by Peter Parker, International Aquafeed Magazine
First published in International Aquafeed's "Fish Farming Technology' supplement, November-December 2015
Bibury trout farm is one of Britain’s oldest and most attractive trout farms, originally founded in 1902 by naturalist Arthur Severn to stock the local rivers and streams with native Brown Trout. The main focus of the trout farm today remains the same, 90 percent of fish go towards restocking and only a mere 10 percent are sold for direct consumption.
Hatchery Manger, Martin Smith provided us with a comprehensive tour of the farm; a very knowledgeable aquaculture practitioner, he is enthusiastic about his role as a fish farmer as well as his many ongoing projects on the farm. There was not a question he could not give us a precise answer to throughout the tour. We all came away feeling privileged to have been shown around the premises and to have been given such an insight into the careful husbandry and precisely measured processes that are undertaken to produce the beautiful rainbow trout of Bibury.
The hatchery
Upon arrival at the hatchery area of the farm Martin instructed us to dip the soles of our shoes in a disinfectant solution. He went on to explain that this is to prevent unwanted pathogens entering the hatchery area and also to separate the hatchery from the farm as the hatchery is GlobalGAP certified.
The GlobalGAP (good agricultural practice) certification is necessary as some of the customers of the hatchery supply to supermarkets. GlobalGAP is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognised standard that assures buyers that basic food safety and sustainability practices have been upheld.
The entire farm complex is not yet GlobalGAP certified due to the difficulty of upholding the standards while the farm functions as a tourist attraction – for example it would be difficult if a tourist showed up in a pair of flip flops! However, they do have plans to have the entire farm certified in the future.
The hatchery complex was made up of three buildings and multiple atmosphere control marquees. Each of these components is necessary to produce eggs, and raise them into triploid females of a size where they can safely be introduced to the farm.
Read the full article in International Aquafeed HERE.
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