APPENDIX 



PREPARED STATEMENTS 



Robert A. Robinson 



Mr. Chairman and members of the committee: I am pleased to be here to partici- 

 pate in this hearing on issues affecting aquaculture. By "aquaculture," we mean the 

 production of any plant or animal in water and under controlled conditions. In prep- 

 aration for reauthorizing the National Aguaculture Act of 1980, several members of 

 the Senate and House expressed concerns about the availability of commercial and 

 Federal financing for aaculture as well as the availability of other assistance for the 

 industry from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). To address these con- 

 cerns, over the past 2 months we have talked extensively with lenders, Gk)vernment 

 officials, researchers, and aquaculturalists and reviewed available information from 

 USDA. Today, I would Uke to discuss some of what we learned. 



In short, although there is little quantitative data on the availability of financing 

 for aquaculture, the lenders, producers, and USDA officials we interviewed said that 

 financing is generally difficult to obtain, primarily because of the inherent risks of 

 doing business in an emerging industry. However, aquaculturalists can turn to one 

 source of credit available to any risky agricultural operation — the Farmers Home 

 Administration (FmHA). Since October 1990, FmHA has made or guaranteed almost 

 $38 million in aquaculture loans. 



USDA provides other types of assistance as well, including research, information 

 services, and export promotion. In fiscal year 1993, USDA budgeted over $24 million 

 for these activities. But, some people we spoke with indicated that USDA's current 

 services may not match the unique or most urgent needs of the industry. While we 

 have summarized these concerns, we did not evaluate the policy and budget implica- 

 tions of changing USDA's services to respond to them. 



BACKGROUND 



Unlike most of the mature agriculture sector, aquaculture in the United States 

 is largely an infant industry. For example, the catfish business — accounting for over 

 half of the total value of the U.S. aquaculture production, at over $800 million annu- 

 ally — ^has developed into a viable operation over the past 30 years. The aquaculture 

 industry is amazingly diverse — products range from those traditionally considered 

 to be aquaculture, such as catfish and trout, to lesser-known commodities such as 

 pearls and seaweed. Similarly, producers range from the individual with a pond in 

 the backyard to owners of multimillion-dollar hatcheries and recirculating systems. 



During the late 1970s, the Congress became concerned that despite the potential 

 for development, the U.S. aquaculture industry was being inhibited by scientific, 

 legal, and production issues and that Federal support was justified because of ex- 

 pected national benefits, such as industrial development and increased job opportu- 

 nities. As a result, the Congress enacted the National Aquaculture Act of 1980. The 

 act was intended to promote increased aquaculture production in the United States 

 by estabUshing and implementing a national aquaculture plan, coordinating Federal 

 assistance for aquaculture — currently under the leadership of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture — and encouraging aquaculture in both the public and private sectors. 



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