HDR1012000170121029961500CATFISH PRODUCTION Catfish Production National Agricultural Statistics Service USDA Washington, D.C. Released October 29, 1996, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. For information on "Catfish Production" call Dan Boostrom at (202) 720-3244, office hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. For assistance with general agricultural statistics, information about NASS, its products or services, contact the Agricultural Statistics Hotline at 1-800-727-9540 or E-mail: NASS@NASS.USDA.GOV. Estimates refer to October 1, 1995 and 1996. Foodsize Inventory Up 4 Percent Commercial catfish operations in the four major producing States (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) had 284 million foodsize fish on hand on October 1, 1996, up 4 percent from October 1, 1995. Live weight totaled 378 million pounds for all foodsize fish, 9 percent above October 1 a year ago. The breakout of foodsize fish on October 1, 1996 with percent changes from the previous year are: large foodsize, at 7.56 million, up 6 percent; medium foodsize, at 88.1 million, up 24 percent; and small foodsize, at 189 million, down 3 percent. The four major States also had 1.16 million broodfish on hand on October 1, 1996, up 21 percent from last year's 962 thousand. Live weight totaled 5.35 million pounds for broodfish, 19 percent above October 1, 1995. The number of stockers on hand on October 1, 1996 totaled 726 million fish, up 16 percent from the 626 million fish on hand a year ago. Of the total number of stockers on hand, 356 million were large stockers, up 21 percent from the previous year. The remaining 370 million were small stockers, up 12 percent. Live weight totaled 182 million pounds for all stockers, up 19 percent from October 1 last year. Producers had 1.29 billion fingerlings on hand on October 1, 1996, up 30 percent from the 991 million fingerlings on hand October 1, 1995. Live weight, however, at 30.9 million pounds, increased 18 percent from the 26.3 million pounds a year ago. During the July - September quarter, 69 million catfish were stocked into growout ponds. These 69 million fish consisted of 12.3 million large stockers, 30.7 million small stockers, and 26.2 million fingerlings. Aq 2 (10-96) Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Broodfish by State, October 1, 1995-96 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1995 : 1996 : 1995 : 1996 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : -------- 1,000 ------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ---- : AL : 101 126 450 543 AR : 170 193 775 845 LA : 70 95 320 505 MS : 621 747 2,954 3,454 : Total : 962 1,161 4,499 5,347 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Foodsize Fish by Size, State, and Total, October 1, 1995-96 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1995 : 1996 : 1995 : 1996 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : : Large 1/ AL : 530 1,058 1,977 3,528 AR : 915 870 3,265 2,850 LA : 730 1,100 2,400 3,750 MS : 4,992 4,536 16,285 14,880 : Total : 7,167 7,564 23,927 25,008 : : Medium 2/ : AL : 9,423 10,583 16,206 19,535 AR : 9,235 14,280 17,935 25,920 LA : 7,300 10,550 13,100 20,200 MS : 45,195 52,640 83,825 94,841 : Total : 71,153 88,053 131,066 160,496 : : Small 3/ : AL : 34,700 29,422 32,700 30,013 AR : 17,820 18,350 17,670 17,400 LA : 10,700 11,150 11,200 11,000 MS : 131,878 129,680 131,777 134,267 : Total : 195,098 188,602 193,347 192,680 : : Total : AL : 44,653 41,063 50,883 53,076 AR : 27,970 33,500 38,870 46,170 LA : 18,730 22,800 26,700 34,950 MS : 182,065 186,856 231,887 243,988 : Total : 273,418 284,219 348,340 378,184 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Over 3 lbs. 2/ Over 1 1/2 lbs to 3 lbs. 3/ Over 3/4 lbs to 1 1/2 lbs. Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Stockers by Size, State, and Total, October 1, 1995-96 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1995 : 1996 : 1995 : 1996 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : : Large 1/ AL : 27,133 * 10,631 * AR : 22,600 31,060 9,990 12,890 LA : 8,600 * 3,370 * MS : 236,921 281,611 96,121 116,421 : Total : 295,254 356,259 120,112 146,292 : : Small 2/ : AL : 18,388 * 1,817 * AR : 27,500 42,380 3,165 4,920 LA : 27,100 * 3,000 * MS : 258,138 232,082 25,141 23,168 : Total : 331,126 369,778 33,123 36,001 : : Total : AL : 45,521 37,204 12,448 12,644 AR : 50,100 73,440 13,155 17,810 LA : 35,700 101,700 6,370 12,250 MS : 495,059 513,693 121,262 139,589 : Total : 626,380 726,037 153,235 182,293 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Not published separately to avoid disclosure of individual operations. 1/ Over 180 lbs/1000 to 750 lbs/1,000. 2/ Over 60 lbs/1000 to 180 lbs/1,000. Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Fingerlings and Fry by State, October 1, 1995-96 1/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1995 : 1996 : 1995 : 1996 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : ---------- 1,000 --------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : * 28,175 * 817 AR : 126,800 338,760 4,152 9,340 LA : * 49,800 * 1,700 MS : 760,815 873,763 19,095 19,092 : Total : 991,338 1,290,498 26,279 30,949 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Not published separately to avoid disclosure of individual operations. 1/ 60 lbs/1,000 or less. Catfish: Number Stocked in Growout Ponds During Previous Quarter by Size Group and State, July-September 1995-96 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1995 : 1996 : 1995 : 1996 : 1995 : 1996 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 : : Large Stockers : AL : 1,018 1,360 * * * * AR : 1,325 * * * * * LA : 1,050 * * * * * MS : 2,108 1,462 5,187 5,674 1,509 2,449 : Total : 5,501 3,032 8,715 5,684 2,315 3,562 : : Small Stockers : AL : 2,589 2,078 2,014 1,387 1,165 * AR : * * * * * * LA : * * * * * * MS : 9,783 6,879 8,348 10,493 4,230 6,217 : Total : 15,172 10,852 13,377 12,220 6,305 7,586 : : Fingerlings : AL : * 2,026 * * 981 558 AR : 1,540 * 1,120 * 6,260 * LA : 6,400 * * * 5,100 * MS : * 6,279 2,258 4,714 10,196 7,113 : Total : 25,886 10,000 5,622 7,248 22,537 8,931 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Not published separately to avoid disclosure of individual operations. Catfish: Round Weight Processed by Month, United States, 1989-Current -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year : Jan : Feb : Mar : Apr : May : Jun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 Pounds : 1989 : 26,948 28,559 29,458 27,310 28,892 27,598 1990 : 33,066 31,884 33,120 30,980 31,542 28,967 1991 : 32,206 33,036 35,951 31,205 31,322 31,588 1992 : 36,200 39,228 45,048 41,177 39,111 36,813 1993 : 40,327 40,277 43,521 39,920 37,030 35,496 1994 : 36,714 35,035 40,446 34,494 34,163 34,595 1995 : 38,807 38,515 42,200 36,588 37,030 36,047 1996 : 38,475 38,004 46,376 38,557 39,583 36,810 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep : Oct : Nov : Dec : Total :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 Pounds : 1989 : 27,827 28,371 30,366 31,670 29,096 25,805 341,900 1990 : 29,540 31,108 27,566 29,211 27,913 25,538 360,435 1991 : 32,720 32,912 33,244 35,400 31,114 30,172 390,870 1992 : 36,128 37,958 37,857 39,212 35,073 33,562 457,367 1993 : 37,086 37,706 37,072 39,472 36,557 34,549 459,013 1994 : 35,901 39,813 38,716 39,072 36,054 34,266 439,269 1995 : 35,800 38,827 37,634 39,456 34,119 31,863 446,886 1996 : 39,025 40,463 38,807 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Prices Paid To Producers by Month, United States, 1989-Current 1/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year : Jan : Feb : Mar : Apr : May : Jun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Dollars per Pound : 1989 : .78 .78 .77 .76 .76 .75 1990 : .72 .74 .78 .78 .78 .78 1991 : .69 .69 .69 .69 .66 .65 1992 : .53 .56 .60 .63 .63 .61 1993 : .63 .67 .70 .71 .72 .72 1994 : .74 .77 .79 .80 .80 .80 1995 : .78 .79 .79 .79 .79 .79 1996 : .77 .78 .78 .78 .79 .79 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep : Oct : Nov : Dec :Ann. Avg. :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Dollars per Pound : 1989 : .71 .68 .65 .64 .64 .68 .715 1990 : .76 .76 .76 .76 .75 .72 .758 1991 : .63 .60 .59 .58 .57 .53 .631 1992 : .59 .58 .59 .61 .62 .63 .598 1993 : .72 .73 .73 .73 .73 .73 .709 1994 : .80 .80 .80 .77 .77 .77 .784 1995 : .79 .79 .78 .78 .78 .78 .786 1996 : .79 .78 .77 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Price of fish delivered to processing plant door. Price includes charges for any services provided by the processing plant, but does not include any adjustments based on year-end settlements. Catfish Production Estimates Survey Procedures: About 937 operators in the four major States (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) were contacted during the first half of October by mail, telephone, and personal face-to-face interview, and 80 percent provided a usable report. An attempt was made to contact all known catfish producers during this time. States use every available source of producer names to make their list as complete as possible. Great care is exercised to ensure that all operations are accounted for in the estimates. Estimation Procedures: Sound statistical methodology is employed to derive the estimates from reported data. All data are analyzed for unusual values. Data from each operation are compared to their own past operating profile and to trends from similar operations. Data for missing operations are estimated based on similar operations or historical data. Reliability: Catfish production estimates are based on a census of all known active producers and, therefore, have no sampling variability. However, estimates may be subject to errors such as omissions, duplication, and mistakes in reporting, recording, and processing of the data. These errors are minimized through strict quality controls in the edit and summarization process and a careful review of all reported data for consistency and reasonableness. Revision policy: Estimates for the previous year are subject to revision when current estimates are made. Revisions are the result of late or corrected data. Definitions Used for Catfish Production: Broodfish - Fish kept for egg production, including males. Broodfish produce the fertilized eggs which go to hatcheries. The most desirable size is 3 to 10 pounds or 4 to 6 years of age. Large Foodsize - Fish weighing over 3 pounds. Medium Foodsize - Fish weighing over one and one-half pounds to 3 pounds. Small Foodsize - Fish weighing over three-fourths pound to one and one-half pounds. Large Stockers - Fish weighing over 180 pounds to 750 pounds per 1,000 fish. Small Stockers - Fish weighing over 60 pounds to 180 pounds per 1,000 fish. Fingerlings/Fry - Fish weighing 60 pounds per 1,000 fish and less. 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