Aquaculture Research in United States is Mostly a Joke on Taxpayer

Aquaculture Research in United States is Mostly a Joke on Taxpayer

I consider aquaculture research in the United States as a mostly throwing money away exercise, and a joke on those that fund such programs. Why? We research and perfect the aquaculture and disease/parasite control techniques for various species, and China or another country where land and labor are much cheaper, and laws are much less restrictive than in the United States use the knowledge we researched and paid for to raise the fish, shrimp, crayfish, etc. cheaply and then sell their aquaculture products to us. And they basically got the research done by us at little or no expense to them. They do not have to fund some research programs, but just read our reports and publications, and can do many of their aquaculture operations using our knowledge. I suspect they are laughing all the way to the bank.

A United States based aquaculture research program (and there are several university or government agency programs) should be able to PROVE that aquaculture of the species they are promoting is feasible, and profitable, in the United States, and should be able to produce at least one operating aquaculture firm they have helped that is making a profit in the United States. If they cannot produce such a firm, or an aquaculture plan proving a profit, people interested in doing new aquaculture projects should consider the species being promoted to not be feasible for a profitable aquaculture operation in the United States.   

And even if the proposed project is presently feasible to do in the United States, another country with cheaper wages and other costs could copy the technology after its start in the United States and render the US aquaculture farmers obsolete (and maybe broke) very quickly with a cheaper product.

Various aquaculture operations I have been involved in either as a participant or as an advisor/researcher/parasitologist were based on: raising fathead minnows, guppies, tilapia, channel catfish, hybrid striped bass, redfish, pompano, cobia, speckled trout, red snapper, and bullminnows, and shedding blue crabs and crayfish. The USA channel catfish aquaculture operations mostly developed through research by Mississippi State University have been somewhat profitable in the United States through the years. Now many catfish farmers are struggling, or out of business. primarily due to increased feed costs.

Aquaculture projects in the United States can be profitable by catering to specialty demands: one operation I advised sold live tilapia to specialty Asian-influenced markets (in the United States) where they wanted live fish for the restaurant trade. The facility operated several years, barely getting by, until problems of predation by protected birds, high feed costs, and sabotage and a divorcing owner's wife helped put them out of business.

The reasons aquaculture is usually not profitable in the United States are many: high land costs, high property taxes, high labor costs, many zoning and land use restrictions, difficulty in getting enough water to operate the facility, high utility costs, high supply/feed costs, restrictive waste disposal and environmental regulations, predation by protected birds, not enough operating money, politics, theft, bad weather, sabotage, etc.

I have personally seen United States based aquaculture operations go under due to sabotage, mismanagement, not making a profit, lack of qualified workers, hurricane damage to facility, predation by protected birds, divorce, etc. For example, the opening of one valve during the night that drained a 30,000 gallon tank caused the death of about 35,000 pounds of tilapia and made a facility lose many thousands of dollars.

Aquaculture research in United States should be directed toward those species that CAN be cultured in the United States for a profit, and research money should be spent on aquaculture projects which WILL further our economy and create more jobs in America, not create jobs and profit for other countries.

Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D.,  (C) 2012 --

I reared/maintained many species of plants and aquatic organisms while being co-founder and co-chairman of a laboratory toxicology program, while running a public aquarium, while doing aquaculture projects, while having my own private farm, and while being a supplier of live fish and plants to the pet store trade during my career. My techniques to control Amyloodinium ocellatum on marine fishes in the 1980's enabled many aquaculture facilities and public aquariums to raise/display fishes free from death due to Amyloodinium ocellatum. See:

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Diatomfilters.html


http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Parasites.html