Desert Farmers Cater to Fish Fanciers’ Taste

Some fishermen would rather raise their own fish than go out and catch up with them. When Fern Ray and her brother, George, decided to specialize in catfishing, they didn’t go to the closest lake, they headed into the desert, to the searing plains outside Niland on the edge of the Salton Sea.

That’s where George, after short stints as a geologist and then as a school teacher, founded Fish Producers. From its modest beginnings in 1968, the company has grown to become the largest supplier of live channel catfish in the Western United States.

The fact that Niland and the surrounding area are often ranked as the hottest place in the nation, or that George’s fish ponds are 60 feet below sea level, simply adds to the uniqueness of Fish Producers’ operation. The question that comes to mind at the sight of catfish ponds nestled close to the sand dunes is, why here?

“We had cheap land, abundant water, and mild winters,” says Fern, who is also the secretary of the California Aquaculture Assn. Another reason is the proximity to the Los Angeles and San Diego markets.

Catfish, the third most popular fresh water fish caught in California, are quite an accommodating species. They prefer the water to remain at a steady 84 degrees but suffer no ill effects when it turns 30 degrees cooler or climbs to spa-like temperatures in the 90s.

Catfish spawn rapidly in captivity, grow rapidly, and, for the most part, are quite resistant to disease. For these reasons and others, George Ray saw fit to dig 500 acres of ponds under the white-hot skies of the California desert, using the Imperial Irrigation District Canal as his water source.

Breeding occurs every spring, when pre-selected fish are set free in recently filled ponds. Each surface acre at Fish Producers is home to 100 female brood fish, and 60 to 65 males.

From spawning containers--in this case, old-fashioned metal milk cans placed in the center of each pond--males retrieve debris to build an environment that will entice a female to reproduce.

For each pound a female weighs, Fish Producers will retrieve about 3,500 eggs to place inside artificial incubators. Eggs hatch in eight to 10 days, and the newly hatched fry remains in the sheltered environment for another two weeks.

The farming cycle begins anew as soon as the fingerlings, which measure anywhere from 1 to 8 inches, are returned to the outside ponds to develop to their ideal market size.

Although the fish average 2 to 16 pounds, some species can grow to 200 pounds, Fern Ray said. Although most of the catfish are shipped live in specially refrigerated trucks for markets throughout Southern California, some of the Rays’ fish are used to restock lakes such as Lake Murray and Lake Hodges.

A similar desert environment suits the Golden Sunshine Striped Bass just fine. Striped Bass may be cold-blooded, but, like their catfish cousins, they thrive in warm water. In this case, Aquatics Systems Inc. located its operations just outside Mecca, near Palm Springs, to take advantage of the natural geothermal energy available locally.

Conditions have been ideal for the company, and Aquatics Systems is busy tripling its original size. “In 1993, it will be one of the largest warm-water-fish intensive culture facilities in North America,” said Jim Carlberg, executive vice president

The operation had its beginnings in North County. Carlberg and his partner, Jack Van Olst, who both did graduate work in science at San Diego State University, built a lab at the Encina Power Plant in the mid-1970s for the culture of lobster, salmon, and striped bass in the warm waters of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon.

“All that research led to commercialization of striped bass in the California desert,” Carlberg said. The company was the first to grow striped bass, and is still the largest producer in the world. It now produces almost a million pounds of fish a year, most of it bound for the national market, although a fair portion is air-shipped to Europe.

“It’s the first time a high-quality striped bass species has been farm-raised on a commercial basis in the United States,” Carlberg said.

Striped bass attains its market size of about 2 pounds in 10 to 12 months.

In addition to shipping whole fish to distributors, by next year Aquatics Systems plans to process fish on site at its plant.

In Asian and European cuisines, the whole fish is often steamed or stuffed. Japanese restaurants also favor the fish for sashimi to supplement tuna.

“Striped bass is a white, flaky, firm-textured, mild-tasting fish,” Carlberg said, noting various culinary prizes awarded his product.

Live striped bass from Aquatics have been used to restock the Irvine lakes, as well as the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin deltas. Closer to home, the farm-raised striped bass from Aquatics Systems have found their way onto the plates of many upscale restaurants in the county.

Fish Producers, P.O. Box 1004, Niland, CA 92257. (619) 359-FISH. Live fish, wholesale only. Weekly deliveries of live catfish to Vyn Dong Market, 6935 Linda Vista Road, San Diego. (619) 292-8181.

Aquatics Systems Inc. (619) 452-5765. Wholesale to distributors only.