ABSTRACT
Aquacultural operations begin with a supply of eggs. Some firms may produce eggs, hatch them, and rear the fish to marketable stages. Other companies may specialize in selling eggs as their major product, leaving the growout phase to others. Successful egg production calls for effective management of broodstock. In this context, managers encounter a plethora of decisions ranging from environmental control to nutrition and marketing. The replacement decision must incorporate such income-generating factors as number, size, and quality of eggs obtained from the various ages (sizes) of broodstock and any premium price that may be received from sales of higher quality eggs and dispersal of broodstock to be replaced. The relationship between age (size) of female fish and the number and size of eggs has been well documented.
