The processing plant, Moon River Foods at Indianola, closed or suspended operations last year after two of their fishermen drowned on Moon Lake. The State of Miss. had helped finance them. All together, about $7 million was spent on retooling a catfish processing plant. While Asian Carp were initially the primary focus, the processor learned quickly that Buffalo were more profitable.
They were paying only about a dime to $0.15 a pound for AC, which wouldn't even pay for the fuel even though we could catch 3 to 5000 pounds a day! Kentucky / Tenn has the correct idea with their "subsidization" of the prices paid to the fishermen. We have yet to see how this will work and if it is sustainable.
Large scale, commercial harvest with a subsidized price is the only feasible solution.