VICKSBURG - Grow a cheaper catfish and the world will beat a path to your door.
Well, maybe not exactly.
Purely out of local pride, if nothing else, there's little doubt Mississippians, given a choice, will always opt for catfish raised in a Mississippi aquaculture operation - even if it costs a little more.
That's why - showing great wisdom - The Catfish Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Jackson, is not asking for Asian or other fish imports to be banned.
They just want truth in packaging, truth on menus - and for imported fish to be inspected and certified to have been grown and harvested with the same health and safety standards met by U.S. growers.
Sounds fair. Is fair. But how things come out remains to be seen.
At center stage is a new farm bill now in the drafting stages in Washington. If properly worded, catfish producers across the South will feel a sense of relief.
This is not a new issue, but it is a crucial time. A couple of years ago, the issue arose when "tra" and "basa," Vietnamese catfish-like species, were being harvested from ditches, canals and commercial operations and shipped to the United States.
The American response was, "If it ain't catfish, you can't call it catfish."
Most grocers and restaurants selling "tra" and "basa" around this state got the message - putting signs on their frozen food cases and adding prominent wording on their menus to assure consumers they'd seen the light and were only selling American-grown fish.
More recently, there was a wave of concern after President Bush visited Vietnam in the interest of enhancing its status as a trading partner. Specifically, he wanted to remove all controls. Congress speared that idea - but that hasn't slowed imports.
Another recent report centers on China, where farmers have actually gotten sure-enough genuine American catfish fingerlings and started producing a line of the same species of which Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama are the leading commercial producers.
Problem is, The Catfish Institute says, China can pay its laborers 30 cents per hour while growers here face state and federal minimum wage laws - now setting a base wage at $5.15 in Mississippi and Alabama, which is expected to rise to $7.25 within two years.
Even the existing wage difference is allowing the Chinese to grow, harvest, process and ship frozen fish to the United States and sell it, profitably, at 15 cents or more per pound less than American growers.
Part of the U.S. cost, of course, is meeting regulatory standards, quality controls, inspections that growers overseas don't face and restrictions on use of certain chemicals.
An image that comes to mind is a bunch of people at their favorite lunch spot dining on fried fillets and griping about how American jobs are being lost to overseas employers. Without even realizing it, this lunch bunch could be putting at risk the jobs of some of the 4,000 Mississippians whose direct livelihood comes from catfish-industry work.
Like many businesses, farming, restaurants and grocery stores operate on "close margins." It doesn't take much to make them unprofitable. Change is coming really, really fast:
- Catfish imports from China, a mere 122,000 pounds in 2003, surged twentyfold to 2.5 million pounds last year.
- Vietnam shipped 3.6 million pounds of "tra" and "basa" and other catfish-like species in the first 11 months of 2005. In the first 11 months of 2006, that number had jumped to 7.7 million pounds. Another source puts last year's number at 24 million pounds.
- About 570 million pounds of catfish were processed from U.S. farms in 2006. That's a lot, but it's down 15 percent from 630 million pounds processed in 2003.
American growers are still dominant. But again, it doesn't take a big shove to tilt the whole picture.
Mississippi already has labeling requirements and bans some imports for health and safety reasons, but that doesn't help farmers here substantially because most of what they grow is shipped out of state.
The state's growers have to look to Congress, and they are right to ask for an even shot at the palates of American consumers.
Mississippi's specific stake is stronger - given that this industry was born here, engineered here, developed here and has flourished here. Too, employment alternatives are fewer.
American catfish has come a long way from its reputation as a trash fish. It is now the fourth most frequently ordered item on seafood menus. It seems basic that when people ask for American catfish, they should feel assured that's what's being served.
