Shout out for sustainable trout!

31 January 2024

Sustainability is important to the family which is why the fish farm is powered by an on-site hydro-electric scheme developed by Oliver and his father.

Challenge

“We took over the farm from Dad in 2011. We needed to improve cash flow and give my Dad a decent pension income. Being young and progressive, welfare and sustainability were at the top of our list when planning what we wanted to do with the farm.” Oliver and Shara wanted to find new technologies and a company that shared their values. Having previously looked into electric stunning, they knew that an issue generally with this had been the quality of the fish, especially blood spotting. Selcoth Fisheries was specifically looking for a solution that combined efficiency with welfare and sustainability. Getting a considerable biomass of fish to the factory quickly and in a good state for processing is a key requirement.

Solution

Selcoth Fisheries and Ace Aquatec met at Aquaculture UK in 2017. A working partnership was formed and Selcoth Fisheries installed the trout A-HSU®. “We chose the trout stunner because it was an in-line system where fish can stay in the water so there’s very little stress”. Oliver Routledge, Selcoth Fisheries. As soon as the fish enter the stunner, they are rendered unconscious and when they come out of the stunner, they go straight into ice slurry which gets their body temperature down to sub 4 degrees quickly. “You can control the speed of the fish coming through the stunner, which provides you with a much more effective, humane slaughter. From a welfare point of view, that’s huge, but also from a meat quality perspective.” Oliver Routledge, Selcoth Fisheries.

Results and benefits

With the Ace Aquatec in-water electric stunner the concern of blood spotting was removed as the blood spotting in the fish is under 1%. As well as improving the quality of the product, the stunner enabled the business to humanely harvest a considerable biomass of fish in a very efficient, safe and productive way. This means the Selcoth Fisheries were able to get the fish to the factory quickly and in a good state for processing. “Efficiency combined with welfare is ideal.” Shara Routledge, Selcoth Fisheries Fresh water fish farming is a sustainable form of protein production. Selcoth Fisheries get food conversion ratios averaging 1:1 which compared to other farmed protein is exceptional. Continuing with the sustainability focus, Oliver and Shara have planted 180,000 trees over 220 acres in the last two years and planning 70,000 next year, which will take them to a quarter of a million trees planted at Selcoth specifically for biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

“Aiming for 100% sustainability is a no brainer and is the right thing to do when climate change is at the forefront of our minds.” Oliver and Shara Routledge, Selcoth Fisheries.