Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Selling Farm Raised Fish:

I was at the local farm market this past weekend and noticed that Lake Erie Yellow Perch were selling for $16.00/ lb. People were standing in a long line and willingly paying what I thought was a very high price... With a pond full of yellow perch myself, I couldn't help but wonder what all is involved in selling fish? I would imagine there would be some type of license that might be required but people in this area always sell eggs, honey, farm raised cattle on both small scales and larger scales. What makes fish different? Why do we not see more people selling farm raised fish? Even if only on a very small scale.. Is there some type of obstacle making it difficult or illegal? Am I missing something?

In Iowa an aquaculture license is only $27 and gives you the privilege to buy, sell, trade and transport fish you raise. You would also likely need to have a state/federal tax id, create a sole proprietorship or llc, and I imagine there would be some kind of FDA stuff since you're raising and selling a food product?

The crazy thing is...with that license in Iowa, you can open your pond to all take methods and charge fishing fees t0 non license holding customers. That might be the best route lol! I would charge folks to come harvest fish from the pond, then charge them a per pound fee for the fish and maybe cleaning service.

Is yellow perch up your way considered a "gamefish"?? Here in Texas back in the 80's I had to buy a Retail fish dealers license to sell catfish from our local lakes. I had to by them from individuals that had commercial fishing license or farm raised fish from a licensed farm. I could sell any catfish like bluecat,channelcat,bullheadcats but...NOT Flathead or oppaloosa catfish because they were classified as a Game Fish. We could not sell any gamefish like lmb, crappie. Just for your information. Every state I'm sure have different laws. That being said... Wow, $16 a pound for any fish sounds great. Ever watch wicked Tuna on TV? We bought live catfish for $1 a pound and sold it for $2 a pound live. Fillet meat I sold for $4 a pound. Texas had funny redtape laws. You could not accept food stamps from someone for live fish. Knock em in the head to kill them and it was legal!!

KRM:

I suggest you checkout the Ohio Aquaculture Association for info on selling fish for food purposes in Ohio. Unfortunately, you just missed their annual conference a month or so ago - those meetings contain a wealth of info on raising and selling fish.

Thanks Galus that looks like it would have been a good conference to attend. It all seems relatively simple to do. Based on what I've found it is surprising there are not more suppliers around increasing competition and driving the price down. Over the past few years the prices for YP have been moving up steadily.

KRM, as a live hauler that has experienced the endless pitfalls that can happen, I assure you that raising or handling fish is in no way "easy". With the costs of feed, regulations, etc, it's not cheap either. IIRC, in Ohio, you will need permits from your Agricultural dept, wildlife fish handlers permit, transportation permit, and if the fish are in any way processed, a USDA inspection and permit along with USF&W compliance if any fish crosses a state line and health inspections for any pathogens of concern, being in a great lakes state. Those are just a few of the reasons there are not more growers....or live haulers

That's exactly why a keep what you catch operation would be a bit more streamlined

Rainman - Very interesting information. For me, it's hard to understand exactly where or at what point the regulations come into play. How would this compare to a very small scale operation such as to selling eggs to a neighbor? I can definitely understand that in order to get on the shelf of the local farm market the fish would be subject to many regulations etc. as they should be for health safety reasons. There are a lot of people out there that enjoy knowing their eggs came from local free range chickens. I see the opportunity for YP much the same. Obviously the product would have to be cleaned, refrigerated etc. but I still see a lot of similarities between the two.

As with pretty much everything, I'm sure the laws vary from place to place. Where I live you don't need any permits, etc to sell eggs as long as you are selling them from your home direct to individuals for use on their own table. I suspect fish would be the same as long as sold fresh/frozen and not precooked but your local health department may want to inspect your prep area, refrigeration/freezer, etc to verify safe handling. If you want to know for sure, IMO you should check with your county health department. They should know all the answers to your questions or be able to point you to the folks that can answer them.

Fish are not domesticated farm animals. States and the Fed get VERY serious on any regulation violation. It only takes 25 YP to make the "value" of any sale that does not follow every local, state, federal or even foreign law, a Federal felony ubder the Lacey Act of 1900. States like Kentucky, do not consider YP to be a native fish, and a $25 permit is required to even transport the fish through the state, dead or alive (without that permit that violates the Commerce clause of the US constitution, you could land in Federal prison). I agree that some rules, laws and regulations are just silly, but law enforcement doesn't...LEO gets VERY serious on even the smallest, silliest violations

Interesting article on YP aquaculture in Ohio

https://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/news/2010/5303e/fastergrowing-yellow-perch-could-make-aquaculture-more