Catfish Industry Battered

Pat Gazzola felt sick, and it wasn’t because he ate too many of the golden-fried filets he sells at Fayetteville’s Catfish Hole.

Gazzola’s discomfort stemmed from a telephone call he received from his catfish supplier on the afternoon of March 3.

“I can remember the conversation just like it was yesterday because I remember the feeling in my chest, the pressure,” Gazzola said. “I’m serious. I was petrified.”

The supplier, a middleman who facilitates business between Itta Bena, Miss.-based Heartland Catfish and restaurant owners like Gazzola, had bad news. Gazzola would not be receiving any of the 230 15-pound cases of catfish filets he ordered.

Considering he had a catering gig for between 2,500 and 3,000 people scheduled in addition to his usual weekend business, Gazzola had plenty of reason to feel sick. Gazzola said he was still in shock as he made call after call trying to find suitable fish.

One source led to another and another, and Gazzola eventually found most of what he needed from another supplier.

“I paid $10 more than what they paid, per case, just to get the fish,” Gazzola said. “Plus I had to pay for a freezer truck to go get it. It was a very expensive situation.

“But when you’ve got this stuff booked, you can’t non-perform. … One bad experience will crush you.”

Gazzola isn’t the only one feeling the squeeze. Taylor Webb, editor of The Catfish Journal, said catfish pond acreage has dropped 13 percent from a total of 112,000 in 2009.

In 2006, Webb added, there were 101,000 acres of catfish ponds in Mississippi alone. That total is now about 60,000.

“Hearing those types of stories is unsettling,” Webb said of Gazzola’s scramble to find acceptable product.

Fish Tales

Perhaps more unsettling is the fact the catfish supply isn’t expected to stabilize until July, according to multiple reports. The result is a scarcity of fish for restaurant owners and higher prices for consumers.

“The U.S. catfish industry is not going to disappear … but this is a very tough time,” Webb said.

The shortage has been caused by what Webb dubbed “almost a perfect storm.”

Beginning in 2009, Webb said, low pond bank prices — the money farmers are paid for their fish — combined with pressure from imports and a tighter lending environment to put many farmers out of business. Some drained ponds in order to grow soybeans, while others sold to duck hunters or simply got out of the business.

Rising feed prices lately have added another crippling blow. Webb said a ton of feed — consisting of corn, soybeans and wheat, among others ingredients — cost $250 per ton in 2005. The price now is more like $430 per ton.

“As those commodity prices have gone up, the price of catfish feed has just soared,” Webb said.

Pond bank prices have climbed, too, from 68 cents to 85 cents per pound — depending on the size of the fish — in July 2008 to more than a dollar per pound now. As a result, a restaurant owner like Mike Vaughn at Café Delta Soul in Fayetteville has gone from paying $43 for a 15-pound case of filets a few months ago to $61 for the same case in March.

Vaughn said he had no choice but to raise his menu prices. A three-piece meal that cost $9.50 in February now goes for $11.50. He even added a two-piece meal at $8.50 to give customers a cheaper alternative.

“Nobody wants to raise prices, but if you don’t, you’ll be the one losing,” said Vaughn, who added catish is Delta Soul’s bestseller. “People haven’t really complained, I think, because we gave them another option.”

Gazzola has raised prices, too, and eliminated the all-you-can-eat option. His bigger concern, though, is finding enough fish to meet demand.

The Catfish Hole did more than $2 million in sales each of the last two years, according to figures obtained from Fayetteville’s Advertising and Promotion Commission.

“The amount of fish I’m getting from Heartland won’t cover more than a third of my needs, so I’m having to find other fish to cover the other two-thirds,” Gazzola said.

“It’s almost like a black market thing, except I’m not breaking any laws.”