Commercial evaluation of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) production in traditional earthen ponds versus split-pond production systems

Abstract

Largemouth bass (LMB; Micropterus salmoides) production for the food fish market is growing in the US. Traditionally, LMB producers in the US have relied on traditional earthen ponds (TP) as their primary production system. LMB producers using TP face challenges such as low survival, slow growth, poor food conversion ratio (FCR), bird depredation, water quality problems, and disease. The culture of LMB in split-pond systems (SPS) has potential to improve many of the inefficiencies documented by commercial LMB producers using traditional earthen pond systems. An on-farm experiment was conducted at American Sport Fish in Montgomery, Alabama. A total of eight ponds were used in the study, including (mean ± standard deviation) four TP (1.0 ± 0.0 acre) and four SPS (0.59 ± 0.27 acres). Fish were stocked in July 2023. Fish weights and lengths were obtained at stocking and thereafter monthly until harvest. Pond water samples were collected weekly from study ponds for water quality analysis. Study ponds were harvested in October 2023 when LMB reached stocker size. An enterprise budget was developed from fixed and variable costs to compare production costs of raising LMB fingerlings to stocker sizes using SPS and TP. This study found that there were no significant differences in survival rates (P = 0.279) between LMB raised in SPS and TP; however, differences were observed in fish size distribution at harvest. Research revealed that SPS was more profitable than TP despite the initial investment costs needed to convert TP to SPS.