State catfish industry does face serious issues

State catfish industry does face serious issues

In the early 2000s, more than 25,000 water acres were in production in Alabama, including approximately 250 catfish farms in western Alabama and four processors. By 2020, this declined to 66 farms; 16,146 water acres; and two remaining catfish processors in the state.
There are multiple reasons for the decline, including rising feed prices and competition from inexpensive imports, mainly from Vietnam and China, flooding the U.S. marketplace with alternative catfish-like products, such as tra, swai, basa, and tilapia.
Another factor was the the COVID-19 pandemic and the decline in food service and restaurant sales. But in early 2021, that situation began improving.
Surprisingly, larger catfish are also a factor, as catfish included in the harvest recently have included excessive amounts of large fish too big for the processors to accept.
But the biggest challenge to the Alabama catfish industry is disease losses. Production losses have been greater than $13 million annually over the last 13 years due to bacterial diseases. Losses have been particularly heavy due to a virulent strain of Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria introduced from China.