Harvesting and processing paddlefish polycultured in channel catfish ponds: a demonstration project.

摘要

This paper presents the results of a demonstration project which was conducted to determine the required harvest effort and to estimate costs as well as evaluate overall feasibility and constraints of selling small quantities of paddlefish caviar and flesh. The demo-project (growing of paddlefish in catfish ponds)was conducted in an eight-2-ha channel catfish ponds in western Kentucky stocked with 375 paddlefish fry (fingerlings) (30-40 cm) per ha in 2002. After presenting the estimated costs to harvest, and expenses for paddlefish processing a total of $19 103.26 revenue was generated. Thus it can be concluded that catfish ponds may serve as a paddlefish nursery where fish are raised for one or two growing seasons, followed by stocking into lakes or reservoirs for grow-out.