Sockeye salmon doing well

Press, 29 August 1986, Page 12

Sockeye salmon doing well

The owners of a small salmon farm in the upper reaches of the Rakaia River are very excited about their early success in farming sockeye salmon in ponds.

Alastair and Prue Ensor, of Glenariffe station, have grown sockeye salmon up to 3kg in size with the fish still not becoming sexually mature.

The Ensors had expected the sockeye to mature and become unsuitable for harvest after they reached 500 grams to 1 kilogram in size, but salmon kept aside as brood stock have kept on growing.

“We don’t know what size these fish will grow to or what percentage of our production will fit into this category,” said Mr Ensor. “We don’t even know if we can repeat the

process.” If the fish can be successfully farmed to sizes of about 3kg, the Ensors will be able to produce pond-raised salmon big enough to be marketed in forms such as cuts and slices. At present, the output from ponds is mostly pan-size fish of 300-500 grams.

There is no established market for salmon between pan-size and about 2kg.

Because commercial pond-raising of salmon in New Zealand is a relatively new industry there is no detailed information available on proper management techniques. The Ensors say they are learning as they go and there are still a lot of unknowns.

The Glenariffe farm produced about one tonne of mostly pan-size salmon

last season, used largely in the restaurant trade. The Ensors were among the first people to be granted a licence to pondraise salmon almost three years ago. They now have about 10,000 salmon in various stages of growth in seven concrete water tanks (each of seven cubic metres) which are gravity-fed from a stream. The Ensors chose to farm sockeye salmon instead of the more common quinnat because they felt sockeye had the best

potential to suit their particular, managed freshwater system. Alastair Ensor considers both sockeye and quinnat salmon will both have their place in the development of the salmon industry. So far he is very pleased with the progress of the sockeye. The Ensors’ farm is in the same district as the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Glenariffe salmon research station on the banks of the Rakaia River.