"There is no bright flash or loud bang, no sharp crackling sound. But the rushing waters of the Potomac River have just been electrified.

And for a moment, nothing changes.

But suddenly, they rise to the surface one by one, writhing briefly before they lie still — dozens and dozens of invasive blue and flathead catfish, previously hidden in the gray-blue depths beneath the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, connecting Maryland’s Oxon Hill to Virginia’s Alexandria.

The fish, with their white bellies and small fins pointed skyward, aren’t dead — just stunned. But the biologists aboard the small Maryland Department of Natural Resources jon boat only have a a few minutes before the fish come to their senses and descend once more.

In that time, the small group of scientists can’t hope to collect every fish — at least a hundred in all — in their handheld dip nets, even though extricating the invasive species from the Chesapeake Bay is the ultimate goal.

This experiment in electrofishing, as it’s known, is more to give scientists a snapshot of what is normally concealed: Just how many of the whiskered invaders lurk in one stretch of the Potomac, in a roughly 50-yard radius surrounding the tiny motorboat delivering the shock.

Electrofishing is just one strategy that Maryland policymakers have employed to do battle against the catfish, some of the more prolific invasive species to ever gain a foothold in the Chesapeake Bay after being introduced in Virginia waters in the 1970s. . ."

But Tom O’Connell, director of the Eastern Ecological Science Center for the U.S. Geological Survey, who joined the electrofishing trip, said its also important for fishery managers to think beyond developing and strengthening the commercial market for catfish in the region. That’s why studying strategies like electrofishing is so important, he said.

“If our fishermen are successful — which is great — they may knock down the population to the level which is no longer economically viable for them,” O’Connell said. “So, we need to be thinking about alternative strategy, more efficient gears, different techniques.”

During his remarks aboard the boat, O’Connell briefly mentioned changes to his agency amid President Donald Trump’s (R) tenure, which have included slimming down the agency’s staff.

“In the federal government, we’re seeing a lot of change, a lot of uncertainty,” O’Connell said. “We’re going to continue to provide the science to support the administration’s priorities, and hopefully Chesapeake Bay restoration.”