Farm Raised Catfish (mmm Good!)

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FARM-RAISED CATFISH

FACT SHEET 005 (6/2000)

Edwin H. Robinson, Aquaculture Program Leader, Coordinator

Jimmy L. Avery, Associate Extension Specialist – Aquaculture

Farm-raised catfish is a highly prized food fish in the United States as evidenced by the fact that per capita consumption has doubled since 1985, reaching an all time high of one pound in 1997. It is now the fifth most popular fish in the United States behind tuna, pollock, salmon, and cod. The popularity of farm-raised catfish is due to its consistent quality, delicate flavor, firm texture, versatility, year-around availability, and nutritional value. Production of farm-raised catfish was approximately 600 million pounds in 1999 and accounted for two-thirds of the annual aquacultural production in the United States.

The farmed-raised catfish industry is centered in the southeastern United States primarily on the lower Mississippi River flood plain, in a region locally referred to as the Delta. A unique combination of physical and socioeconomic factors was favorable for development of the industry. Four states (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) account for 95% of catfish production with Mississippi producing 70% of the total. The industry employs over 13,000 people in production, processing, feed manufacturing, and related support industries. Sales of farm-raised catfish total about $600 million annually, but the total impact on the economies of the four major catfish producing states exceeds $4 billion annually.

Catfish are raised in earthen ponds that are generally 10 to 20 acres in size and 3 to 6 feet deep. Most of the ponds in the Delta are built on flat land with dirt removed to build levees around the perimeter of the pond and use ground water supplied by wells as a water source. Some ponds outside of the Delta are watershed ponds that collect rainfall as a water source. There are about 175,000 acres of catfish ponds currently in production. The production cycle for catfish includes egg and fry production, fingerling production, and food fish production.

Eggs and fry are commonly produced by spawning catfish using the open pond method. Male and female brood fish are allowed to spawn in earthen ponds in which spawning containers (plastic buckets, recycled ammunition cans, etc.) have been placed to serve as nesting sites. When the water temperature reaches about 68° F, generally around May in the Southeastern United States, the fish mate. Female brood fish lay eggs (an adhesive mass) in the container and the male fertilizes the eggs. The fertilized eggs are then removed from the container and taken into the hatchery. The eggs are hatched in a controlled environment and generally remain in the hatchery for 5 to 10 days. Immediately after the hatching the fish are referred to as "sac fry" because they have a yolk sac attached that serves as a nutrient source. After a few days, the yolk sac is depleted and the fry swim up to the surface of the water in the hatching tank seeking food. At this point, depending on the preference of the producer, the fry may be left in the hatchery for a few days where they are fed a 50% protein diet made up primarily of marine protein sources or placed into nursery ponds typically at a rate of 100,000 fry per acre. Once the fry are placed in the nursery ponds, they remain in schools and feed primarily on natural foods found in the pond. The fish are fed a high-protein, powdered feed and although the fry consume some of the feed, the feed apparently serves more as a fertilizer for pond organisms than as a direct source of food for the fry. Once the fry swim up to the water surface (2 to 3 weeks after stocking) they are fed a pelleted, floating diet containing 35 to 40% protein. Fry stocked in the summer are of suitable size (5 to 6 inches or 35 to 60 pounds per 1000 fish) for stocking into grow out ponds by late fall or early winter. Once the fish are 2 to 3 inches in size, they are commonly referred to as fingerlings.

Fingerling catfish are stocked into ponds at a rate of 5,000 to more than 10,000 fish per acre for grow out to food fish. They are fed a 28 to 32% protein feed once daily for 150 to 180 days prior to harvest. Catfish may feed at temperatures as low as 60° F, but 86° F is considered optimum. Feed consumption is more consistent at temperatures above about 75° F. Thus the prime feeding period in the southeastern United States is from May to October. Feeding rates typically range from 100 to 120 or more pounds per acre per day. When the fish reaches 1 - 1.5 pounds in weight, it can be harvested for processing.

Once a crop of fish is of proper size for harvesting, most producers selectively harvest ponds 2 or 3 times each year using seines (weighted nets) with a mesh sized to capture fish of the size suitable for processing while letting smaller fish grade back into the pond. This is commonly referred to as "topping." Under this scenario, once the ponds are "topped" new fingerlings are placed into the pond to replace those that were removed and to replace any losses that may have occurred. This is referred to as "understocking" and is repeated for several years without draining the ponds. Thus several different year-classes of fish are in the same pond at any given time. Another type of cropping system, referred to as "clean harvesting", in which all fish are removed from the pond and the pond is drained and refilled for restocking is used less extensively than "topping." Once the fish are harvested they are placed into aerated tanks on trucks and taken to the processing plant alive. They remain alive until they are processed, which usually occurs within 30 minutes after arriving at the processing plant. The resulting fillets, steaks, nuggets, or whole-gutted fish are either individually quick frozen (IQF) or placed on ice for shipment to the various markets.

The farm-raised catfish industry has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the past two decades and, although the growth rate has slowed, the industry is still growing at a rate of 5 to 10% annually. This phenomenal growth of the industry can be attributed in large part to the marketing efforts of the industry through The Catfish Institute (TCI), which was formed in 1986 to educate consumers on the positive qualities of farm-raised catfish. Considering that TCI is continually expanding existing and opening new markets and that abundant natural resources are readily available, the potential for continued expansion of the industry is good.

Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center
127 Experiment Station Rd
PO Box 197
Stoneville, MS 38776
Phone (662) 686-3242 Fax (662) 686-3320

FACT SHEET 005 (6/2000)

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