Newfoundland - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

OECKS AWASH - 61
trout
Aquaculture, a promisingindustry?
A
bout seven yea rs ago . the
Upper Trinity South Development
Association constructed
a trout farm at Hopeall . It 's
the only one in Newfoundland.
The Association has been at ­
tempting to lease the farm to private
enterprise. We spoke to the
present operator. Leon ard
Lahey.
" This farm has two separate
stocks," says Leonard. "Your
brood stock and your Iry that you
feed.up and sell . This brood stock
was brought in from Ontario as
fingerlings. but it takes two or
three years to get brood stock up
to size. By then they are four or
five pounds.
"The harvest is a two-year cycle.
We inseminate our own eggs
using two or more males for each
female to make sure they are fer ­
tilized. The problem is to make
sure the female has come to
peak. If you are a little early or
late your yield drops off.
"Once the fry have grown to
fingerlings (average 6 in.), we
put them in large cages (20 x 20
x 12 It.) and transfer them to
Scotch Pond at Green Harbour.
The water there is brackish,
slightly salty, which is supposed
to help the trout's growth. But the
move is also stressful and quite
a few have died . I'm hoping to
change that. By the time they are
two years old they average a
pound and a quarter. Then we sell
them. You may have seen trout
being sold by the waterfront inSt.
John's . They are from thi s
farm."
Leonard shows us around the
farm , mostly a series of large
buildings containing concrete
raceways fiIJed with rushing
water, trout , and large tanks containing
fry.
"You have to have a good supply
of water. We have the river
dammed up and a couple of
6-inch pipes bringing in water.
:TROUT
Leonard Lahey
FARM:
Chlorinated water near citie s
would beno good, but most Newfoundland
water is OK. Temperature
is important and ideall y it
should be around 15° C. for rainbow
trout. If it goes above ia-C.
for extended periods you are in
trouble because it diminishes the
effective oxygen level. "
This particular fish hatchery is
large. Leonard does not think it
is necessarily a model to copy, especially
not for a small family
operation which is how most
Rambow Trout
Canadian and Norwegian trout
farms operate.
..A lot of the operation can be
built using fairly ordinary building
techniques . The raceways are
concrete, but some people put in
plastic liners to save wear and
tear on the fish fins. In a family
operation, it might be better to
buy fish from hatchery when they
are 5 or 6 inches long and not
bother with a brood stock.
"It's also a question of scale.
You either have to be large, get
a couple or hundred thousand
pounds of finished product a
year, or aim at something much
smaller. I'm looking for
50,000-60,000 pounds a year.
Providing I can keep my costs in
line, I should do all right. Fish
food is one of the biggest expenses.
We use fresh male caplin,
caplin meal with flour as a
binder, and vitamin and mineral
additives. It costs approximately
GO¢: a pound and it takes three
pounds to produce a pound of
product. Last year trout sold for
$2.50lb. small, $2.70medium, and
$2.90 large."
Leonard, 43, is from St. John's
although his father was from
South Dildo. He and his wife Linda
moved back in 1970. Linda
does the bookkeeping and also
operates the fann's fish-outpond.
Fishermen pay $2 to fish at the
pond for two hours or six troutwhichever
comes first - and
they pay $2.50a lb. for what they
catch.
Havtng the only trout farm in
Newfoundland (although another
is being built at Bay d'Espoir,
mainly for salmon) makes
Leonard something of a pioneer.
Fortunately he has done a fair
amount of background research
and has a number of fresh ideas.
Perhaps aquaculture, as it is
called , will become an important
industry in the future.