Catfish Industry Dries Out After Bad Floods : Mississippi: The nation’s top producing state provided 360 million pounds of the Southern delicacy in 1990.

Joey Long was practically born in a catfish pond, and for as far back as he can remember, the industry’s hard times have been his own.

“My granddaddy got my father started in this business,” said Long, 24. “But my dad got bit by a cottonmouth, his tractor blew up on him, and the landing gear on his crop-duster fell off while he was flying. After all that, I guess he figured it was a good time to get out.”

In April, this persistence, typical in the self-proclaimed “Catfish Capital of the World,” was put to the test. Torrential rains caused record flooding in the Mississippi Delta, overflowing hundreds of acres of catfish ponds.

Enough rain fell in Mississippi that month to submerge the entire state of Rhode Island in 6.25 feet of water, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Seven percent of Mississippi land was under water.

Preliminary reports painted a picture of devastation for the state’s 300 catfish farmers and its $373-million industry: 10% of the state’s catfish ponds--about 10,000 acres--flooded; economic losses in excess of $34 million; recovery expected to take years.

It turns out that the estimates may have been wildly inflated. Fred Cooke, a state agricultural economist, said only about a fourth of the ponds originally feared flooded actually were inundated. Cooke said the original damage estimates were high because officials could not inspect many of the properties due to the flooding.

“It’s safe to say that 10% of the ponds were affected, but as to how many ponds were knocked out of production, that number was much lower,” said Keith Hill, vice president of Belzoni-based Reed Enterprises Inc., where Long is employed.

Reed, one of the state’s largest catfish farms with 1,870 acres, was one of the unlucky ones. Nearly 50 of its ponds were contaminated by an outside water source.

Not only did large numbers of the prized catfish escape onto the waiting hooks of poachers and ordinary fishermen, other species of fish managed to get into the ponds and compete with the catfish for food and oxygen.

Last year, Mississippi, the nation’s top catfish producer, provided 360 million pounds of fish. It is the state’s fourth-largest industry, employing about 7,000 people.

The work of building the ponds back up is arduous and sometimes dangerous.

Long and his six-man crew haul a huge net across 20-acre ponds, pulling out up to 50,000 pounds of catfish at a pass and then eventually killing the other species of fish.

Long recently had to jump into a five-foot-deep pond to adjust the net. A catfish whipped him with its tail and Long ended up having to get $600 worth of stitches on his leg.

“I’ve gone through about 10 men so far who were looking for a job,” he says. “We worked 14-hour days during the flood and they didn’t last too long.”

Analysts say it probably won’t be until November before the full effect of the spring storms on the industry is known. Catfish have an 18-month growing period and the real concern is over whether the fall crop will be reduced because of lack of feeding during the flooding.

Also, the catfish industry is now in a slump. Farmers are getting 63 cents a pound for their fish, a 2- to 7-cent drop over past years. The problem: Too many processors have created a glut of fish on the market.

But the industry has survived hard times before, and as sure as the Delta will flood again, catfish will be here to stay, analysts said.

“This is a pioneer industry,” said Bill Allen, president of the Catfish Institute of Belzoni. “These people have a tough attitude, just like the pioneers did.”