052 



Madewell, Carl E. 



1973. 



Economics of catfish raceway production. 



Paper presented at Fish Farming Conference sponsored by lenn. 



Fish Producers Assoc, Dec. 5-6, 1973, Montgomery Bell State 



Park, Burns, Tenn. T.V.A., 11 pp. 



Demand, market, supply, processing, and production (farm) 



information and data from several sources are summarized and 



updated (to 1973). The outlook for expansion of catfish 



production appears good, because it offers several advantages to 



farmers, processors, distributors, and consumers. While per 



capita consumption (edible weight basis) is estimated as about 1 



pound in the Tennessee Valley region, another estimate (Cordouk, 



1970) is that U.S. per capita consumption of catfish may reach 7 



pounds by 1990. Processing costs are indicated along with the 



effect of operation at 36% of capacity (after McCoy and Sherling, 



1973, using 1970 data) , since below-capacity operation is still a 



problem, although the number of plants has declined (21 in 1971 



and 10 in 1973) and output has increased. Prices and expenses 



from farmer to consumer are compared for catfish and pork. 



Catfish and catfish-trout raceway investment costs, annual costs, 



and annual returns are itemized based on preliminary data 



provided by Georgia researchers. 



Subject descriptors: 



Catfish; trout; production data; forecasts; revenue; costs; 



returns; consumption data; processing; method comparison. 



053 



Madewell, Carl E. ; Ballew, Ralph J. 

 1972. 



Historical development of catfish farming. 

 Amer. Fish Farmer World Aguacult. News 3(3): 8-11. 

 This article presents a brief history of how fish farming began 

 and expanded in the United States, with particular emphasis on 

 catfish farming. The Saltonstall-Kennedy Act for commercial 

 fisheries in the 1950' s triggered an increased interest in R6D in 

 fish culture among colleges and fish culture labs. Intensive 

 catfish farming began in the 1960' s. Acreage increased from 400 

 in 1960 to 45,000 in 1970 while average yield per acre increased 

 from 800 pounds in 196 to 1,200 pounds in 1970. The projection 

 for 1975 is that there will be 75,000 acres of food fish and 

 yields of 1,500 pounds per acre. The value of catfish at the 

 farm level soared from $150,000 in 1960 to $19 million in 1970. 

 Some problems which the catfish farming industry must overcome 

 are listed. They include: (a) decreasing high production costs, 

 (£>) improving guality and making a variety of catfish products 

 available tc consumers on a year-round basis, and (c) improving 

 production efficiency. 

 Subject descriptors: 

 Catfish; history; technology; methods; problems; outlook; costs. 



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