Wednesday, April 25, 2018

26/04/2018: A day at the fish races: A local trout focus

by Vaughn Entwistle, Features Editor, International Aquafeed

Nestled in the Coin Valley in the bucolic vales of the Cotswolds is the village of Bibury. If you have a British passport, you’ll find a reproduction of some of its famous cottages on the inside of the front cover.


Bibury is renowned as “the most beautiful village in England.” It’s also home to Bibury trout farm, one of Britain’s oldest and, arguably, most scenic trout farms. Naturalist Arthur Severn founded the farm and hatchery in 1902 to stock the local rivers and streams with native Brown Trout. Today, the main focus of the trout farm remains the same: 90 percent of the fish they produce go towards restocking rivers and streams, while a mere ten percent is sold for direct consumption.
 


Company outing
We here at Perendale try to ensure that all our employees are knowledgeable and fully invested in the industries we serve. In keeping with this philosophy, the entire office staff recently visited Bibury’s farm and hatchery facility.

So on a brisk, blue-sky day in early March Hatchery Manager, Martin Smith, toured us around the facility. Martin has been with Bibury for five years, but will soon be moving on and handing the position over to the next manager, Robert Waker. Bibury is an open-air trout farm that is also open to visitors, and like the rest of the public, we entered and exited through the gift shop.

GlobalGAP Certification

After a brief tour of some of the uncovered fishponds, Martin had us dip the soles of our shoes in a disinfectant solution before we entered the hatchery facility. He explained that such basic hygiene practices are required as the site of the hatchery is GlobalGAP certified.

GlobalGAP is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognised standard that assures buyers that basic food safety and sustainability practices have been upheld. The GlobalGAP (Good Agricultural Practice) certification is necessary as some of the customers of the hatchery supply fish to supermarkets.

The entire farm complex is not GlobalGAP certified due to the difficulty of upholding the standards in areas where the farm functions as a tourist attraction visited by families with children and babies in strollers. The hatchery is also RSPCA assured, and holds QTUK accreditation.

Read the full article, HERE.

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by
Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news

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