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ACROSS THE DITCH Market choices and the MARKET CHOOSES BY JOHN MOSIG H ow's it going over there Kiwi? Days getting a bit warmer yet? Us too, but only just. It's been a long winter, eh? I was asked to comment on the Australian aquaculture industry for one of the ABC's business programs. 'Is over regulation holding back the development of the industry', was the theme. That sort of thing. One question was, if the industry were released from some of its regulatory constraint, would we see more high value product, or would it open the way for greater variety? The question got me thinking a bit. First of all you have to wonder where they get the idea that we only farm high value fi sh. It must be that here in Oz so many of us were exiled for poaching the King's salmon(!) It may have seemed a high price to pay at the time and the impression stuck. It actually turned out to be a smart career move for many of the poachers, as some of their descendents are now working in one of the world's premier salmon farming industries. The truth of the matter is that apart from abalone and some of the native fi sh species sold live through the capital city wet markets, the bulk of our aquaculture produce is not so much high value, as value for money. Check out the price of a cut of lean meat when you're next down the high street. That's right, it's not cheap is it? We can fi nd boneless skin-on salmon cuts for $22.95 at the Salmon Shop – even $28.95 at the upmarket fi shmonger isn't entirely that dear. I guess if you're used to buying chicken portions around that $10 mark it looks dear, but you have to weigh up what sort of nutritional value you're getting. The second part of the answer refl ects the public perception of the economics of food production. For openers, new varieties are going to be dearer for two reasons. Firstly, the recovery of the R&D that has gone into the development of the new species, and secondly, because of the variety factor, they're going to be highly sought after. Once everyone jumps on the bandwagon and production increases, the price comes down. The basic rule of supply and demand, eh? And if the cost of production can't withstand the increase, the market pressure says its good night nurse for those investors who have sunk their hardearned into the new horizon venture. Funny thing about supply and demand, it's related to price. If the price is high, producers want to grow it. If the price is low, consumers want to buy it. When you were a kid, presuming you're of the age you can recall leaving your keys in the car and the back door unlocked, if you smelt chicken cooking you knew your grandparents were coming for Sunday dinner. Now it's a basic ingredient in junk food. And pardon me if I voice suspicion that based on nutritional value, that's probably where the modern chicken belongs. In the 1940's it took two months to produce a kilo of live weight poultry. By the 21st Century that was down to 17 days. It took 4.7kg of food to produce a kilo of White Orpington in the 1940s. Now it takes 1.7kg to produce a kilo of goodness knows what. That's why that roast bird with dad carving at the head of the table has become a pile of herbs and spices in batter eaten out of a cardboard carton while huddled around the telly watching Sixty Minutes. But getting back to the economics, if you can't produce fi sh economically, you're not going to produce it at all. You'll be pushing up seagrass in the aquaculture graveyard. That's why variety is something best left to the wild fi shery. Sure, don't let that keep us away from experimenting. By all means use the money saved on quantities of scale production from more science-based expansion, but do it with economic outcomes in mind. Farmers have to be able to deliver a product at a set price, week in, week out. That's their market niche if you like. That's why they have to grow fi sh that can be farmed economically, which is why variety and aquaculture don't necessarily go together. Back in our hunter-gatherer days we had variety. We ate seasonal foods and we ate what we could get. Now we farm. We eat what we can best grow. That means less variety and a concentration on super fi sh. So what are the super fi sh? King Salmon 12 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 Salmonoids: salmon and trout, are one group. Barramundi is a super fi sh. Pacifi c oysters are in there too. Mussels, both green and blue, can be grown economically just about anywhere. In the tropics and sub-tropics prawns make up a huge proportion of the seafood diet. Catfi sh are grown in the Mekong and Mississippi Deltas in huge numbers. We have the Mekong variety, basa, thawed for our convenience on a daily basis at the supermarket chains. I guess you do too. Tilapia is not my favourite table fi sh, but the Yanks love it and it's easy to produce – as far as any fi sh is easy to produce. And it can be grown cheaply. I'm not sure the interviewer was quite expecting that sort of answer. But that's the truth of it.