A decade ago, a drive north out of Belzoni, Miss., on U.S. Highway 49 had the feel of cruising on a causeway across a massive lake. On both sides of the highway were dozens of man-made ponds — the view was of a virtual sea of catfish.

Although still touting itself as “The Catfish Capital of the World,” Belzoni’s catfish industry is a shadow of its halcyon days of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The drive north now reveals more dry land than catfish ponds, the result of a catfish industry that has shriveled to half the size it was at the beginning of the 21st Century. Click here to read Jim’s article