NZ Salmon aided by Chilean trout

Press, 15 June 1989, Page 27

NZ Salmon aided by Chilean trout

Trout are becoming an increasingly important part of the New Zealand Salmon Company’s joint venture in Chile.

Although referred to as salmon trout, the fish is in reality rainbow trout, and the Chilean venture is rearing the trout in freshwater lakes and in sea cages for export, mainly to Japan and North America. Mr Norman Moe, an executive of New Zealand Salmon and a director of Aquacultivos SRL, the Chilean venture at Puerto Montt, said that almost 50 per cent of the venture’s production was now in trout. Salmon still held a price premium over trout on the Japanese market because of the name, but efforts had gone into achieving salmon-like qualities for the trout, he said. In marketing trout in Japan four factors were extremely important: • External skin colour. The Japanese preferred the bright silvery colour. • Internal meat colour. The deep red, characteristic of salmon was important. ® Flavour. • Price. Like salmon, trout was being sent fresh and frozen to the Japanese and North American markets, he said. Trout were easier to rear than salmon. They were less aggressive and

easier to handle. New Zealand Salmon took its 50 per cent holding in Aquacultivos in 1978. The Chilean firm, a private one, was started by Mr Alfronso Muena, now the managing director, in 1972. The Chilean firm specialised in supplying smolt, sea cages, fishmeal and other services to the salmon industry in that country, but the number of employees has increased from 30 to 200 since New Zealand Salmon joined as the venture has branched out into salmon and trout rearing on its own accord. The Chilean venture has an annual turnover of about SNZIO million, and last season exported 750 tonnes of salmon. „ . , New Zealand Salmon’s managing director, Mr Peter Townsend, said that one of the important advantages of the joint venture was the exchange of technology between the two companies. One example he used was that the Chileans had set up programmes to monitor for toxic algae bloom, which occurred for the first time in New Zealand at the salmon farming operations of five companies, including New Zealand Salmon, at Big Glory Bay, Stewart Island, in January.

The Chilean joint venture finished its Christchurch board meeting yesterday. The directors meet three times a year.