019 



Bartonek, Frank A. 



1972. 



Catfish farming. 



Amer. Fish Farmer World Aquacult. News 3(8): 4-7. (Reprinted 



from Farmland News.) 



Information on the development of catfish farming, farming 



methods, and some individual operations is provided on the basis 



of the reporter's visits and interviews. Business risks include 



poor management (said to be responsible for as high as 80% of the 



catfish business failures) , lack of technical know how, absentee 



rather than on-farm owner (manager), location, operation on too 



large a scale when a pond is ceing tried and experience is being 



gained, and other risks associated with an industry in the early 



stages of development. Discussed briefly are historical 



developments, feeds, yield variations (1,000 pounds of fish per 



acre of pond for new growers and 2,000 pounds per acre for 



experienced growers) , feed conversion ratios, research by various 



individuals and institutions, laws, and other matters. 



Subject descriptors: 



Catfish; risks; history. 



020 



Billy, Thomas J. 



1973. 



Pond-grown catfish in the United States: present situation and 



future opportunities. 



Paper presented to the FAO Technical Conference on Fishery 



Products, Dec. 4-11, 1973, Tokyo. FAO, FII: FP/73/E-33, 13 pp. 



Industry development, activity from farm to consumer, 



organization, products, markets, and problems are described 



briefly. Among the factors accounting for development of a 



pond-grown catfish industry are stability of wild catfish output, 



the established product market, adaptability of catfish to 



culture, timely Federal Government R&D, the abundance of low-cost 



freshwater in the U.S. south-central region, and available 



surplus agricultural land for pond sites. Key farm management 



problem areas are ponds, fingerlings, production limits (growing 



season, feeds, etc.), diseases, parasites, and harvesting. A 



schema or flow chart shows processing and marketing steps. The 



industry faces several problems in the future. 



Subject descriptors: 



Catfish; processing; marketing; technology; general description; 



industry development. 



021 



Billy, Thomas J. 



1969. 



Processing pond-raised catfish. 



Proceedings, Fish Farming Conference, Jan. 27-28, 1969, Athens, 



Ga. Univ. Ga., Coop. Ext. Serv., Inst. Community Area Dev. , 



pp. 42-48. 



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