2001 Annual Report for LS99-104
Enhancing Farmers' Income through Polyculture of Paddlefish with Catfish in the Southern Region
Summary
Paddlefish stocked at 30, 50, 70 fish/acre with channel catfish in ponds in Alabama and Kentucky were able to coexist and demonstrated rapid growth. Fish growth was greater in Kentucky (0.76 lb/month) than in Alabama (0.65 lb/month). Chefs at fine dining restaurants in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky were supplied with fresh paddlefish fillets and then surveyed. Eighteen out of 22 chefs, who responded, indicated that the product was unique and versatile with a high level of expected customer acceptance and that they would pay a price at least 75% of the price of their current “gold standard” fish product.
Objectives/Performance Targets
Determine the effects of stocking density on the growth performance of paddlefish in catfish ponds in three regions of the United States.
Assess consumers’ and buyers’ acceptability of the paddlefish products, willingness to buy the products and their demographic information.
Accomplishments/Milestones
Research has demonstrated that paddlefish can grow rapidly in commercial catfish ponds. Application of this polyculture system gives opportunity to provide additional production and net returns with limited costs. Sorting paddlefish from catfish during harvest was easily completed without harm to the catfish or paddlefish. Catfish farmers in Kentucky have become interested in stocking paddlefish into their catfish ponds because of net returns of $100-200/acre and diverse fish products for the marketplace. This project has allowed the raising of a native species as a new product for chefs and consumers.
Two market research activities have been conducted during the past year – a chef survey and a taste panel. Some of the findings from the chef survey (18 respondents of 22 who were given the product to sample) included such positive characteristics as texture, freshness and local availability; most commonly negative characteristic mentioned was taste (freshwater vs. marine product taste). Twelve of the 18 chefs provided data indicating potential annual use, with a total of nearly 5,000 pounds of prepared product (or a live weight equivalent of 20,000 pounds) for those 12 establishments. Summer was expected to be the strongest market season. All of the respondents felt that they could influence vendors to carry paddlefish. Product form preferences were strongly in favor of fresh (vs. frozen) and fillets (vs. steaks).
The taste panel, conducted in June at the facilities of the Animal Sciences Department of the University of Kentucky was used to measure consumer acceptance of paddlefish. Both “wild caught” and “farm raised” products were evaluated by a consumer panel of 61 and a trained panel of seven. Product was prepared in a convection oven with no seasoning. Panelists compared the two paddlefish products with catfish. Panelists were asked to indicate preferences based on juiciness, flavor, texture and overall. While catfish was preferred on the juiciness category, the overall rankings were: wild caught paddlefish – 43%; catfish – 30%; farm raised paddlefish – 27%. Among the trained panelists, little differences were found among the three types of fish, but there was a slight preference for farm raised paddlefish (score of 5.29); followed by wild caught paddlefish (5.00); followed by catfish (4.86).
The final step in the market research will be to conduct a survey of seafood purveyors. They will be given the information collected from chefs and consumers and then surveyed about the position that paddlefish would take in their array of products under different pricing and packaging scenarios.
Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes
The Purchase Area Aquaculture Cooperative in Kentucky has embraced the concept of paddlefish culture in their catfish ponds. The Commonwealth of Kentucky through agricultural development funds has provided a grant to a private company to raise paddlefish fingerlings and upon harvest process into value-added products for the marketplace. This operation will provide reliable and affordable paddlefish fingerlings for the farmers to purchase and a place for the harvest fish to be processed and marketed.