I 



SEA 



SCIENCE 



Above: Moon Park shows the clean 

 white side of a flounder, which draws 

 a high price in Asian markets. 



At Left: This Cedar Island flounder- 

 fattening pond is full offish. 



be magnified by the tanks' lack of a sand or 

 silt bottom cover, which would compromise 

 water quality and flow. 



Flounder want company, but they also 

 require plenty of tank space — contradict- 

 ing fishers' speculation that flounder could 

 be kept in shallow trays. "They've got to be 

 able to swim around, even though they're 

 flat," Daniels says. 



Tanks also need to be shaded from the 

 sun and kept clean. If there's anything in the 

 environment the fish don't like, they won't 

 eat. Sometimes they don't eat no matter 

 what — 20 to 30 percent of flounder 

 respond to captivity by refusing to eat. 

 "Those fish you have to identify early on 

 and sell them before they get too thin," 

 Daniels says. 



Some flounder refuse more economi- 

 cal chopped bait, insisting instead on a 



traditional diet of live fingerlings. "It's hard 

 to get them to eat chopped fish," Daniels 

 says. "What we're trying to avoid is people 

 having to go out and catch a bunch of 

 juvenile fish every day." 



Daniels is working with a commercial 

 operation in Cedar Island. Moon S. Park of 

 Coastal USA Fish Co. had been a seafood 

 dealer in Wilmington for many years, 

 handling flounder and other fish largely for 

 Asian markets. He was getting his holding 

 tank operation started when the grant was 

 approved, and he agreed to be part of it. 



From his marketing experience, Park 

 figured that fattening small flounder could 

 meet the demand, particularly among Asian 

 markets, for big, plump flounder. Fat 

 flounder are preferred for sushi and for live 

 markets, where diners choose their entrees 

 on the swim. Park works with both foreign 

 and domestic markets. 



A 4-pound flounder fetches premium 

 prices in Japan, Park says. A 2- to 3-pound 

 flounder has the most general market 

 appeal. But a flounder of the minimum 

 legal size in North Carolina weighs only 

 about 1 pound. 



"That's not enough for one family or 

 even one person," Park says. 



Park is nurturing about 8,500 fish, or 

 about 12,000 pounds, segregated by size 

 into two large tanks and three smaller ones. 

 He buys fish in season from local fishers, 

 who stack the flounder from their nets into 

 trays and tanks on the trawlers. 



Park pays about 40 percent over the 

 market price because of die extra work and 

 gentle handling that live flounder require. 

 This has helped his operation gain quick 

 acceptance in the traditional fishing 

 community. 



He holds and feeds the flounder for a 

 one-year "growing season." The flounder 

 eat about 300 pounds of chopped bait every 

 afternoon. Park will try twice-daily feedings 

 in hopes of speeding the fattening process. 



"I love my feeding time," he says. 

 "That's my most excellent time." 



But Park also has encountered plenty 

 of problems. "I have a lot of time in, a lot 

 of mistakes," he says. 



Of the flounder brought into his tanks, 

 30 percent die before going to market. 

 That, he says, is a lower percentage than 

 when he started. Most deaths occur in the 

 first two weeks, likely from stress or 

 injuries incurred during catching and 

 handling. 



Park also has combated such 

 problems as parasites, which spread 

 quickly among confined fish. He and two 

 workers are at the tanks at all hours to head 

 off trouble. He keeps constant vigil at the 

 pumps and pipes that keep water flowing 

 through the tanks. He also monitors the 

 water's oxygen level and cleanliness. 



"We're like the motel business," he 

 says. "Clean every day, feed every day." 



Despite setbacks, some of which the 

 grant helped mitigate, Park has success- 

 fully fattened flounder for discerning 

 markets in Asia and several large cities 

 in the United States. Flounder bound for 

 Japan are driven to Dulles airport for a 

 non-stop passenger flight to Tokyo. The 

 flounder go on ice at the fish market within 

 30 hours — and are on the menu that 

 evening. Tank-to-table time is less than 

 36 hours. 



Park's maximum annual production 

 capacity is about 30 tons. He wants to 

 double that — and to try fattening some 

 flounder to premium weights of 4 pounds 

 or more. Both aspirations could increase 

 profits, but he says that isn't his only 

 motivation. 



"I want to prove this project," he says. 

 "The money is not that important" 



Wachovia Bank recently approved 

 a credit line for Park's operation. Bank 

 backing is a welcome indication that 

 flounder fattening is a viable project, 

 Daniels says. 



"What we don't know yet is the 

 economy of scale," he says. Preliminary 

 findings are heartening, but the sheer 

 number of flounder required to earn a 

 profit would probably preclude most 

 pound-netters from setting up tanks to 

 fatten their catch. 



"It looks like it's going to take a lot of 

 fish to make any money," Daniels says. El 



COASTWATCH 29 



