A brown trout farm has been completed in the Falkland Islands for a pilot venture operated by Falklands based fishing company Fortuna.
Fusion Marine supplied two fish farm pens in kit form, with Kames Fish Farming providing a wide range of ancillary equipment, as well as project managing the overall installation.
This small-scale pilot project aims to assess the potential of breeding and growing brown trout in sea pens in the Falklands. If the trial goes well, then it is anticipated that the fish farm will expand further at some stage in the future.
Simon Hardcastle, who is running the project for Fortuna, has set up a small recirculation hatchery utilising eggs sourced from wild-caught fish. He has managed to produce 15,000 high quality brown trout smolts, which have now been transferred to the two Fusion Marine Aquaflex pens located in Fitzroy Sound, south west of Port Stanley.
Peter Richardson of Kames Fish Farming said: “Simon Hardcastle stocked the first consignment of smolts recently and they are doing well. His main challenge will be from predators since there are a lot of sea lions on the island. This is the principal reason behind fitting sinker tubes to the nets as it allows them to be kept very much tighter, thus helping prevent seal damage. There are no other fish farms on the island, so the environment is clear of any fish diseases or parasites, which represents a big advantage.”
