Trout, Trout eggs and Salmon

Salmo sp., (Salmon) Salvelinus sp., (Char) Oncorhynchus sp. (Trout) (Salmonidae)

Fast Facts:
Number of Trout Farms that sell trout : 12
Number of Trout Farms that distribute trout for restocking: 84
Value of Production for sold trout: $5,015,000
Value of Production for distributed trout: $7,828,000
Value of Production for Trout Eggs: $7,027,000
Percent of U.S. Production: 6%

Description
of crop:
Fish farming involves the management of all steps in the life cycle of the cultivated fish,
from the production of eggs through the growth and eventual harvest of a high-quality,
mature fish. Fish are most commonly raised in artificial ponds or in cages or pens set into
larger bodies of water, including the ocean. The fish are fed a nutritious diet, sometimes
to excess so they may grow to their maximum size, and are administered medicines to
maintain their health. Additionally, chemicals are frequently applied to their cages to
prevent the fish from being eaten by predators. When the fish are mature, they are
carefully harvested and processed.
The United States needs both wild and farmed seafood products to meet its future
demands for seafood. Demands are growing as more Americans seek the health benefits
of eating seafood. Trout farming is considered the oldest farming industry in the United
States and began as a way to replenish wild stock in streams and lakes. While one third of
the conventional fish catch is used to make fishmeal and fish oil, virtually all farmed fish
are used as human food. One fourth of the fish consumed by humans is the product of
aquaculture.
Fish farming practices may include hatching, seeding or planting, cultivating, feeding
and harvesting. It also includes stock enhancement, which is the release of hatchery
raised fish to restore populations in marine environments. Coho salmon, trout, steelhead
and arctic char are all cultured in Washington.
Trout are raised both as fish and for eggs. They are used for restocking public lakes
and streams, for recreational fishing and as food products sold in supermarkets,
restaurants and other retail outlets. They are purchased as fry and reared to a marketable
size or hatched in onsite tanks from eggs and sperm obtained from brood stock. Trout are
often raised from eggs to fry or fingerlings and then trucked to streams and released.
Normally, the fry are raised in long, shallow concrete tanks, fed with fresh stream water.
The fry receive commercial fish food in pellets.
 In Washington, Atlantic salmon are the most popular farmed fish because of their
fast growth, hardiness and quality. Salmon are raised in ocean based pens and fed a
steady stream of processed foods. The FDA continuously monitors salmon quality during
the production and processing steps. A marine salmon farm is a floating structure of
many individual netpens (cages) that are anchored relatively close to shore. Salmon
farmers control the freshness, size, flesh, color, fat content and market availability for
their products. The saltwater farming begins when farmers take eggs and sperm from
ready to spawn broodstock. Once fertilized, the eggs are stored in trays or boxes that are
fitted with mesh and continually flushed with water as they develop. The time from
fertilization to hatching takes roughly 60 days although the process varies with each
species. When the fry or fingerlings reach the feeding stage they are moved to troughs or
starting tanks. Rearing fry to smolt stage takes four to fifteen months. Once the salmon
reach this stage, the two to three ounce fish are transported to saltwater netpens to begin
their grow-out phase, during which time they are given a commercial diet for nine
months for Coho to two years for Atlantic salmon. The fish are fed 2 percent of their
body weight per day.
For additional information on aquaculture go to:
http://www.snakeriver.org/wscpr/WSCPRBook.cfm and click on the crop you are
looking for. All the crops are alphabetized.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) now operates 91 hatchery
facilities, of which 69 are dedicated to producing salmon and/or steelhead while the other
22 rear trout and other gamefish exclusively. Thirty-five tribal hatcheries and 12 federal
hatcheries also contribute to the statewide salmon harvest.

Key pests:
In trout farming the diseases include bacterial coldwater disease (BCWD), peduncle
disease and whirling disease. BCWD easily spreads from fish to fish through the water.
Sea lice can be a problem in salmon farming. They are small marine parasites that attach
themselves to marine fish such as salmon and can carry diseases between farmed and
wild salmon. The four major disease that affect salmon are: infectious salmon anameia
(ISA), infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN), furunculosis and bacterial kidney
disease.

Key pesticides:
A new vaccine has been produced in Canada for IHN. Often fish can be treated in a
solution with the vaccine in it. IHN is controlled through injecting each fish with the
vaccine at a cost of about 5 cents a fish. This is done with an automated machine.
Vaccines and antibiotics are used in salmon aquaculture to control infections. Vaccines
are given by inoculations and antibiotic treatments are usually done through medicated
baths and medicated feed. By law there are a set number of days between the last use of
an antibiotic and the harvest of fish for human consumption.

Critical pest
control issues:
Salmon farming is often cited for polluting the water with vast amounts of fish excrement
and uneaten feed containing antibiotics and other drugs (used to offset disease due to
 overcrowding in pens). Salmon routinely escape their net pens into the open ocean, where
they can spread disease and interbreed with native species, with unknown consequences.
On the other hand, when done responsibly, fish farming can help ease pressure on wild
fish populations (threatened largely by overfishing) and provide a more sustainable—and
cheaper—source of seafood. Farming fish is more energy-efficient than raising cattle and
other land-based animals.

Expert contacts: Kim Patten

WSU Long Beach
2907 Pioneer Rd.
Long Beach WA.
360 642 2031

Steve Harbell
Marine Resource Agent
Washington Sea Grant
South Bend, WA 98586
360 875 9331

Steven Booth
Pacific Shellfish Institute
Olympia, WA 98501
360 754 2741

Location
of production: Pacific, Jefferson, Pierce, Kittitas, Clark, Grant, Columbia, Cowlitz, Spokane,
Grays Harbor, Whatcom, Skagit, Chelan, Okanogan, Clallam, Snohomish, and King counties.
Salmon farming
hatchery trout