Record keeping:
All businesses must keep good records if the manager is to gauge its profitability, competitiveness and success, and caged-fish farming is no exception.
By studying these records, the farmer can identify areas where money can be saved and profits can be increased, or determine what may have caused a disease outbreak.
Records should include:
- infrastructure costs, including cage materials, boats, docks and ALL other equipment
- fingerling cost, including delivery
- feed cost, amount and date purchased
- miscellaneous items purchased (e.g., chemicals, nets, baskets, etc.)
- hauling/transporting expenses
- fingerling weight and length
- stocking and harvesting dates
- final weight of fish harvested per cage
- crop insurance premiums, if applicable
- chemical treatments/medications and the dates and rates applied (including treatments to the pond itself)
- water chemistry test results
- number and total weight of fish harvested
- revenue from the sale of fish
- daily observations of the pond and fish
Most of these records are self explanatory.
Daily observations should include the amount of feed fed, weather conditions, pond conditions, fish appearance and fish behavior. This information will be invaluable in understanding why problems (if any) occurred in the past and in predicting or avoiding similar challenges in the future. The use of spreadsheets or databases could facilitate the analysis of data.
Economics:
Fingerling prices, feed prices, materials and equipment prices, length of growing season, and general climate and weather conditions vary widely throughout the southern region of the U.S. This makes it very difficult to produce good regional budgets. Volatility in the food-fish market makes the situation more difficult still.
Fingerling prices for 6- to 8-inch channel catfish, for example, may range from $0.10 to $0.55, depending on the number purchased and proximity to the hatchery. Feed costs may vary by $100.00 per ton or more, depending on volume, manufacturer and location.
Live weight price paid for channel catfish varies from about $0.55 per pound at large processing plants during periods of low demand to $1.50 or more per pound for live sales directly to consumers or to feefishing lakes. Contact your county Extension office or state fisheries (or aquaculture) specialist for budgets specific to your area.
Estimates of the fixed costs of cage materials and equipment are summarized in Table 1. Cage and equipment costs are usually depreciated over 5 years or more. Approximate production costs calculated on fingerling and feed price only, and based on a feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 1.8 (when it takes 1.8 pounds of feed to produce 1.0 pound of live fish), are summarized in Table 2. As with most enterprises, there are some economies of scale. Cage materials, fingerling costs, and time involved per activity all diminish (up to a point) with larger operations.
Feed costs associated with the production of 1 pound of fish are shown in Table 3. Obviously, feed management and feed price have a significant effect on the overall cost of production. Any discussion of economics must emphasize the need to reduce risk exposure. Fish farming is a high-risk form of agriculture. At this time, few, if any, insurance options are available.
Authors:
Peter Woods and Michael P. Masser
