Although Aquaculture Department workers on average make the least amount of money on campus, that does not minimize the economic impact of aquaculture in Louisiana, according to The Daily Reveille’s salary database.

According to the database, workers in the Aquaculture department average $11,319 per year, the lowest of any academic department.

The Aquaculture department, part of the LSU Agricultural Center Fisheries department, works with aquatic species to support commercial aquaculture, including alligators, crawfish and oysters, according to aquaculture professor Greg Lutz.

“We only have five faculty members,” Lutz said. “But aquaculture has contributed $400 million to the state economy.”

The departments who rank immediately above Aquaculture are Plant Pathology at $17,939; Entomology at $18,533; Food Science at $20,274; and the Philosophy degree in Engineering Science at $20,910.

Lutz said the faculty’s specifications vary from physiology, nutrition and genetics to water quality and economics, and they are competitive in generating research funds.

On a day-to-day basis, Lutz said the faculty is broken into one researcher, two on extension appointment and four on teaching appointments.

Lutz said the low number of faculty and the addition of lower-paid support staff are the main factors in the low average income.

Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the full-size visualization.
The figures were taken from the latest documents of the operating budget as of July 1, 2012. The documents were provided by the Hill Memorial Library reserve desk. The figures will show some faculty and administrative members who have left LSU since that date.