 |
Ref:461/02 |
|
|
 |
UNITED STATES
- Oct 16, 2002 |
|
|
|
Florida's aquafarmers do thriving business with
tropical fish, plants |
|
Christian Lariviere uses freshwater ponds and tanks on
his fish farm in Loxahatchee to raise ornamental tropical
fish that he sells to customers in California, New York and
Wisconsin.
At the Aquaculture Research Center in Davie, biologist Bart
Baca, working with a team of graduate students, grows
tilapia, marine shrimp, American eels, seagrass and
mangroves at a converted water treatment plant, selling them
mostly to local wholesale clients.
In Florida City, Elizabeth Peeples, operations manager at
the Everglades Alligator Farm,breeds alligators that
entertain visitors, and supplies hides to tanneries and meat
to local restaurants.
Mark Park, owner of Blue Thumb in Pompano Beach, raises
clown fish, dottybacks and gobies, saltwater ornamental
species he sells to pet shops and wholesale dealers.
These are a few of the people who make up Florida's
aquaculture -- or aquafarming -- industry, a sector that
raises tropical and edible fish, aquatic plants, clams,
shrimp, alligators and "live rocks," a term used to describe
rocks covered with marine organisms for use in aquariums.
Aquaculture is a big business in the state, with sales of
$99.5 million last year, according to a survey by the
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
This figure was up $13.5 million -- or 16 percent -- from
sales reported in a survey two years earlier. Florida last
year had an estimated 684 registered aquaculture operations
employing over 1,500 full- and part-time workers.
The most important sales categories were tropical fish and
aquatic plants, together accounting for 64 percent of the
$99.5 million total. These were followed by clams, shrimp,
alligators, other edible and decorative fish, a group
containing crawfish, eels, snails, turtles, crabs, frogs and
oysters, with live rocks coming in last.
South Florida, especially the Miami-Dade area, is the
second-largest breeding center in the state for ornamental
tropical fish (after the Tampa region) and an important
production center for aquatic plants.
"The tropical fish business has its ups and downs, but since
I started raising swordtails and platies in 1968 it's had a
positive growth rate overall, " said Art Rawlins, owner of
Rawlins Tropicals in Lithia and president of the Florida
Tropical Fish Farmers Association. Each week Rawlins, a
major supplier to wholesalers, ships about 10,000 pounds of
tropical fish (weight includes water) out of the Orlando
International Airport and 4,000 to 5,000 pounds out of the
Tampa airport.
Lariviere and his wife, Guylaine, who own and run the LG
Tropical Fish Farm in Loxahatchee, don't deal in large
volumes like Rawlins. They raise gouramis, paradise, dwarfs,
snails and pleco (a type of ornamental catfish) and ship
about 40 boxes a week to customers via the Palm Beach
International Airport.
Like other tropical fish breeders, they have located near a
major airport to access direct flights and keep mortality
rates low during shipping.
Lariviere, who has raised fish all his life, used his
savings and a loan to start up the company three years ago
on five acres of property. He had to dig 30 ponds and set up
log barriers to keep out predators like walking catfish and
turtles.
Prices for tropical fish rise sharply along the
entrepreneurial food chain. For example, Lariviere said that
his most popular fish, gold gouramis, usually are sold to
wholesalers for 25 cents each. The wholesalers in turn may
charge a pet shop chain 50 cents each, and the fish will
retail for between two dollars and three dollars. Some
exotic tropical fish may retail for over $100 each.
While Florida aquaculture is dominated by tropical fish,
Frank Chapman, associate professor at the University of
Florida's Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences,
believes that raising edible seafood offers new
opportunities for the future. "We're pretty much a water
state and we have the highest per capita consumption of
seafood, 30 pounds per person per year, compared with a
national average of 15 pounds per person per year," he said.
Florida farmers grow a variety of edible fish, but the
number of these farms in Broward and Miami-Dade is limited,
mostly by high prices for land. A commercial fish farm may
require 30 to 100 acres to be profitable and produce
sufficient quantities for large buyers. At the Davie
Aquaculture Research Center, for example, the Town of Davie,
Nova Southeastern University and a private investor put
about $1 million in the project. Despite this, Chapman sees
opportunities for fish farms in less populated parts of the
state, especially areas away from costly beachfront
property. "We've reached the maximum capacity for `hunting'
seafood in terms of fishing stocks in the wild," he said.
"Aquaculture is one of the most efficient methods for
production of protein. I do expect Florida to pay more
attention to this than any other state."
By Joseph Mann - Business Writer |
|
|
|
