J M MALONE & SON INC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.7

Description

Competition from foreign countries has driven down the price paid for catfish forcing many domestic catfish farmers to leave the business of seek alternative species of fish to produce. There is a great interest among such fish farmers in producing high value species such as bass, sunfish and crappie for human consumption. However, these high value species have behaviorial characteristics that makes producing them in conventional open ponds unprofitable. In-pond confiment systems such as the partitioned aquaculture syste (P.A.S.) developed for catfish production can produce high yeilds of fish and overcome the behavioral issues related to these species. Because such high value species require better water quality than catfish and higher feed protein levels, modifications must be made to in-pond confinements to improve solid waste removal and nitrogenous waste processing.A prototype in-pond tank was designed and built by J.M. Malone and Son, Inc. Solid waste collection and processing apparatus installed on the prototype will be evaluated to determine their cost benefit relative to improved water quality. Replicated tank studies will be conducted to test the effect of three levels of solid waste removal and processing apparatus on water quality. Appropriate modifications to the prototype design will be designed and fabricated. A protocol for construction of a commercial system will be drafted and a cost analysis will be performed.