HB 1564 Mississippi House · 2026 Regular Session

Catfish; class as game fish.

HB 1564 reclassifies catfish (including channel, blue, flathead, and bullhead catfish) from "nongame gross fish" to "game fish" under Mississippi law. This change subjects catfish to the same recreational fishing regulations as other game fish, such as seasonal limits, bag limits, and size requirements. The bill also references the commercial fishing license provisions (Section 49-7-9.1) for potential amendment to align with the new classification. As a result, recreational anglers and commercial fishers harvesting catfish in Mississippi will be directly affected by this regulatory shift.

Issues: ✓ Environment

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 19, 2026 Last action Feb 12, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Current version · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill primarily reorganizes the Mississippi Code by moving catfish from the 'nongame gross fish' classification to the 'game fish' classification. The bill also brings forward a section related to commercial fishing licenses for potential future amendment. These changes affect how fish are categorized for regulatory and management purposes, though the core commercial fishing license requirements remain unchanged.

Scope change

The bill's scope changed by reclassifying catfish species from nongame gross fish to game fish, which may affect how these fish are regulated, managed, and potentially hunted or fished under Mississippi law.

DEFINITION

Catfish species (channel catfish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, yellow bullhead, black bullhead, and brown bullhead) were moved from the 'nongame gross fish' category to the 'game fish' category in Section 49-7-1.

TECHNICAL

Added committee substitute formatting and page headers indicating this is an official version of the bill (HR26/R2201CS.1) with page numbers and session identifiers.

Reorganized the bill structure from 'As Introduced' format to 'Committee Substitute' format, which typically reflects changes made during legislative committee review.

Removed the original 'As Introduced' header and formatting, replacing it with the updated committee substitute version.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass Comm Sub

lower

Jan 19, 2026

Committee

Referred To Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor