News Room - News Release

Fish to be Raised on Cranberry Bogs
in Demonstration Project Designed to Bolster Industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 4, 2001

CONTACT: Diane Baedeker Petit
617-626-1752, Diane.Baedeker@state.ma.us

WAREHAM, Mass. -- A new demonstration project to examine the feasibility of raising fish on non-producing cranberry bogs was announced today by state agriculture and aquaculture officials, as part of Governor Jane Swift's regional cabinet day on Cape Cod. If successful, the project will help struggling cranberry growers diversify their operations to weather the current period of low prices due to overproduction.

Massachusetts Commissioner of Food and Agriculture Jonathan L. Healy presented a check for $32,000 to Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association Executive Director Jeffrey LaFleur at the Double M Cranberry Company bog in Wareham where the demonstration project will take place. This partial funding for the project is provided by the state Department of Food and Agriculture's Agricultural Business Training Program, the Southeastern Massachusetts Aquaculture Center, and the Western Massachusetts Center for Sustainable Aquaculture.

"We're working with the cranberry growers association to investigate alternative crops that can be produced in the growing environment and conditions that are associated with cranberry bog systems," explained Commissioner Healy. "We believe that aquaculture continues to have great commercial promise in the Commonwealth as it capitalizes on the skill sets and equipment commonly found in agricultural sectors such as the cranberry industry. Diversification of agricultural operations is one way that we keep farmers farming in Massachusetts and maintain the benefits that are associated with agriculture, such as open space preservation and local sources of high quality farm products."

The current oversupply of cranberries has caused extreme distress in the local industry. Farmgate value per barrel of cranberries has fallen from a record high of $70 in 1996 to $16 in 1999. Prices rebounded slightly in 2000 to $19.90, but remain at a level that barely covers production expenses. Drastic measures are being recommended to protect existing cranberry farms.

"Massachusetts farmers have lead the way in diversifying their operations in order to remain profitable" stated Jeffrey LaFleur Executive Director of Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association "The cranberry industry is no different, we need to investigate viable diversification options for our growers. We see this project as one way for our farmers to use the existing cranberry infrastructure to raise complementary crops."

The aquaculture system to be installed on a bog in Wareham -- known as a partitioned aquaculture system (PAS) - was developed at Clemson University in South Carolina to increase fish production on catfish farm ponds in the southern U.S. Massachusetts aquaculture researchers are examining an adaptation of the PAS to determine its economic and biological feasibility when applied to flooded cranberry bogs.

Several fish species will be evaluated for performance in the pilot project including large mouth bass, yellow perch, brown bullhead, golden shiners, fat head minnows and crayfish.

Construction of the fish culture units will be completed by the end of October 2001; stocking and performance analysis of selected fish species will take place in the Spring and Summer of 2002. The fish will be harvested and marketed next Fall. The project is estimated to cost a total of $56,000.

The Massachusetts cranberry industry is an important contributor to the local economy. With more than 500 growers producing approximately 30 percent of the nation's cranberry supply, cranberries are the number one food crop in Massachusetts. The cranberry industry provides more than 5,500 jobs and more than $200 million to the Massachusetts economy. The multiplier effect into the economy is estimated to be about $1 billion.

In addition to more than 14,000 acres of bog, cranberry farmers own and manage 48,000 acres of upland and wetland support property helping to protect extensive land and water resources in southeastern Massachusetts.