 2011.  The kill stretched along 80 miles of the Pearl River including about 40 miles bordering Mississippi.  An estimated 219,000 fish and mussels were killed according to Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and MDWFP staff.    

For more information regarding wildlife or hunting in Mississippi, visit our website at http://www.mdwfp.comor call us at 601-432-2400.