Personally from my experience the reason some things aren't done is just because private producers aren't willing to take a chance or aren't imaginative enough. I can think of several profitable things that producers could do but just won't. For example: With the right promotion Talapia could be a gold mine for northern producers for algae control, but after beating some of them over the head with the idea they just won't do it. I can't think of a better market than producing a fish that dies annually and has to be restocked. Adn a fish that is so forgiving and easy to produce! And considering it is a viable alternative to chemicals, and would be a solution to the number one complaint of pond owners (filamentous algae aka pond scum) it's a no brainer. But what do fish producers say when I tell them about it? "I'm not interested."
Another example: I sell trophy size (broodstock size) trout for close to, and up to, and over $100.00 a piece to taxidermists and replica makers. Before I decided to do it myself I again beat some fish producers over the head trying to convince them there was a lucrative marker for worn out broodfish that many of them just discard. Do you think any of them were interested? NO!
I also see producers in my area selling the same ol' fingerlings etc. but no larger fish for remedial stocking or into established ponds. There is a big market for those larger fish that can get premium prices. Are any of them interested in this market. NO!
And then there's those God awful hybrid bluegills everybody pushes. My phone has rung off the hook with people that are looking for
REGULAR strain bluegills. Rare is the producer that sells them around here! I already have a fish supplier that says they will take
ALL of the bluegill I can produce this year. The supplier says they just can't find them!
So until someone that is a true entrepenuer, or is willing to take risk to be a leader, most fish producers will sulk in the same old in the box thinking and producing.
I'm sorry to say but many of the fish producers I have met are not very opening minded. Maybe all that time near the water has rusted their brains.
That said, adding male or female hormones to feed before the fry become male or female is the most economical and most sure way to produce males and females from the literature I have read. Once the fish are large enough for consumption, the hormones will be long gone out of their system. I hope to produce all male smallmouth bass this way in the future for retail store display aquariums, as I was told the females have serious problems with egg absorption. All the literature I have seen says there is no difference in size and growth among the sexes in smallmouth bass.
