Catfish farmers and aquaculture experts were at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Tuesday speaking with U.S. Sen. John Boozman and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
They heard some of the issues facing the state’s catfish farmers — like competition from foreign imports and predatory birds.
The U.S. doesn’t export catfish; it all stays in the country. America does, however, import catfish. The problem for domestic producers is that the imported fish is often cheaper, stifling the market, says Brad Graham, a catfish farmer and the Arkansas Catfish Promotion Board Chairman.
“There’s like a ceiling to the price in the market almost… and that threat [of imports] is always there. ‘Well, if y’all get too high, we’re just going to buy imports.’” Graham said.
“Some restaurants, you know, they buy U.S. farm-raised catfish and that’s what they serve on Friday and Saturday nights. But during the week, they serve imports because that’s where they make their dollar,” he continued.
Imported fish is often of lower quality, according to the farmers present at the event. While there is no USDA certification label for catfish, many domestic farmers seek Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) Certification for their product.
There are USDA rules for catfish imports, but it’s possible importers may be more lax on best practices.
Despite a stiff market, Dick Baxter, another fish farmer, has hope.
“It’s not all doom and gloom in our industry … with y’alls support we’re still here,” he said. “But, you know, there’s potential for this thing to grow a little bit, I really think there really is. But what we have to have is we have to have a stable market. And that stable market is going to come from knowing that we can move our product. And people want it. People want to eat fried U.S. catfish.”
It isn’t just humans who like the taste of farmed catfish; birds also enjoy it. Some farmers spend a lot of their time fending off predatory birds. This is how Steve Kueter, a catfish farmer and member of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, described it.
“You’ve got to be a strong minded person to be in this industry. And these birds [are] out here seven days a week. Mentally, these birds will get in your head, and they just will consume you,” he said.
This year, the USDA's Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish, or ELAP, program began covering bird-related losses for fish farmers. Those present at UAPB were supportive of the move enabled by the Trump administration’s 2025 budget reconciliation bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Fish-eating birds like pelicans, great blue herons and great egrets are attracted to the ponds on farms. But the industry’s white whale is the dreaded cormorant. This bird alone has caused over $47 million in industry-wide losses.
“I like birds… I don’t love cormorants so much, but I mean I do like birds,” Baxter said. “Without us doing something we will not be in business.”
Those present supported renewed population control efforts for predatory birds like cormorants. Methods to control these predators range from permits to kill birds to controlling their populations in nesting areas, like the Great Lakes Region.
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified Arkansas Game and Fish Commissioner Steve Kueter.
