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- BUSINESS, Page 49Business NotesAQUACULTURECatfish Hunters
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- A predator haunts the Mississippi Delta, restlessly scanning
- the flooded soils in search of its next meal. Black, hooknosed and
- web-footed, the hunter can dive as deep as 75 ft. under water and
- consume a pound of fish a day. The bird is known as the
- double-crested cormorant, but people in the delta are calling it
- the catfish poacher.
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- In these parts, where catfish farming has become an important
- business, growers processed 295 million lbs. of the fish last year,
- up from 47 million lbs. in 1980. But in Mississippi, which produces
- 90% of all U.S. catfish, some 100,000 migratory cormorants are
- biting into the profits by feasting on as much as $6 million worth
- of catfish a year. Because the birds are largely protected by the
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act, catfish farmers have resorted to
- elaborate tactics to scare the birds away: screaming fireworks,
- propane cannons that boom every 15 to 20 minutes, amplified
- recordings of bird distress calls and even harassment by
- helicopter.