LITHUANIA
FishNet produces large trout for Lithuanian consumers
Processing facility to open soon The production of farmed trout has increased to become the second largest (following carp) in Lithuania. It is produced in raceways as well as increasingly in recirculation systems, which have the advantage of using relatively little water, and equally important, having little or no impact on the environment.
A
t FishNet, one of the largest producers of rainbow trout using recirculation systems in Lithuania, the fish are grown indoors in large basins and moved into external tanks when they reach between 250 and 450 g. The precise size depends on the buyers, who may prefer bigger or smaller fish within that range. Ultimately, the company will produce fish of 1.5 to 2 kg, though currently, in its first year of production, the largest individuals are 800 g. Most of the buyers are processors who will use the fish as raw material for gutting, filleting, or freezing operations. But FishNet has its own plans for processing, says Ricardas Stuglys, the director, pointing to a construction site a few meters away. This is where a processing facility will be established in autumn, where the company will be gutting and filleting some of the production.
Plans for a three-fold increase in capacity Currently the main market is in Lithuania, but this year the company exhibited at Seafood Expo Global, where they made contact, among others, with processors from Poland and Germany, who represent potential new markets. The company plans to triple its existing production of about 200 tonnes a year. To do this, two more production units will be built taking the total production to over 600 tonnes a year and making FishNet easily 38
the biggest producer of trout in Lithuania, where total production is currently around 500 tonnes annually. The facility today is for on-growing says Egidijus Leliuna, who is responsible for production. The company buys juveniles from Denmark at 20-30 g in size and introduces them into the system. The current batch that has now reached about 800 g is based on juveniles that were introduced into the system in August 2018. The aim is the fish should grow from 20-30 g to 1.5 kg in about 12 months. This may of course vary depending on the temperature of the water. The optimal temperature is 16 degrees C, but in winter the temperature tends to be lower which reduces the rate of growth. The farm uses ground water which usually comes in at a constant temperature of 8 degrees C. As it is used in the production the water gets a little warmer reaching some 13 degrees. Even when the temperature outside is minus 10 degrees the water temperature in the production is never less than 10 degrees, says Mr Leliuna.
The tanks outside are used for the storage of ďŹ sh that is ready for the market. Once the system is fully up and running ďŹ sh for sale will be between 1.5 and 2 kg.
Fine tuning the system will increase the degree of recirculation The water is not free. At the end of each year the company reports how much water has been used and has to pay for its consumption. Most recirculation systems use some degree of fresh water. At FishNet the degree of recirculation is 60, that is, of the entire volume of water in the system about 40 fresh water is added every 24 hours, making it a semi-intensive recirculation
Ricardas Stuglys, the director of FishNet
system rather than an intensive one. The farm is brand new and hence some fine tuning remains to be done, but once everything is running smoothly the aim is to increase the degree of recirculation. Mr Stuglys adds that the tax on the water is not entirely fair because pond fish farmers who use surface water pay 100 times less for the water they use. This has consequences for the competitiveness of recirculation system-produced fish and so forces producers of this fish to increase the degree of recirculation.
Egidijus Leliuna is responsible for the ďŹ sh production
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