CATFISH - A SOUTHERN FAVORITE MAKES IT BIG!

The growth of US. farm-raised catfish has skyrocketed over the past decade. Sales have nearly doubled, while the popular species has made its way to the fifth most popularly consumed fish in the country. The farm-raised catfish industry has enjoyed phenomenal growth, from 6 million pounds produced in 1970 to 525 million pounds in 199 7. Per capita consumption of catfish was over 1 pound in 1998! For sales and production figures, visit www. catfishinstitute.com.

The meat of catfish is white/off-white and adapts well to most forms of cooking. The classic commeal-fried catfish is not just a Southern favorite anymore - even the most upscale restaurants offer catfish fingers and hushpuppies. Grilling, baking, and broiling are recommended. Roasting is the only "wrong way" to prepare catfish.

Seventy percent of farmed catfish is from Mississippi; the rest is from Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana. Wild caught catfish come from southern rivers, lakes or streams.

Farming begins with the selection of mating of quality brood stock. A brood fish, which remains in production an average of 12 years, will lay from 3,000 to 4,000 eggs per pound of body weight. Fertilized eggs are collected and placed in controlled hatchery tanks. After seven days at a temperature of 78 degrees F., the eggs hatch. The young fish are called "sac fry" because of the yolk sacs which supply their food. As the sacs are depleted, the fish begin to swim and are moved to a pond where they grow into fingerlings. When the fingerlings are four to six inches long, they're transferred to catfish ponds at the average rate of about 5,000 per surface acre of water. Farm-raised catfish are raised in a quality-controlled environment of clay-based ponds filled with pure fresh water pumped from underground wells. The average pond, constructed by building above-ground levees to serve as natural barriers, is 10 to 20 land acres in area and 4 to 6 feet deep. As of January 1, 1998, there are 173,010 acres of catfish ponds in the United States. Ninety-four percent of US. production is centered n Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. (Source: USDA)

Farm-raised catfish are fed a puffed, high-protein floating food pellet (a mixture of soybeans, corn, wheat, vitamins and minerals) produced by area feed mills. This specially formulated feed is one of the reasons for catfish's subtle taste and absence of "Fishy" odor.
At 18 months old (averaging one to 1.5 pounds), farm-raised catfish are harvested with seines (large weighted nets) and loading baskets, then placed in aerated tank trucks for shipment to the processing plant. The catfish are kept alive up to the minute they're processed, making them among the freshest freshwater fish available.

The entire catfish processing procedure is completed in less than 30 minutes. the fish are cleaned, processed and placed on ice or frozen to temperatures of 40 degrees below zero using an individually quick-frozen (IQF) method that preserves the taste and quality of the fish.

Farm-raised catfish processing plants produce a variety of catfish products including whole fish, steaks, fillets, nuggets, strips, marinated and breaded catfish.

There are two major channels of distribution for farm-raised catfish: retail grocery store outlets and the food service sector. Each accounts for approximately half of total catfish sales.

In the primary catfish-producing states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the farm-raised catfish industry employs about 13,000 people and contributes over $4 billion to these states' economies. In 1997, direct sales of farm-raised catfish by US processors were valued at approximately $592 million.

Source: The Catfish Institute (www.catfishinstitute.com)