Organic Farmed Sea Trout
Part of our Fish For Tomorrow range
N.B. Available seasonally - March to September
Produced in Shetland, sea trout is the sea-going form of the freshwater brown trout salmo trutta L. These trout, like Atlantic Salmon, hatch from eggs deposited in fresh water. It is prized by gourmets for its exceptionally delicate flavour and should not be confused with the sea-grown rainbow trout.
"Your trout was so wonderful that a repeat order is essential. Everyone wanted to know about them - their taste was superb - !"
E-mail from mail order customer - July 2006
The Stages of Wild Sea trout Development
Throughout its life the Sea Trout passed through several distinct stages of development, during which it is known by different names.
The Avelin
After about three months, the eggs hatch into avelins which have a yolk sac as a store of food which can last for about a month.
The Fry
When the yolk sac is exhausted, the fish, now known as a fry, begins to search for food.
The Parr
Later, it is known as a parr and in the wild it lives on a diet of small insects, nymphs, caddis fly larvae, etc. until after about three years it begins to become more silvery than a brown trout.
The Smolt
Now known as a smolt, it develops changes to the gills to enable it to cope with salt water. In early summer it migrates to sea where it feeds voraciously putting on weight in direct relationship to the amount of food available. Sometimes at the end of that summer, on reaching a size of about 1lb. or more, it will return to fresh water.
The Finnoch or Herling
These are Scottish terms to describe the young sea-bourne fish, where it may remain for perhaps three or four years, before returning to the river for the first time.
The Farming of Sea Trout
As with all Graig Farm's fish range, the emphasis is on offering the consumer a sustainably produced fish which has been produced using minimal inputs and with minimal environmental impact. In the pioneering sustainably farmed fishing system developed by Johnson's Seafarms, the smolts come from a local Shetland hatchery from its own brood stock and are transferred to the dedicated sea-site in an excellent location to the North West of Shetland.
The harvested sea trout are processed and packed at a small modern unit in Lerwick, the Shetland capital. From here boxed fish are shipped to Graig Farm. The closely monitored production methods mean there is full traceability of all produce.
Organic Farming of Sea Trout
The fish are farmed organically. The organic requirements for sea trout are similar to those of organic salmon. The four main criteria are :
Feed
The feed must be from a sustainable source, which includes any fish meal, which must be produced from waste materials from fish factories.
Space
The minimum amount of space available to each fish is significantly larger than those normally given to farmed fish. This reduces stress on the fish and results in low disease incidence.
Medicines
Routine medicines are often applied in the intensive fish farming industry. This is not allowed under organic regulations, as with organic mammal farming. Management methods aimed at reducing stress and disease incidence are used to avoid the need for prophylactic medicines.
Animal Welfare
Strict animal welfare rules are applied to the production and handling of the fish.
N.B. These fish are farmed to standards set by the Organic Food Federation. As a result, in order to achieve the colour, a naturally occuring yeast is included in the diet. In our organic salmon, which use Soil Association standards, shells of prawns and other crustatia are used. Whilst we normally adhere to the Soil Association standards in our products, as there is no Sea Tout produced to the Soil Association standards. we consider that the use of yeast as a colourant is not sufficiently serious to not stock the fish, and leave it to our customers to decide.
Our Range
 | Whole Fish Gutted, whole fish around 1.2 kg |
 | Whole Side Filleted and around 900g |
 | Fillet Steak Around 150g
|
This unique product is part of the Graig Farm range of sustainably produced Fish For Tomorrow.
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