Rising Grain Prices Mean Less American Farm-Raised Fish For Consumers

Wellington, FL (AHN) - Although most of the seafood and finfish Americans consume is imported, whether it is caught in open waters or farmed, rising grain prices mean that even less fish will be farm raised here, making establishing standards for finfish and shellfish perhaps even more important to consumers.

American aquaculture production only meets 5 to 7 percent of U.S. demand now, with much of that being catfish, meaning that most finfish and shellfish Americans consume is imported, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But now rising grain prices mean that the amount of American farm raised fish will decline as many catfish farmers are draining their ponds and going out of business.

"It's a dead business," John Dillard, who pioneered the commercial farming of catfish in the late 1960s, told the New York Times.

Dillard & Company raised 11 million fish last year and has 55 employees. Dillard is letting his employees go and the company won't raise any fish next year because rising grain prices mean that the company was only recovering 75 cents of every dollar it spent producing the fish, the New York Times reports.

Fish farming may be a dead business in the U.S., there is still a demand for farmed fish here.

Although an organization called the Global Aquaculture Alliance has created Best Aquaculture Practices standards for shrimp farms and hatcheries, channel catfish farms and seafood processing plants, there is no single, widely accepted standard for all farmed fish.

But some grocers, such as Whole Foods Market, are acting on their own to ensure that the product its customers buy is safe and healthy.

Whole Foods Market has updated its standards for farmed seafood suppliers - initially instituted in June 2007 - in several areas. It will now require suppliers to:

• Track fish from hatchery to processing plant. - Protect sensitive habitats.
• Monitor water quality.
• Discontinue using a number of chemicals.
• Avoid using chemicals such as malachite green, an antiseptic banned in the U.S. but still used in other countries.
• Avoid using organophosphate pesticides

Already in place were Whole Foods' standards that banned:

• Antibiotics.
• Growth hormones.
• Preservatives such as sulfites.
• Poultry and mammalian by-products in feed.
• Genetically modified or cloned seafood.