Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You choose the higher stocking rate.
You decide to stock the fish farm with almost 8,000 catfish. The financial
numbers look good in the books, so you decide to take a chance. Unfortunately,
the gamble doesn't pay off.
The high stocking rates you've chosen result in heavy loads of wastes and
nutrients entering the pond water. This has led to higher than normal algae
production.
Algae plays an important role in oxygen production and waste disposal in
the pond, but an excess of it can lead to low oxygen rates. In turn, that
can cause problems with the fish, like disease or an off taste.
While your fish were lucky enough to escape disease, you virtually had
to give them away on the market, because the flavor was "off" and tasted musty.
No one but cat food makers would buy this fish.
"It always depends," says Colorado fish farmer Jennie Koolstra.
"If it's a put-and-catch place, you can stock as much as you want, because
people are taking them. If it's a place where you're practicing catch-and-release,
you need to be careful with your stocking rates.
" If it's somebody with a backyard pond who has just developed it and is
not sure about water quality issues, temperature in the summer, aeration,
how the flow is going to decrease in the winter, they need to be careful,
because if they overstock it they're going to kill it."