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CATFISH
February 9, 1998

USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service   |  1222 Woodward Street   |  Orlando, Florida 32803   |  407 / 648-6013

FLORIDA CATFISH

    There were 14 catfish operations in Florida on January 1, 1998. Total water surface area was 150 acres. Of these 150 acres, 20 acres were used for broodfish. Total sales in 1997 were $352,000.

15 SELECTED STATES

    Catfish growers in the 15 selected States had sales of $422 million during 1997. These sales were down 1 percent from the 1996 total of $425 million. Sales of all foodsize fish totaled $402 million, down fractionally from last year's total of $403 million. Sales of fingerlings and fry totaled $15.4 million, compared with $16.1 million in sales during 1996. Sales of stockers totaled $4.03 million, down 16 percent from the $4.81 million in sales during 1996. Sales of broodfish previously used for breeding totaled $476 thousand, compared with $383 thousand during 1996.

    Direct sales to processors accounted for 94 percent of the total sales of foodsize fish. Eighty-two percent of the stocker sales were to other producers.

    The total number of operations on January 1, 1998, in the 15 selected States was 1,224 down 7 percent from the January 1, 1997, total of 1,319. The number of operations in the top 4 producing States (AL, AR, LA, and MS), also decreased 7 percent from January 1, 1997.

    The water surface acres being used for catfish production totaled 173,000 acres, down 3 percent from the January 1, 1997, total. Of the total acres, 6,560 are to be renovated during the period of January 1, 1998, to June 30, 1998. An additional 1,790 acres are under construction or expected to be constructed and in use by July 1, 1998. During the period of July 1, 1997, through December 31, 1997, 3,343 acres were taken out of production. As of January 1, 1998, 6,177 acres were being used for broodfish production.

    Catfish producers had 1.19 million broodfish on hand January 1, 1998, up 2 percent from the 1.16 million on hand January 1, 1997. All foodsize fish on hand totaled 248 million on January 1, 1998, down 9 percent from the 271 million fish on hand the previous year. Of the total number of foodsize fish, 7.3 million were large foodsize (over 3 pounds per fish), 62.2 million were medium foodsize (1 1/2 pounds to 3 pounds per fish), and 178.5 million were small foodsize fish (3/4 pound to 1 1/2 pounds per fish). Total number of stockers on hand January 1, 1998, at 608 million, were down 19 percent from the previous year's 755 million stockers. The 608 million stockers included 268 million large stockers (over 180 lbs. to 750 lbs./1,000 fish) and 364 million small stockers (over 60 lbs. to 180 lbs./1,000 fish). There were 975 million fingerlings on hand January 1, 1998, up 12 percent from the 873 million fingerlings on hand January 1, 1997.

CATFISH: Utilization of Water Surface Acres Jan 1-Jun 30, 1997,
and Acres Taken Out of Production Jul 1-Dec 31, 1997, by State

State 		Water surface acres Utilization of acres, 1998
Taken
out of
production in
1997
Renovated New
construction 		Used for
broodfish
Jan 1
1997 		Jan 1
1998
AL 21,000 21,800 330 580 590 250
AR 28,500 27,000 650 500 750 900
FL 100 150 1/ 1/ 30 1/
LA 14,300 13,500 350 100 360 230
MS 102,000 100,000 4,400 390 3,800 1,600
MO 2,400 1,900 140 50 60 100
Oth 1/ 9,160 8,660 690 170 587 263
Total 177,460 173,010 6,560 1,790 6,177 3,343
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Number of operations and annual sales
State Number of operations Annual sales
January 1
1997 		January 1
1998 		1996 1997
Thousand dollars
AL 245 235 52,795 53,740
AR 180 165 52,214 50,480
FL 12 14 148 352
LA 108 101 27,838 30,783
MS 360 331 274,559 265,934
MO 65 60 1,746 2,022
Oth 1/ 349 318 16,083 18,432
Total 1,319 1,224 425,383 421,743
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Number and live weight of broodfish, January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
1997 1998 1997 1998
Thousands
AL 138 142 686 750
AR 150 180 730 830
FL 7 12 31 42
LA 100 33 460 173
MS 641 661 3,120 3,183
MO 8 9 38 46
Oth 1/ 119 150 599 664
Total 1,163 1,187 5,664 5,688
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Number and live weight of all foodsizes, January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
1997 1998 1997 1998
Thousands
AL 40,043 40,522 52,341 54,038
AR 40,730 32,460 57,040 44,590
FL 28 10 76 24
LA 27,360 20,815 40,500 31,045
MS 153,746 145,346 202,818 174,408
MO 1,504 1,231 2,249 1,833
Oth 1/ 7,572 7,558 10,814 10,395
Total 270,983 247,942 365,838 316,333
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Number and live weight of total
stockers, *January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
1997 1998 1997 1998
Thousands
AL 49,153 44,071 13,484 13,473
AR 124,285 102,600 23,345 19,650
FL 144 1/ 10 1/
LA 99,800 37,080 20,200 8,370
MS 466,641 406,635 129,478 92,556
MO 2,137 1,674 714 488
Oth 1/ 12,656 15,818 2,339 3,546
Total 754,816 607,878 189,570 138,083
*Total stockers: Over 60 lbs to 750 lbs/ 1,000 fish.
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Number and live weight of fingerling, *January 1
State Total number of fish Total liveweight of fish
1997 1998 1997 1998
Thousands
AL 36,802 30,287 1,310 1,282
AR 130,575 175,500 4,970 4,850
FL 1,000 2,235 14 18
LA 34,000 59,360 1,280 1,375
MS 631,382 664,878 18,303 20,209
MO 10,402 10,718 223 199
Oth 1/ 29,296 32,564 842 789
Total 873,457 975,542 26,942 28,722
* Fingerling: Over 2 lbs to 60 lbs/1,000 fish.
1/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.


CATFISH: Number,
weight, and value of sales; all stockers
State Number
sold 		Total pounds sold Total value of sales Average value per pound
1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997
Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AR 6,535 8,100 2,200 1,600 2,760 1,784 1.25 1.12
FL 23 1/ 12 1/ 12 1/ 1.00 1/
MS 7,264 6,251 575 800 737 804 1.28 1.01
NC 313 85 36 9 33 26 0.92 2.89
SC 493 452 249 132 133 73 0.62 0.55
Oth 2/ 5,418 8,562 1,204 1,037 1,177 1,340 0.98 1.29
Total 20,046 23,450 4,276 3,578 4,814 4,027 1.13 1.13
1/ Included in other States to avoid disclosure of individual operations.
2/ Includes AL, CA, GA, KS, KY, LA, MO, OK, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Foodsize percent sold by outlet type, 1997
State Live-
haul 		Fee/
Rec
fishing 		Pro-
cess 		Retail
rest. &
Fd. Stor 		Other
out-
lets
AL 0 2 93 1 4
AR 3 0 97 0 0
FL 0 0 30 0 70
LA 0 0 99 0 1
MS 0 0 98 0 2
MO 58 18 3 3 18
Wt.avg. 1/ 1 1 94 2 2
1/ Includes AL, CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Stockers percent sold by outlet type, 1997
State Livehauls Fee/rec fishing Other
producers 		Govern- ment Other
outlets
AL 0 0 0 0 0
AR 0 0 0 0 0
FL 0 0 0 0 0
LA 0 0 0 0 0
MS 0 0 87 0 0
MO 15 19 53 4 9
Wt. avg. 1/ 4 5 82 2 7
1/ Includes AL, CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, and TN.


CATFISH: Number, weight, and value of sales; all foodsize
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total value of sales Average value per pound
1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997
Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 43,038 34,407 72,692 77,416 51,611 52,643 0.71 0.68
AR 40,352 43,300 57,680 65,000 44,088 45,370 0.76 0.70
FL 7 1/ 14 1/ 6 1/ 0.43 1/
LA 25,300 30,600 38,000 45,000 27,000 30,150 0.71 0.67
MS 258,883 268,700 344,480 360,000 265,250 255,600 0.77 0.71
MO 711 810 1,388 1,504 1,030 1,136 0.74 0.76
Oth 2/ 7,091 9,264 12,022 13,649 14,344 16,818 1.19 1.23
Total 375,382 387,081 526,276 562,569 403,329 401,717 0.77 0.71
1/ Included in other States to avoid disclosure of individual operations.
2/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.


CATFISH: Number, weight, and value of sales; fingerling and fry
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total value of sales Average value per pound
1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997
Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 1/ 45,525 1/ 500 1/ 1,025 1/ 2.05
AR 169,270 107,000 3,350 2,300 5,220 3,172 1 .56 1 .38
FL 2,900 7,338 43 59 130 351 3 .02 5 .95
LA 30,167 9,760 424 95 794 195 1.87 2.05
MS 336,809 364,375 4,888 5,909 7,980 9,183 1 .63 1 .55
Oth 2/ 48,184 15,163 1,139 484 2,008 1,471 1 .76 3 .04
Total 587,330 549,161 9,844 9,347 16,132 15,397 1 .64 1 .65
1/ Included in other States to avoid disclosure of individual operations.
2/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, MO, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

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