Despite catfish remaining a beloved staple of Southern dinner tables, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert said growth in the Texas catfish aquaculture industry remains static amid myriad challenges. Over the last two decades, stagnant market prices, changes in consumer preferences, increased production costs and foreign competition have slowed growth potential.
Over the last 25 years, the farm-gate price of catfish has ranged between 80 cents and $1.20 per pound, said Todd Sink, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension aquaculture specialist and associate professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, Bryan-College Station.
At the same time, catfish feed prices more than doubled, from $250 per ton in 1996 to $525 per ton in 2023.
This year, Sink said producers are earning around $1.16 per pound while production costs ranged from 98 cents to $1.03 per pound.
“There is very little profit margin, and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of fish must be sold per year to support a farm enterprise,” Sink said. “Catfish is a product that has not achieved the same market increase with inflation as other products have.”
Consumer preferences continue to shift A key driver of this trend, which is seen not only in U.S. aquaculture but worldwide, is a change in consumer preference.
“People have become more affluent, and their taste in fish has changed over time,” Sink said. “Catfish is considered to be a lower-value fish, and now people are trending more toward species they perceive to be of higher value like red drum, hybrid striped bass, corvina and Red Sea bream from Europe.”
Because of this change in perception, as well as the stagnant market prices, Sink said many catfish producers have either exited the profession or transitioned to different aquaculture species.
Initially, catfish aquaculture focused on channel catfish varieties. While native blue, white, flathead and bullhead catfish species have also been considered for aquaculture, Sink said they are largely inferior to channel catfish in terms of food fish production.
Efforts to capitalize on hybrid vigor, including improved growth rate and disease resistance, led to the development of the bluechannel catfish hybrids primarily grown today for the food fish industry.
Texas catfish production capacity According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture catfish production surveys, the top four catfishproducing states — Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas — accounted for 96%, or $419.5 million, of total U.S. sales in 2023.
Texas’ 1,500 acres of catfish production, located primarily along the Gulf Coastal Plain and northeastern portion of the state along the Red River, accounted for $22.8 million of those sales.
While Texas ranks in the top four states for catfish production, it trails far behind Mississippi, the recognized leader in catfish aquaculture, with 33,100 acres in production and more than $250 million in sales.
Although Texas may not be the top producer, the state does maintain an advantage that Sink said continues to defy explanation.
“Texas is able to successfully grow more catfish per acre than most of the top producing states,” Sink said. “In most states, producers can grow 10,000-12,000 pounds per acre, but we generally grow up to 16,000 pounds per acre. We’ve never been able to exactly explain the factors behind this.”
Sink said some Texas producers have pushed the envelope to beyond 20,000 pounds per acre, but this often results in increased disease and water quality issues.
Recent legislative assistance for the industry Over the years, federal legislation has helped U.S. catfish producers compete with foreign imports and provided protection from catastrophic losses.
In the mid-2000s, Congress passed legislation that enforced correct labeling on fish imports, a move that significantly increased demand for domestic catfish.
Aquaculture producers producing food fish for consumption are also now eligible for assistance under the USDA’s Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farmraised Fish, which helps producers who incur losses from disease or adverse weather events like flooding and extreme heat.
“This has helped catfish and other aquaculture producers dramatically,” Sink said. “Prior to this, there were no disaster protections for food fish aquaculture like there were for other commodities such as corn, cotton or cattle.”
Looking ahead for Texas catfish production Sink doesn’t anticipate opportunities for growth in the catfish industry, but he doesn’t foresee it shrinking either.
For existing catfish producers, Sink said incorporating sportfish production into their farm can diversify and financially benefit their operations.
“Texas is home to 1.3 million ponds, and catfish has never fallen out of favor as a recreational fish people want to stock in their ponds,” Sink said. “People stocking farm ponds largely want the original channel catfish they grew up with.”
Sink said one producer he knows in the state grows channel catfish rather than hybrid catfish for that very reason.
“A lot of our other food fish industries don’t have that option as another outlet, but the catfish industry does,” Sink said. “That demand for pond stocking has helped keep some producers going strong.”