Catfish Shipping
American Pride Seafoods ships product with its own fleet. All catfish product will leave the facility and deliver directly to your distribution center.

Catfish Processing
Processing starts upon arrival of truck full of live fish, and fish are loaded unto the processing line. Fish are separated by size and then directed to their proper places for processing. The catfish then are cleaned, processed and packaged for shipping in various sizes and cuts for all markets.

Catfish Harvest
To begin harvest the pond's fish are tested for quality and flavor, and once the fish pass, the pond is seined with nets. Mature fish are harvested and loaded unto trucks equipped with 4 oxygenated tanks to keep fish alive upon arrival at plant for processing.

Catfish Fingerlings & Ponds
The sac fry become "fingerlings" and when they reach 4-7 inches they are ready to be transferred to farm ponds or "grow-out" ponds. These ponds will take 5,000 to 10,000 fingerlings per surface acre. In 18-24 months, or when the fish reach at least 1.5 pounds, the fish are ready for harvest.

Catfish Hatchery & Eggs
U.S. Farmed-Raised Catfish begins with eggs from brood catfish that produce an average of 12 years and lay 3,000 to 4,000 eggs annually per pound of body weight. Eggs are collected and taken to hatcheries and will hatch after 7 days and turn in to "sac fry," appropriately named due to the attached yolk sacs that supply their food.