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 Aquaculture America
2005 - Meeting Abstract
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466
AQUACULTURE RESEARCH VERIFICATION PROGRAMS IN ARKANSAS
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Steeve Pomerleau
Aquaculture/Fisheries Center
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
P.O. Box 4912
1200 N. University Drive
Pine
Bluff, AR 71601 USA
spomerleau@uaex.edu
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One comment
that extension specialists often hear from commercial fish
farmers about the results of aquaculture research conducted in
universities is: "yeah but it's not the
same because your research ponds are too small and I don't
have all the resources the state has." The best strategy to
transfer technical information to commercial producers is to
have them testing it themselves. Seaman Knapp, founder of the
cooperative farm demonstration program, said: "What a man
hears, he may doubt; what he sees, he may also doubt; but what
he does he cannot doubt."
Based on
this principle, the 1890 Cooperative Extension Program at the
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff has developed two dynamic
Aquaculture Research Verification Programs designed to bring
research-based production recommendations to catfish and
baitfish producers. Cooperating producers agree to manage some
ponds on their farm according the extension recommendations
for a period of one or two years. During that period, the
program provides intensive monitoring of those commercial
ponds in which recommended research-based management protocols
are being implemented. This results in a comprehensive
database of water quality, input use, stocking, and harvesting
data from commercial ponds that greatly exceeds the data
available from normal farm production records.
Research Verification is a good
methodology to verify and determine if the total set of
research-based Extension recommendations applied on a
commercial farm produces yields, feed conversions ratios,
survival, and costs consistent with results from research
trials. However, the main benefit from the program is to
facilitate the flow of technical information to producers as
well as practical production implications back to University
researchers.
Additionally, the
aquaculture verification programs in Arkansas employ a
holistic approach to the development of management
recommendations. This process brings numerous scientists and
extension specialist around one table to discuss and develop
comprehensive sets of recommendation for commercial producers.
The program also served as an excellent training tool for
county Extension agents to learn more about catfish
production.
The Aquaculture Research
Verification Programs in Arkansas evolved and expanded since
the first pilot catfish verification program initiated in
1993. For example, the program was shortened from a period of
three to two years to facilitate cooperation of catfish
farmers. Additionally, a new wireless computer technology was
used to facilitate the flow of data and communication between
the program coordinator and cooperators.
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