Pink Panther Cartoon Hour Special (2017) 1

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan designated June 25 as National Catfish Day by Presidential Proclamation after Congress called for the day to be established with Joint Resolution 178.

Why?

To observe the importance of celebrating the value of farm-raised catfish.

Catfish are easy to farm in warm climates, leading to inexpensive and safe food at local grocers. Mississippi is the largest domestic catfish supplier in the United States. Channel catfish support a $450-million dollar a year aquaculture industry.

The practice began in the early 1960s in Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It moved into the Mississippi Delta by the late 1960s.

While a sidekick on television, the Ictalurus punctatus of the day is simply known as Catfish and voiced by Arnold Stang.

Catfish is the animated confidante to Misterjaw, a blue-colored, great white shark voiced by Arte Johnson. Their goal was to catch Harry Halibut, voiced by Bob Ogle.

All were part of the 1976 The Pink Panther Laugh and Half Hour and a Half Show that played on NBC. A total of 34 episodes were filmed.

The Pink Panther Show premiered in 1969. It expanded to its hour-and-a-half format for 1976, but returned to half-an-hour the following year. In 1978, The Pink Panther moved to ABC and changed its title to The All New Pink Panther Show.

Misterjaw was designed to cash in on the Jaws craze of the time.

The comics pictured were published by American Mythology Productions, cover dated Feb. 8, 2017. The special was designed to be reminiscent of the Saturday morning cartoon that spawned the comic. Featured in addition to the Pink Panther were the Texas Toads, Misterjaw & Catfish and The Ant and the Aardvark.

Text for the Proclamation is as follows:

More and more Americans are discovering a uniquely American food delicacy — farm-raised catfish. In 1986, catfish comprised the third highest volume of finned fish consumed in the United States.

Ninety-nine percent of all these catfish were farm-raised. Between 1975 and 1985, production of farm-raised catfish increased by 1200 percent. Most observers expect that production will continue to increase in 1987. Production costs of catfish farming, which have averaged only 65 cents per pound over the past 8 years, have resulted in a stable income for growers and an economical food product for consumers. The accompanying growth of the catfish processing industry also has created thousands of permanent jobs.

Farm-raised catfish have come a long way from their bottom-feeding ancestors. The catfish that are available today, fresh or frozen in markets nationwide, are products of state-of-the-art methods of aquaculture. They thrive in clean freshwater ponds on many American farms, where they are surface-fed soybean meal, corn, fish meal vitamins and minerals Farm-raised catfish not only furnish American consumers with a tasty delicacy but also provide a nutritious, low-calorie source of protein that is also low in cholesterol.

In recognition of the value of farm-raised catfish, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 178, has designated June 25, 1987, as National Catfish Day and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in its observance.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 25, 1987, as National Catfish Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

Ronald Reagan