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Aquaculture
America 2006 - Meeting Abstract
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202
Catfish and Baitfish 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
spomerleau@uaex.edu
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The essence
of the Research Verification Programs is to provide intensive
monitoring of 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. Around 20% of catfish growout operations
do not keep any stocking, feeding or harvesting records, 51 %
do not keep any water quality records, and 73 % do not keep
any disease records (USDA 2003). The comprehensive quality of
the data collected throughout the verification program
provides for more accurate estimates of survival, yield, and
feed conversion ratios than data obtained from normal farm
records. Feed, aeration, chemicals, and other production
expense data were collected and utilized to estimate operating
costs, net returns, and breakeven prices. The comprehensive
database may also provide some basis for quantifying risks
involved in catfish farming.
Three
cooperating producers distributed among two Arkansas Counties
were selected for the Catfish Verification Program resulting
in a total of five verification ponds. Ponds were monitored
for two full growing seasons. The program focused on the
traditional multiple-batch catfish growout. The main
recommendations were stocking fingerlings larger than 5
inches, at a density of 6,000 heads/acre, and feeding daily to
satiation.
The Baitfish
Verification Program focused on the production of juvenile
"peewee" golden shiners. A total of eight ponds distributed
among three Arkansas Counties were monitored. Each cooperator
in the program agreed to raise juvenile golden shiners by the
following protocol: stock hatchery fry around 1,000,000/ac
when pH is below 8.5, aerate 0.5 hp/ac or more, and feed daily
from 5 to 25/lb/ac.
In-depth
information and data from both Verification Programs can be
found on the Aquaculture Research Verification web site at:
www.uaex.edu/aquaculture.
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