Catfish Production National Agricultural Statistics Service USDA Washington, D.C. Released October 29, 1997, 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. Foodsize Inventory Up 1 Percent Commercial catfish operations in the four major producing States (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) had 287 million foodsize fish on hand on October 1, 1997, up 1 percent from October 1, 1996. Live weight totaled 383 million pounds for all foodsize fish, 1 percent above October 1, a year ago. The breakout of foodsize fish on October 1, 1997 with percent changes from the previous year are: large foodsize, at 9.29 million, up 23 percent; medium foodsize, at 82.1 million, down 7 percent; and small foodsize, at 196 million, up 4 percent. The four major States also had 1.05 million broodfish on hand on October 1, 1997, down 9 percent from last year's 1.16 million. Live weight totaled 5.23 million pounds for broodfish, 2 percent below October 1, 1996. The number of stockers on hand on October 1, 1997 totaled 641 million fish, down 12 percent from the 726 million fish on hand a year ago. Of the total number of stockers on hand, 305 million were large stockers, down 14 percent from the previous year. The remaining 336 million were small stockers, down 9 percent. Live weight totaled 158 million pounds for all stockers, down 15 percent from October 1 last year. Producers had 1.26 billion fingerlings on hand on October 1, 1997, down 2 percent from the 1.29 billion fingerlings on hand October 1, 1996. Live weight, however, at 33.3 million pounds, increased 8 percent from the 30.9 million pounds a year ago. During the July - September quarter, 96.9 million catfish were stocked into growout ponds. These 96.9 million fish consisted of 12.3 million large stockers, 30.5 million small stockers, and 54.0 million fingerlings. Aq 2 (10-97) Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Broodfish by State, October 1, 1996-97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1996 : 1997 : 1996 : 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : -------- 1,000 -------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ---- : AL : 126 151 543 780 AR : 193 180 845 790 LA : 95 28 505 168 MS : 747 694 3,454 3,489 : Total : 1,161 1,053 5,347 5,227 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Foodsize Fish by Size, State, and Total, October 1, 1996-97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1996 : 1997 : 1996 : 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : : Large 1/ AL : 1,058 1,100 3,528 3,583 AR : 870 1,190 2,850 4,040 LA : 1,100 2,520 3,750 9,660 MS : 4,536 4,480 14,880 14,633 : Total : 7,564 9,290 25,008 31,916 : : Medium 2/ : AL : 10,583 12,272 19,535 23,889 AR : 14,280 11,280 25,920 20,750 LA : 10,550 10,020 20,200 19,160 MS : 52,640 48,505 94,841 87,754 : Total : 88,053 82,077 160,496 151,553 : : Small 3/ : AL : 29,422 32,558 30,013 34,279 AR : 18,350 21,220 17,400 21,540 LA : 11,150 14,970 11,000 14,760 MS : 129,680 127,323 134,267 128,829 : Total : 188,602 196,071 192,680 199,408 : : Total : AL : 41,063 45,930 53,076 61,751 AR : 33,500 33,690 46,170 46,330 LA : 22,800 27,510 34,950 43,580 MS : 186,856 180,308 243,988 231,216 : Total : 284,219 287,438 378,184 382,877 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, 1996-97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1996 : 1997 : 1996 : 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : : Large 1/ AL : * 21,838 * 9,130 AR : 31,060 38,310 12,890 11,080 LA : * 18,700 * 9,650 MS : 281,611 225,898 116,421 95,905 : Total : 356,259 304,746 146,292 125,765 : : Small 2/ : AL : * 19,846 * 1,929 AR : 42,380 52,500 4,920 4,820 LA : * 20,230 * 1,910 MS : 232,082 243,563 23,168 24,057 : Total : 369,778 336,139 36,001 32,716 : : Total : AL : 37,204 41,684 12,644 11,059 AR : 73,440 90,810 17,810 15,900 LA : 101,700 38,930 12,250 11,560 MS : 513,693 469,461 139,589 119,962 : Total : 726,037 640,885 182,293 158,481 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Not published separately to avoid disclosure of individual operations. 1/ Over 180 lbs/1,000 to 750 lbs/1,000. 2/ Over 60 lbs/1,000 to 180 lbs/1,000. Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Fingerlings and Fry by State, October 1, 1996-97 1/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1996 : 1997 : 1996 : 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : ---------- 1,000 ---------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : 28,175 50,662 817 1,476 AR : 338,760 322,710 9,340 8,290 LA : 49,800 84,420 1,700 2,820 MS : 873,763 805,404 19,092 20,723 : Total : 1,290,498 1,263,196 30,949 33,309 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ 60 lbs/1,000 or less. Catfish: Number Stocked in Growout Ponds During Previous Quarter by Size Group and State, July-September 1996-97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1996 : 1997 : 1996 : 1997 : 1996 : 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 : : Large Stockers : MS : 1,462 * 5,674 2,578 2,449 * : Total : 3,032 4,609 5,684 3,780 3,562 3,953 : : Small Stockers : MS : 6,879 6,930 10,493 8,980 6,217 4,870 : Total : 10,852 9,197 12,220 13,194 7,586 8,138 : : Fingerlings : MS : 6,279 16,084 4,714 7,193 7,113 9,949 : Total : 10,000 29,139 7,248 10,516 8,931 14,390 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Not published separately to avoid disclosure of individual operations. Catfish: Round Weight Processed by Month, United States, 1990-Current -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year : Jan : Feb : Mar : Apr : May : Jun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 Pounds : 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 39,517 36,752 1997 : 42,409 45,067 48,431 45,721 43,409 42,282 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep : Oct : Nov : Dec : Total :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 Pounds : 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 42,070 37,203 36,874 472,123 1997 : 43,376 44,154 43,472 0 0 0 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Prices Paid To Producers by Month, United States, 1990-Current 1/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year : Jan : Feb : Mar : Apr : May : Jun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Dollars per Pound : 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 1997 : .73 .73 .73 .73 .73 .72 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep : Oct : Nov : Dec :Ann. Avg. :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Dollars per Pound : 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 .76 .75 .73 .773 1997 : .71 .70 .69 .00 .00 .00 .000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 885 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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