PRESS RELEASE WHEREAS:  Aquaculture is an important sector of Arkansas’ broad and diverse agricultural industry that contributes more than $19 billion to Arkansas’ economy annually as the state’s top industry;   WHEREAS:  Arkansas catfish farmers contributed $22.9 million to Arkansas’ agricultural economy in foodsize fish sales last year, a five percent increase over the previous year;   WHEREAS:  Arkansas catfish producers had more than nine million foodsize fish in inventory on January 1, 2023, with the large foodsize inventory up nine percent from January 1, 2022;   WHEREAS:  Arkansas has 3,400 water surface acres used for catfish production in 2023;   WHEREAS:  Arkansas ranks 4th nationally in foodsize fish sold at 18,000,000 pounds;   WHEREAS:  Arkansas is considered the birthplace of warm water aquaculture, beginning with the first commercial fish farms built in the 1940s for goldfish production, and is considered the birthplace of the commercial catfish industry with the first farm-raised catfish sales in the late 1950s;   WHEREAS:  Arkansas is home to excellent programs to provide research and support to the aquaculture industry   NOW, THEREFORE, I, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, Governor of the State of Arkansas, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the State of Arkansas, do hereby proclaim August 2023 as  “ARKANSAS CATFISH MONTH”  IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 10th day of July, in the year of our Lord 2023.