Lao Tzu very wisely once said, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Although I don’t purport to be as wise as Lao Tzu, I would argue that since we now grow more fish than we catch, perhaps a more appropriate version for the future would be, “give someone a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to feed a fish you feed them for a lifetime.”
This updated version not only points to the fact that a person feeding fish properly could theoretically grow their own food and eat for a lifetime. It also points to something very real about feeding fish that some farm managers get and some don’t: it’s the most important job on the farm. Someone who knows how to do this well and prides themselves on doing it should and will always have a job with which they can feed themselves!
This might sound obvious, and honestly, it is. If our business is the growth of fish, and the main input to that fish is feed, and our profits are a direct product of our degree of operational efficiency, then how efficiently we administer the main input is logically the central driver of our profitability.
In order to maximize profits farms need what I call a “feeding culture,” one in which feeding well is taught, encouraged and rewarded and where all tasks revolve around giving people the time and space to do it right.
On paper and in theory, everyone gets this. But, and I’m not alone here in my experience, this doesn’t always translate into a feeding culture.
Let’s be honest – feeding can be boring. It’s monotonous, and unless something unusual is happening, it’s not terribly stimulating. Human brains love novelty, excitement and dopamine. In my own experience, I had to willfully choose to find joy in feeding, and having some music or a podcast going went a long way in keeping the mind occupied during the long periods when the fish were feeding actively.
This lack of excitement means that sometimes people try and avoid the task, and that means it can sometimes get “kicked down” to the newer folks, or the less liked folks, or those that aren’t fit for other tasks for whatever reason. When those associations are made in the farm culture, people who are shunted into that job tend to be disengaged and won’t do a good job. At best, this results in decreased efficiency and lost growth, and at worst results in them literally throwing money away in the form of wasted feed.
An example is a coworker I had. He was 62 and had been there for 20 years. Due to his age, he was left to feed every day. He didn’t like doing it, and it showed. I remember standing next to him while we were hand-feeding a cage and when they were done, he decided he didn’t want to carry half a bucket (about five kilos) back to the hopper and just dumped it into the cage. All those pellets went to the bottom.
I was shocked. How could he not care? As I’ve grown older and have had experience managing people, his actions, though wrong, make sense to me. He’s been pushed into feeding for years because it’s an “easy” job. No one took him and his work seriously, and he felt unvalued. He had become totally disengaged with the success of the farm.
Farms who have achieved a feeding culture (and there are many who have) understand that feeding is a mission-critical task that should be entrusted to those folks that enjoy or can be satisfied doing the work and will do a good job. These people are absolute legends, and they should be held in very high regard on any farming operation. These people are the ones that really drive profitability.
If you feel like your operation does not have a feeding culture, consider these tips:
Start people on other tasks: feeding is mission critical – you need people in there that you know you can trust, who do the right thing even if it’s not easy, and who don’t stop until the job is done right. Managers should be working closely with new staff to size them up and understand which kind of job they would be best suited for. If that person strikes you as a good feeder, speak to them honestly about what day-to-day feeding work looks like and the incredible importance of this job. See if there is buy-in before entrusting them.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: So, you’ve found your rockstar feeders – good on you! Should you stop when you have the bare minimum needed? No. What if one of them gets sick, or quits? Anyone who can be trusted to do the job well should be trained and ready to do it. I suggest having a predictable rotation schedule to keep everyone’s skills sharpened, and to avoid monotony which, for many, is the enemy of engagement.
Be flexible: This is just good advice for just about any area of farm operations. Listen to the feeders, listen to what they ask for, and do your best to be accommodating. The real trick for building a feeding culture is creating buy-in from your feeders. If you can give them what they ask for, do it. And if you can’t, then give them the honest answers why and work with them to figure something else out.
Give feeding the time and space it deserves: This is particularly important for smaller operations where staff may do several different tasks in a day. Don’t rush the feeders – if the fish are eating, let them keep eating. If the feeders are taking their time to ensure the fish have achieved satiation, let them. Give them the benefit of the doubt – when they’re taking longer than you expected, trust that there is a good reason. If you can’t trust them, they shouldn’t be a feeder. Good feeding should also happen several times a day and this takes time.
Motivate them: At one salmon farm I worked at, we had a great feeding culture. We were trying new tech, we were given the time and space to do our jobs well, and feeding was prioritized. However, we found ourselves in a position where we really needed to see one population hit market size on a tight timeline to meet customer demand. It was doable, but would require extra effort.
The managing director offered, “if they get to X kilos by this date, I’ll send you all on a fishing trip.” It was a great motivator to take the extra time to top them up at every opportunity, and to get out on rough days and feed them. Motivation doesn’t always have to come in the form of money, and if you know your staff, you’ll know what makes them tick.
Respect the nuances of feeding: It’s so important to start off slow, to entice the fish into eating. Once they ramp up, increase the rate until you see one or two pellets (not a whole bunch) near the camera (not pass the camera), then back off the rate and feed there until you once again see a pellet near the camera. Then, stop for a moment. Then, start the process again, but more cautiously.
Every pellet that enters a fish’s mouth increases your efficiency and every pellet that sinks past the camera decreases it. It can be hard to create that sense of urgency in feeders when they see thousands of tons moving through your farm but do what you can to drive home the point that every pellet counts.
As well, offering the fish a bit more in every feeding session after you do your first stop allows the smaller, slower fish an opportunity to eat, which helps close the size spread in your population which increases yields at harvest.
The real nuance lies in observation, though. What I describe above is a good approach, but rarely do two days look alike, so it’s important for feeders to pay very close attention to how the fish are eating and adjust accordingly.
Happy feeding, everyone.
Ben Normand a fish farmer, writer, college instructor, and cheerleader for aquaculture. He has worked with various fin and shellfish species in New Zealand and Canada in production management, compliance, and communications. (ben.r.normand@gmail.com)
