West Virginia company starts eco-trout production
USA: West Virginia Salmon and Trout officially opened its production facility with 28,000 rainbow trout last week. Many thousand more trout and salmon juveniles, currently reared at the company's nearby hatchery in Mingo County West Virginia, will be moved to this production site in coming weeks.
The company was established in January, 2008, when Blue Ridge Aquaculture acquired a majority ownership position in West Virginia Aqua, the parent company of Isis Char. West Virginia Salmon and Trout has facilities in Mingo County and Logan County of West Virginia that use recirculation aquaculture techniques. West Virginia Salmon and Trout is using clean, clear water that is found deep underneath the West Virginia Mountains.
In a press release after the opening, the company's president, William R. Martin, said that "our trout and salmon are among the first in the world that are being produced using sustainable aquaculture practices. While other trout and salmon consume high levels of fish oil and fish meal, our trout are fed a balanced plant-based diet that is the "granola" of fish feed."
Fish nutritionist, Dr. Steven Craig, has spearheaded the commercial application of this new diet for West Virginia Salmon and Trout. Representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agricultural Research Service have played a large role in developing the new plant-based diet, ensuring that it satisfies all of the trout's normal nutritional requirements and is also economical.
