Vol. IV No 1. A Joint Publication of Aquaculture Activities Jan/Feb 1995 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Published BiMonthly by the Wayne Collins Editor College of Agriculture and ALFP95-1 Phone 602-636-1324 the Arizona Aquaculture FAX 602-636-2731 Association ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The University of Arizona College of Agriculture Forbes Building, Room 306 Tucson, Az 85721 __________________________________________________________________________ A NEW YEAR: WHERE ARE WE? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It remains politically popular to believe that the world has screwed things up and the fish and seafood catch is somewhere on the wrong side of the threshold of sustainable harvest. This may be true but there are few hard data to support it. Total landings decrease slightly one year and increase slightly the next; it's around 215 billion lbs. U.S. number are mostly real. Some of the others are not much more than guesses, often inspired more by politics than records of the market place. Certainly some species are likely to be in trouble. Overall, however, fluctuations in the world total, whatever their accuracy, may well be within normal range, what ever that may be. It's sort of like petroleum reserves. Whenever it looks like things are getting tight, there is economic incentive to get out and find some more. The numbers for American aquaculture in 1994 are probably going to look pretty much like the graph above which include some guesses of our own (graph not included in e-mail version). Catfish production despite record high prices, is down for the first time in 20 years; trout production is off a little and farmed salmon is down. Only tilapia growout appears to have increased although domestic production is difficult to document. Hard numbers for tilapia imports show they have more than doubled. Indeed, the U.S. markets for farmed tilapia, shrimp and salmon are all import driven. Outside of the desert southwest, where it's taking a long time to get our act together, warmwater tilapia culture require expensive indoor systems. Coldwater salmon producers are entangled in laws that do not vex foreign growers. Shrimp are the most valuable seafood product, but such tropical critters are not easily cultured in America and foreign production costs are lower. If we could figure out how to grow seawater shrimp here in the desert, we'd have it made. We have a lot of beach but not much ocean. There is also talk from time to time of finding new, non- native species for aquaculture, but tough ecological restrictions, federal and state, virtually prohibit it. Fish farmers are going to have to work with the species at hand. Numbers for Arizona aquaculture are also uncertain, but Kevin Fitzsimmons of the Environmental Research Laboratory has put together some industry data for the first time in years. Total production in 1994 was probably for - the first time - more than a million pounds. Four hundred ten thousand (410,000) lbs of tilapia; 360,000 of catfish; 260,000 of trout; 10,000 lbs of striped bass. Total value Kevin estimates at more than $1.3 million. This is better than many of us would have supposed, but there is still no centralized data base, marketing is mostly small scale and highly individualized, there are no significant processing, most animals are sold whole at the farm gate, and it is probable that tome talented live fish migrate quietly westward. Nobody has real numbers on the total Arizona market for fish and seafood products of all kinds, but even if local consumption is lower than the national average, it is somewhere around 50 million lbs. That would mean the market penetration of Arizona aquaculture is about two percent. A lot of room for improvement. MISCELLANY Congratulate the Winners ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Call or write those who won federal or state seats in your district. Let legislative aids know who and where you are, and that you raise fish or are otherwise interested in agriculture and fish farming. Know Those Folks in Washington ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ U.S. Representative Ed. Pastor was named to the House Agriculture Committee, the first Arizonan so appointed. U.S. Representative John Shadegg was named to the House Budget Committee and will have significant impact on the 1995 Farm Bill. Former U.S. Representative Dan Glickman has been named by President Clinton as the new Secretary of Agriculture; he was one of the architects of the 1990 Farm Bill that helped aquaculture. John Morgan a National Winner ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Profiled here recently, John Morgan of Chino Valley High School has been named one of the six most outstanding young vocational agriculture teachers in the U.S. John is noted for aquaculture as well has his bio-tech, green- house and natural resources programs. No Live Haul Guidelines ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Dr. Hank Parker, director of the USDA Office of Aquaculture, put a stop tot he development of guidelines for the transport of live fish by commercial haulers. There were many objections from the industry including the Arizona Aquaculture Association. Arizona Aquaculture Licenses ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ All aquaculture licenses expired if they were not renewed on or before December 31st. However, expired licenses may be renewed up to March 30th, by payment of an additional $50 late fee. Letter to the Editor: I wish to respond to the innuendo and allegations in the quotes attributed to Tony Porti of the U of A Maricopa Agricultural Center (Arid Lands Fish Production, Vol III No. 4) suggesting the our bidding process for the Urban Fishing Program was modified to favor facilities outside Arizona and that fish stocked into urban lakes are -cheap, off-flavor fish hauled in from out of state-. We buy 36,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 170,000 lbs of catfish annually, all delivered live, healthy and catchable. Contractors must have current licenses, permits and disease-free certification. Bids are solicited at least every other year from facilities in Arizona and neighboring states and contacts awarded to the lowest responsive bidders. Our current trout contact is with the Blue River Hatchery in Blue Arizona; our current catfish contract is with Brown's Fish Farm in Pima Arizona. In the 12 years of our program, the Game and Fish Department has used five vendors for trout, two from Arizona and three from Colorado, and three vendors for catfish, all from the State of Arizona. As there are no local facilities capable of both producing and delivering the amounts of catfish needed, our catfish vendors haul their fish from Arkansas. Fish from these same sources are sold to wholesalers who distribute them to many of our local grocery stores. We have never heard any complaints of off-flavor; to the contrary, we hear frequent comments from our rather vocal 35,000 urban anglers as to the fine taste of these fish. Our Urban Fishing Program is widely recognized as one of the best of its kind in the nation. It is unfortunate that Mr. Porti, who has not been in contact with our program in recent years, chooses to bemoan his unwarranted personal gripes against this highly successful activity. Eric Swanson Urban Fisheries Program Manager Game and Fish Department The State of Arizona PROFILE: DR. MERLE JENSEN, UofA ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Go to the deserts of the Americas, North Africa, Arabia or Australia, or to the tropics of Florida, Mexico, and the South Pacific or Asia and those footprints you see in the sand ahead of you are those of Merle Jensen. Now Assistant Dean for Sponsored Research of the College of Agriculture of the University of Arizona, and Associate Director of its Experimental Station, Merle was and will always be "Dr. Greenhouse" to much of the world. As Senior Research Horticulturist of the U of A Environmental Research Lab, he is the guy who wrote the book. And wherever there is something green growing under glass or plastic, Merle has been there. Chances are, he help design it. This includes the riotous growth in the Land pavilion at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World in Florida. What does this have to do with fish culture? "At ERL," Merle explains, "in the early 1970's, even before the work at Disney, we started to use fertilized waste water from fish tanks to irrigate plants. And earlier yet, other folks were using fish to clean out Arizona canals. We put it all together: While irrigation water is moving towards fields, use that water and energy - it's already paid for - to grow another cash crop, a food crop, before sending it on its way." This has become the concept strongly advocated by the College of Agriculture-multiple use of Arizona's irrigation water. While Merle's job is to seek research funding for Arizona's scientists anywhere in the world, which has resulted in multi-million dollar joint projects in the Middle East and elsewhere, and a sparkling new turf grass research center in Tucson, he is fascinated by aquaculture. "I see my job as a kind of coordinator, and part cheer leader, too," he adds. "We've been getting our faculty interested, and our graduate students - we have two completing aquaculture projects right now - and, very important, generating the interest of Arizona's farm community and its customers." Of no little impact, for the past two years Merle has been Chairman of the Board - ["Sounds like Fran Sinatra," he chuckles] - of the Western Region Aquaculture Consortium, or WRAC (pronounced RACK). This is a 12 state group which coordinates federal funding for research and extension with the fish farming industry. It has changed a lot since Merle joined the board. "It was a consortium of the five biggest western states," he explains, "and we were not one of them. So we changed the bylaws; WRAC now has equal representation from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming." Does Arizona have any WRAC - funded projects? Not yet. But soon, probably: ERL's Kevin Fitzsimmons, with scientists from New Mexico and California, is working on final drafts for grants on new ways to handle aquaculture reject water and other waste products. "Should kick in next year," Merle says. More important, he says, is following up the multiple-use concept developed at the Maricopa Agricultural Center (MAC) with economical commercial production systems using the technology. "Once Arizona has some of these in place and the rest of the world can come here and see them working, this is going to mushroom. The World Bank and AID and a lot of other international agencies know what's happening here. They're watching us." Merle Jensen has come a long way from Olympia, Washington, where he was born 56 years ago. The long way includes extensive foreign assignments as both scientists and administrator, more than 80 publications, dozens of awards recognitions and consultancies, and an extraordinary 25 year find raising track record at the U of A: he has been a key player in obtaining at least $18 million in R&D funds from outside sponsors. Although he has a Masters from Cornell and a Doctorate from Rutgers, his first love was and is California State Polytechnic University, in San Luis Obispo, where he got his Bachelor's. He continues to serve on advisory boards and commissions for virtually all of them. He and his wife Sharon have two grown children and have lived in the same house for years. Before debating the fine points of navigation with Merle Jensen, you should know he also got in a few years as a young quartermaster in the U.S. Navy. This will come in hand in the immediate future: he wants to get a better position-fix on Arizona aquaculture. "In the next few weeks, we want to take a good look at where we are. Perhaps we are mature enough now, with all of the fish farming activities in the state, to start thinking about an international congress, a big gathering that can be sponsored by the U of A. That will really focus attention on us" ====================================================================== The University of Arizona College of Agriculture Arid Lands Food and Fiber Production INTEGRATED AQUA SYSTEMS ____________________ MERLE JENSEN PhD Assistant Dean ROY RAUCHKOLB, PhD Resident DIR, Maricopa Ag Center EUGENE MAUGHAN PhD Leader, COOP Fish and Wildlife Unit FISH PRODUCTION WATER QUALITY _______________ _______________ TONY PORTI MS BOB ROTH PhD Mac Aqua Program Director Mac Research Farm SUPT KEVIN FITZSIMMONS MS PAT MURPHREE ERL Aquaculture Program Director Mac Demo Farm SUPT FISH HEALTH ED MARTIN PhD _______________ Mac Water Quality Eng ED BICKNELL, DVM,PhD Mac Veterinary Pathology WASTE WATER IRRIGATION ________________ DON LIGHTNER PhD COA Diagnostic Pathobiology MARY OLSEN, PhD ERL Aquatic Agronomy TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER _______________ AECIO D'SILVA PhD ARIZONA AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION Artificial Intelligence Systems ________________ JIMMY JOY - President MIKE FRIMER - Vice President DICK YOUNG - Secretary JIM WARKOMSKI - Treasurer ====================== EMart(tm) is a service of RighTrac Inc. 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