Look at the sales options and market.
Taxidermy - out as you have the market cornered
Actually not anymore. As I'm having trouble meeting demand, and don't raise certain species due to facility limitations there are others taking up the slack. Some are boldly illegally selling or buying public caught fish on the Internet, but they'll get burned eventually. But if you noticed in my post I didn't count the taxidermy market.
Sale as food - out as many states don't allow the sale of sportfish as food - need to be real careful here.
From my query letters sent to all 50 states only Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina strictly prohibit the sale of certain sport fish for purposes other than recreational stocking. Texas requires a permit for "Protected Finfish" to be purchased by both the seller and the buyer. There are some states that either refused to respond to my queries (I had one special agent tell me I was going to break the law anyway so why respond), or had no idea what their own laws were, and just kept passing the buck to different departments. Maryland said they would consult with their "attorney's" and never got back to me.
Please note: I did not specifically ask if the fish could be sold as food fish in my query letters but was referring to dead frozen fish sold to taxidermists.
New York that for years was against the sale of largemouth bass for food fish, apparently now allows it as long as they are privately raised with some other restrictions as direct sales only or something like that. Ironically back when they prohibited the sale of bass as a food fish, they allowed the sale of fish from public waters that did not have a bag limit such as bluegills.
Sale to State or Feds for stocking - limited to nil
It will become more common for states to contract out to private hatcheries as government facilities are closed. It's already happening in some states. My state buys walleyes from a private Wisconsin producer. Last I heard they were also buying rainbow eggs from Trout Lodge as a cost saving measure. Some federal trout hatcheries have already closed. Look to see more as budgets get cut. Lawmakers are finding out the private sector can raise fish more economically than government facilities and it's tempting to shut down the government hatcheries.
Sale to aquarium mkt - very limited and takes good connections.
I could do it and there is a demand and the price one can get is VERY high. Problem is I don't have the facilities yet. I have no doubt an on the NANFA site would get you business. Perhaps not really high in volume but the price one can command makes up for it. There's also the sale of fish to educational institutions. One of our posters here, made I believe, $20,000 on a a few hundred minnow sized Bowfin he sold to a university for research. He seined them in public waters with a permit and it was perfectly legal.
Sale to pond owners - possible but you are competing with hatcheries and the costs (have to look at all costs not just feed) to get them that size is most times more than the vast majority of pond owners will pay.
True but there are no hatcheries in my northern end of the state. NONE! As president of the Indiana Aquaculture Association my goal is to get this going but it appears people are either afraid to start up, lack the knowledge they need to start up, or think the government should fund them.
In addition you have to be trained/able to run an aquaculture operation and be willing to put in the work - not many will do that and the pay vs. the risk is low.
Yes it's not easy work but it can be learned. Some of the best fish farmers I know are self taught by the school of hard knocks. Some worked for another producer.
That doesn�t even address all the other problems like transport , permits , insurance , all those business matters. Plus if all of the sudden you show up as a newbie with 10,000 2-3 lb LMB for sale and no place to sell them (no advanced market) you will either 1. likely be eating a lot of LMB so to say or 2. selling them to someone who can take advantage of your situation for a low ball price .
Yeah you're preaching to the choir when it comes to government interference, permits etc. But at least up here most of the headache is VHS testing, and only if you ship across state lines. Inside the state most species other than trout don't have to be tested for anything. Our Fish Hauler's and Suppliers Permit is free.
A good fish producer does not produce the fish first and look for a market later. That said, when I had my largemouths I had a Asian broker chumping at the bits when he heard about my feed trained bass, and wanted to buy them immediately.
