PlanetCatfish.com

ESPN: Italian fisherman Dino Ferrari catches impossibly large 280-pound catfish:

Quite sad, I was hoping he would have released it back. Aren't specimens of this size getting rarer???

The ESPN story says he did release it back.

Oh nice, I was mistaken then. I just saw the video, saw no movement and decided it was a goner.

Well, the irony here is that despite most of the comments you'll read online saying "why did he kill it, he's a monster", he didn't in fact kill it, but definitely should have killed it.

after all are introductions to the Po drainage, and are causing big problems for native fish diversity, just like all the rest (carp, tilapia, gambusia etc).

However, I certainly would take no pleasure in ending the life of such an impressive creature, even if it did mean the demise of whole ecosystem.

racoll wrote:

Silurus

after all are introductions to the Po drainage, and are causing big problems for native fish diversity, just like all the rest (carp, tilapia, gambusia etc).

However, I certainly would take no pleasure in ending the life of such an impressive creature, even if it did mean the demise of whole ecosystem.

I did not know that but yes, killing such a magnificent fish would be pretty hard to do.

Being a bit of a purist, I think the proper thing to have done is to have big fish fry with it and use it as a lesson in the damage caused by invasive species. Introduced species of plants and animals are devastating habitats around the planet and should be strongly discouraged.

I'm Italian and I'm a freshwater fisherman.
My parents lived in two nearby villages (in the province of Mantua), located on the right bank of the Po river, the largest river in Italy.
I can confirm that the catfish Silurus has already heavily damaged all the native species of the great river.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that the meat of the fish Silurus is very tasty, this fish does not belong to the current Italian culinary tradition, unlike what happens in the countries of origin of this species.
In this regard, I can only say: "Bon Appetit"!
AnfibioRana

I sense a shortlived "pop-up" restaurant on the banks of the Po serving some tasty fish based Italian classic dishes might be a winner!

Jools

I am convinced myself, but I don't think it can be a practice of short duration.
Meanwhile, the fisherman who freed the huge catfish was fined, because Italian law holds that alien predators are not released.
Ciao!
AnfibioRana

AnfibioRana wrote:Meanwhile, the fisherman who freed the huge catfish was fined, because Italian law holds that alien predators are not released.

Wow, that's just a little ironic.

Cheers, Eric