Economic Analysis and Improvement Opportunities of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Aquaculture in Northern Germany

Abstract

A farmland based African Catfish recirculation aquaculture system with a production volume (PV) of 300 m3 was modelled under realistic market conditions in order to analyse the impact of price fluctuations on profitability. As a monoculture recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for whole fish and the wholesaler’s market, the model northern German catfish aquaculture is currently gainless, but the production is sufficient to cover all costs. The most decisive economic parameter is the low selling price (2.20 EUR/kg whole fish), which affects the returns by ±70,463 EUR/year for every ten percent (0.22 EUR) price change. Among the variable costs, feed has by far the largest impact with a share of 61.4% (42.1% of total costs). Based on the initial model every ten percent price variation of this variable input factor changes the returns by ±29,691 EUR/year, followed by energy (±5913 EUR/year), fingerlings (±4804 EUR/year), wages (±3972 EUR/year) and water (±2464 EUR/year). Larger system sizes (600 m3 PV) significantly save costs due to economies of scale and achieve returns of 175,240 EUR/year and an ROI of 11.45%. Increasing max. stocking density from 450 kg/m3 to 550 kg/m3 improves returns and ROI (40,379 EUR/year; 4.40%), but also involves higher production risks. An own fingerling production with a production of 300% above the own requirements improves returns and ROI (39,871 EUR/year; 3.57%) and leads, above all, to independence from foreign suppliers. Aquaponic integrations can generate profits, but are associated with high investment costs and the challenges of entering a new business sector. Product diversification into fillet (50% of the production) and smoked fillet (30%) generates lucrative returns and ROI (212,198 EUR/year; 20.10%). Profitability is further increased by direct marketing in the form of a farm store and the establishment of a regional “producer organisation”. Our results demonstrate that under current market conditions northern German catfish aquaculture covers all costs, mainly increasing profitability through altered sales prices and feed costs. Retaining a larger part of the fishery value chain within the farm through additional benefits, further processing and product diversification improves profitability, making African catfish RAS a sustainable and economically profitable aquaculture business in Germany.

Mitochondriomics of Clarias Fishes (Siluriformes: Clariidae) with a New Assembly of Clarias camerunensis: Insights into the Genetic Characterization and Diversification

“…Identification of walking catfish can sometimes be challenging due to their complex morphology and sexual polymorphism [ 4 , 5 ]. Other than that, the Clarias catfishes are popular in aquaculture avenues due to their high commercial value as a nutritious food source and ornamentation [ 6 , 7 ]. They play a significant role in the food web and ecosystems; however, they are confronted with alarming threats due to habitat degradation, over-exploitation, and invasion of alien species [ 8 , 9 ].…”

Aquaponics nomenclature matters: It is about principles and technologies and not as much about coupling

“…It is generally agreed upon that aquaponic systems should be as resource efficient as possible and calculations on the coupling degree of different parameters might be possible in smaller scale systems. However, under commercial conditions, the size of the aquaculture units of for example, African catfish in northern Germany are above 300 tons annual production to achieve profitability on the aquaculture side, 72 and the enormous growth rate and low FCR between 0.75 and 0.83 under semi‐ to super intensive conditions (200–400 kg m 3 ) through the entire production cycle 73 results in different nutrient availabilities and proportions inside the process water throughout the entire production cycle 47 . Catfish together with various tilapia and carp species are the most common species of choice in aquaponics because they can be kept under high stocking densities and can cope with lower water quality.…”

Closing Nutrient Cycles through the Use of System-Internal Resource Streams: Implications for Circular Multitrophic Food Production Systems and Aquaponic Feed Development

“…Under the conservative assumptions that commercial African catfish production can operate at a feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 0.9 [40,41] and achieve a filet yield of 40% [42][43][44][45][46] and that dry fish meal can be produced from fresh processing waste with a ratio of 5:1 [46,47], catfish by-product meal produced internally within a CMFS could provide 13.3% of the ingredients required per unit of feed and serve as the base ingredient for CMFS diets. This notion can be extended by establishing hypothetical operational scenarios as outlined above and graphically represented in Figure 1.…”