ITALY
Multiplying proďŹ ts with ďŹ ngerlings
Rainbow trout on the border with Switzerland Fattoria del Pesce s r.l. is a consortium of farmers practicing land-based aquaculture in the heart of the Ticino valley, in businesses dating back to the late 1950s and founded by some of the pioneers of Italian trout aquaculture.
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ccording to Maurizio Grispan, Director of Fattoria del Pesce, “Mostly, we are occupied with intensive farming of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). We also farm and process other salmonids and cyprinids, such as brown trout (Salmo trutta), brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), and common carp (Cyprinus carpio)�.
The group specialises in farming a specific phenotypical strain of rainbow trout that is highly resistant to disease and grows faster, two very desirable characteristics. The company, which has farming sites and an onsite processing factory, uses a system of long pools (called raceways) with a continuous flow of water from native wells and springs. The farms follow environmental parameters that allow the animals to grow according to nature, says Mr Grispan. Procedures are checked constantly, especially the temperature and the amount of dissolved oxygen, important factors in the life and growth of fish, and these tests are supervised by the National Veterinary Service.
Dual sources of water The area has many sources of water, both from the ground and the river. The spring water is pristine. It allows the fish to breed with high organoleptic and nutritional qualities. The consumer gets plenty of phosphorus and omega-3 fatty acids. And www.eurofishmagazine.com
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the water from the mountains is very cold, which is good for the fish. The ideal water temperature is in the range of 12 to 14 °C. When it is outside this range, the food intake and conversion rates are less than optimal. The spring water in the area remains a steady 14 °C, an optimal temperature for the hatchery. The company recently received certification by Friend of the Sea, after the production and processing plant areas were audited. Some control and maintenance procedures were reorganised in response to the audit. The results showed that the company’s impact on the environment was extremely low. Predatory birds are a considerable problem in such a large area, and changes were made to come into compliance with the Friend of the Sea’s requirements to minimise the risk of entrapment. The problems are with herons and cormorants. The farm is located in a nature park, and a lot of the bird species are protected. The problem is to guard the fish while respecting the lives of protected birds, so a system of nets was established to protect the fish from the birds, however some birds have found out how to enter the nets. To counter this the fish farm has a specific plant surveillance program, whereby an operator checks the nets every 4 hours to minimise the risk of intrusion and to prevent the death of birds trapped in the nets.
The trout market in Italy and abroad In Italy, trout developed strongly during the 1990s, finally reaching a peak of about 60,000 tonnes. Today, production is stable at 40,000. Approximately 20–30% is exported, and 25% is sold to stock angling venues. Only 50–60% of the national production goes to Italian markets. Relative to the approximately 21 kg of fish consumed by every Italian annually, the percentage of trout consumed is low. Sales are holding steady, says Mr Grispan, who does not see any dramatic developments in the near future. The company is trying to bring new products to market, but Switzerland is more receptive to these than Italy. Mr Grispan needs to keep an eye on future developments in the market, because competition in the area of fillets is fierce. Not trout fillets but other fillets, coming from third countries: snapper and cod among others. There are about 50 to 60 different types of fillets coming into Italy from all over the world. Competition from Norwegian salmon fillets in 2014 has not been strong because the salmon prices have remained steady and haven’t dropped radically. Trout from Turkey or from Poland is normally imported by large customers, such as cruise lines, who buy frozen fillets from Turkey. Mr Grispan says, it is not much but still a causefor
Maurizio Grispan, director of SocietĂ Agricola Fattoria del Pesce s r.l., a trout farming and processing company.
Luca Bianchi Ph.D., manager of food safety at the processing factory.
concern. Also, Spanish production of both pink and white-meat trout can compete on the Italian market, even if Spain recently decreased their trout production by half, compared with five or six years ago.
Hatchery – selling fingerlings Approximately 50% of the 14 million eggs used by the group come from Eurofish Magazine 6 / 2014
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