CROATIA
Viribus d.o.o. looks forward to EU accession
Lean portion-sized trout for the EU market Freshwater fish production in Croatia consists primarily of carps and trout, with small amounts of other fish such as amur (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and catfish (Siluris glanis). Production includes both the wild catch in freshwater bodies by commercial fishers, as well as farmed fish.
V
iribus d.o.o. is one of the companies in Croatia farming trout, primarily rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), but also small volumes of sea trout (Salmo trutta). The owner Emin Teskeredžicˇ is a veterinarian with many years of experience in the production of farmed fish. Today the production amounts to about 120 tonnes per year of rainbow trout and some ten tonnes of sea trout. The farm has two sites, one is the hatchery located near Zagreb in the northern part of Croatia, while the other is the ongrowing facility in Knin in central Croatia, where the company has access to the water from a spring. Rainbow trout eggs are imported from Troutlodge in America and are certified disease free.
Veterinarian background helps keep disease at bay As a veterinarian Emin Teskeredžicˇ is very familiar with diseases and the damage they can cause if the stock is infected. Consignments of eggs from Troutlodge are imported twice a month and brought to the hatchery to incubate. Over a period of three months as the eggs hatch and the fry grow to a size of 1 or 1.5 g they are monitored carefully to ensure that there is no sign of infection. Although Troutlodge guarantees disease-free eggs we 40
Eurofish Magazine 3 / 2011
Viribus d.o.o. is one of the companies in Croatia farming trout, primarily rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), but also small volumes of sea trout (Salmo trutta).
take every precaution to ensure that the eggs are healthy, says Emin Teskeredžicˇ. Both the hatchery and the farm have stringent requirements regarding hygiene and sanitation to reduce the risk of infection, and so far there have been no incidents. With 42 tanks having dimensions 7 x 1 x 1 m the hatchery is capable of stocking 10m fry, although the current requirement is only for 500,000 rainbow trout fry. The hatchery is also used for the
production of sea trout fry, the eggs for which are not imported, but obtained locally. After three months the fry are transported from the hatchery to the growout tanks in Knin where there are 20 basins of dimensions 10 x 2 x 1 m and 15 of 6.5 x 33 m. The facility draws water from a spring on the river Krka that yields 100 cubic meters a second and has a yearround temperature of 9.5 degrees C plus or minus 0.5 degrees C. This is the perfect temperature for the fish says Mr Teskeredžicˇ and
the water is very clean. A system of cascades ensure that the water is well oxygenated when it comes into the tanks and no additional aerators are required. The fish are grown slowly until they reach a size of 250-400 g when they are harvested.
Round the year production Production at Viribus is planned to try and avoid peaks and troughs, periods when there are www.eurofishmagazine.com