Economic Analysis of Sturgeon Farming and Caviar Production: A Case Study of an Italian Fish Farm

Abstract

Sturgeon farming poses an interesting decision: give priority to highly prized caviar or meat. Indeed, sturgeons are mainly reared in aquaculture to produce caviar. However, the economic profitability of a sturgeon farm also depends on the existence of a meat market. Meat is still an important product for sturgeon farmers once the stock of caviar-producing females has been established. This paper takes a case study approach and analyses how an Italian producer addresses the trade-off, adopting a methodology that measures the value of the economic productivity of production inputs, e.g., the measure of the profitability of the inputs, and compares them with the costs of the inputs and the prices of the outputs. This analysis is the first attempt, to our knowledge, to adopt an economic analysis to address this choice problem, based on a very representative case study. This helps monitor whether the farm’s production choices are economically efficient and effective and whether and how those can be improved. The results show that the farm maximizes profit but does not reach its optimal production level. This implies that both (1) producing more output and (2) a further switch to caviar production for less meat are economically efficient production strategies.