December 28, 2007

Indiana optimistic on yellow perch demand to spur fish farming

Indiana's fish farms are hoping that demand for yellow perch from Midwesterners will increase and boost the growth of its fledgling industry.

Yellow perch have long been a favorite in the Great Lakes region for their mild flavor, firm flesh and low fat levels.

University of Wisconsin reported in 2003 that the market readily absorbed the peak yellow perch harvests of more than 33 million pounds a year in the 1950s and 1960s.

However, in the 1980s and 1990s, the wild yellow perch harvest plummeted between 11 million and 18 million pounds, causing disappointments that the golden years of harvest are gone.

Meanwhile, Bell Aquaculture, one of more than 4,000 fish farms in the US, is producing yellow perch for the restaurant market, confident on the return and growth of demand for yellow perch.

The farm, about 10 miles northeast of Muncie, recently received a certificate of occupancy from Delaware County for its first buildings, where yellow perch are being raised in tanks ranging in size from 1,000 gallons to 10,000 gallons.

The USDA's first aquaculture census in 1998 reported 24 aquaculture farms in Indiana with sales of US$2.7 million. By 2002, the number of farms had increased to 47 with sales of US$3.2 million.

According to a 2005 survey by Purdue, majority of Indiana's aquaculture farms produce less than 5,000 pounds of fish a year, and none produce 100,000 pounds or more annually.