The aquaculture industry has been described as "fragile" because it's still a young industry in the United States, but aquaculture is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. economy -- increasing more than 15 percent a year since 1980.

What's aquaculture?

Aquaculture means "water culture" or, more exactly, farming in water. Simply explained, it involves the intensive production of fish and shellfish for human food.

From modest beginnings, the farm value for U.S.-produced fish and other aquaculture projects has risen, to more than $900 million and is estimated at 543,770 metric tons, or 11,990,128 pounds.

Aquaculture is also on the grow in Missouri, with more than $10 million in annual aquaculture-related sales.

This growing industry was the topic of discussion during the annual 2000 Missouri Aquaculture Association annual meeting and conference last week in Cape Girardeau.

This year's conference, "Discussing the Opportunities and Challenges of Midwest Aquaculture," was held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, with featured speakers from Missouri and Illinois.

Aquaculture is considered by many to be the aquatic counterpart of agriculture, with water substituting for land, but aquaculture is more akin to animal husbandry, the science of animal breeding, than agriculture in general.

"We had a good turnout," said Joe Myers, aquaculture specialist with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. "Missouri producers, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas fish farmers, and educators, learned about the challenges and opportunities associated with Aquaculture."

Conference topics included environmental and regulatory issues, emerging species, disease treatments and drug approval, marketing, and regional fish processing opportunities. Each session featured presentations followed by audience participation and discussion.

The two-day sessions were sponsored by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, University Outreach and Extension, the Missouri Aquaculture Council, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Aquaculture Association.

"The annual meeting provides a great opportunity for fish farmers to share information," said Kevin Flowers, president of the Missouri Aquaculture Association. "It also allows those people interested in getting started in the business to speak to producers first hand."

Flowers of Dexter is operator of Flowers Fish Farm in Dexter, a 450-acre water impoundment. Flowers sells catfish fingerlings to a number of fish farmers throughout the Midwest.

Most of the fish farms in Southeast Missouri are catfish farms, said Thomas C. Sallee, agricultural statistician at the Missouri Agriculture Statistics Service in Columbia.

"Aquaculture is growing, in Missouri and the nation," he said. "Catfish, trout, carp, bass, bluegill, crappie and fresh-water shrimp are among aquaculture crops being raised on a number of farms, including 45 fish-farm operations in Missouri," he said.

Aquaculture is a newcomer to the United States compared to 4,000-year-old industries in countries like Egypt and China.

The Egyptians were successfully farming Nile carp more than 4,000 year ago, and the Chinese have been farm-raising carp for centuries.

Fish farming was introduced in the United States in the 1960s -- scarcely 30 years ago.

In 1997, more than 900 million pounds of fish were raised on fish farms in the United States.

That's more than twice the farm fish production of a decade ago.

U.S. Agriculture Department statistics reveal that aquaculture is the fastest-growing segment of U.S. agriculture.

Catfish farming makes up more than 50 percent of the U.S. aquaculture industry. Two years ago, more than 500 million pounds of catfish were raised down on the farm.

Not many years ago, people took catfish for granted -- a Southern staple deep fried and served with hush-puppies. Today, the nation's population averages eating at least a pound a year each of catfish in the form of fish steaks, fillets, strips and nuggets.

Aquaculture is big business for at least four southern states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, which, combined, produce over 90 percent of farm-fish, but, fish farming has caught on in other states, including Missouri, where 45 fish farms are registered, more than half of them in Southeast Missouri.

In Illinois the count is 45 to 50 fish farms, with two of the big operations in Southern Illinois, along Illinois 3, near Gorham.

A dozen fish farms are registered in Dunklin County. Four are registered in Butler County, three from Stoddard County, and three from Pemiscot County, including the Pierce Fish Farm, headquartered in Caruthersville.

Most Missouri operations concentrate on catfish. A dozen of them specialize in trout, and at least one, in Butler County, is experimenting with fresh-water shrimp.

"There may be other fish farms in the state," said Randy Myers. Fish farms are not required to register with the Department of Conservation.

No fish farms are registered in Cape Girardeau County, but some commercial fishermen are registered there. Some commercial fishermen don't operate fish farms. They may fish the river for catfish, carp or buffalo and sell them."

For the Pierce Family, the industry is more than a decade old.

A large fish farm is a time-consuming operation, said Robert Pierce, president of Pierce Fish Farm, alongside I-55 south of Hayti.

The Pierce Farm has 14 ponds and 280 acres of water, most of them about 700 feet wide and 1,300 feet long (about 30 acres). During the spring, someone will be around the ponds 14 hours a day, monitoring the oxygen supply and making sure the aerators work. The major problem in raising catfish is the oxygen supply, said Pierce.

He sells catfish to fee-fishing lake operators. Pierce actually sells to "live haulers" who transport the fish in aerated tanker trucks, to fee fishing lakes in Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana.

The Pierce operations sell about 500,000 pounds of catfish a year. Starting in March, harvesting operations are carried out at the fish farm.

The catfish are fed catfish rations, including special rations of soybean, corn, wheat and vitamins.

A fish farm near Harviell, has 28 ponds, ranging up to 25 acres.

Like the Pierce Farm, the Jones-Eaker Fish Farm sells fish to fee lakes, but it also sell fish to processing plants, and fingerlings to local fish-farm producers. Paula Moore, staff biologist at the farm, was guest speaker at last week's Aquaculture conference.

Two large fish-farm operations in Illinois are in the Gorham area -- Logan Hollow Fish Farm and Fountain Bluff Fish Farm.

Aquaculture is a lot more than digging a hole, filling it with water and sticking some fish in it.

Fish farmers rely on good management and a host of products to prevent health problems. They use chemicals as disinfectants and to kill bacteria; herbicides to prevent the overgrowth of vegetation in ponds; vaccines to fight certain diseases; and drugs -- usually combined in the feed -- to treat diseases and parasites.

The supervision of this "new" industry is shared by several federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency, along with state and local authorities. Their common goal is to ensure the safety and wholesomeness of aquaculture products.

FDA works with the states to ensure the safety of seafood products, especially molluscan shellfish, such as oysters, clams and mussels. It also approves the drugs and feed additives used in aquaculture; monitors the manufacturing, distribution and use of fish drugs; provides technical assistance and training to the states; conducts research; and provides the necessary oversight to ensure that fish food products are safe, wholesome and properly labeled.

There are five major components to any fish culture operation: Fish, water, container or pond, nutrition, and management practices. Each component plays a significant role in the farming of a safe and wholesome food.