Economic feasibility of clown fish, Amphiprion ocellaris, in recirculation system

Abstract

Little known in Brazil, the marine ornamental fish production has characteristics for generating employment and income for small entrepreneurs. This study analyzes the economic viability of the clown fish, Amphiprion ocellaris, in a recirculating water system at Florianópolis, Brazil. For evaluate the cost of production, the effective operational cost (EOC), total operational cost (TOC) and the total cost of production (TCP) were considered. The indexes for the evaluation of the profitability were the internal return rate (IRR) and the pay-back. The labor represents the major operational cost, about 40%. The internal return rate (IRR) was 37.15 and 58.23% and pay-back 25 and 33 months, respectively for the two market prices of R$ 25.00 and R$ 30.00. The small-scale production in recirculation system is economically viable, with attractive profitability indicators when compared to other aquaculture ventures.