Some downbeat numbers add up to a delicious break for Louisiana’s wild-caught catfish.
U.S. farm-raised catfish sales in 2012 were down 20 percent from 2011 . In Louisiana, sales by catfish farmers were down 56 percent in 2011. High feed and fuel costs have been driving farmed catfish production down since 2003.
Increasingly, catfish farmers are drying up their ponds to plant more profitable corn and soy crops instead. Louisiana catfish ponds totaled a mere 890 acres in 2011, down 36 percent from 2010 .
“The delta is losing ponds by the day,” said Harlon Pearce, owner of Harlon’s LA Fish in Kenner, La.
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