SEA FARMING OF TROUT

[Anchor Lead]

Trout are migratory fish that live in both seawater and freshwater. But trout farming mostly took place in freshwater because fish farmers did not know how to adapt them to seawater. But a trout farm in Cheonsuman Bay in the West Sea succeeded in farming trout in the sea and started shipping them to the market.

[Pkg]

Spring has arrived in Cheonsuman Bay. Rainbow trout are hauled up from a fish farm set up in the middle of the sea. The fish measures about 50 centimeters long and weighs around two kilograms. The trout raised on a freshwater farm on land for nine months were transported to this sea farm in January. Now after roughly three months the fish are being shipped out. Trout farming in the sea first succeeded back in 2014. Adjustment to seawater used to take a month at first, but now it’s been shortened to just ten days and the fish’s mortality rate has also been reduced dramatically. As a result, 20,000 trout will be shipped out to the market by next month.

[Soundbite] Yun Gyeong-cheol(Trout Sea-farming Developer) : "We made many mistakes every year. More than 60% of the fish died in the first year, but now that figure has fallen to 0.5%."

The migratory trout grows more than twice as fast in the sea than in freshwater. Also, sea-grown trout do not have the earthy smell typical of farm-raised freshwater fish, so are welcomed by fishermen and consumers.

[Soundbite] Jeong Sang-wun(Fishing Village Chief, Hongseong-gun County) : "The trout flesh is firm and mild in flavor. Since these trout used to live in freshwater, they don’t have vibrio bacteria found in seawater fish."

Hongseong-gun County, which hosted the first online sea trout festival this year, plans to increase trout sea-farming and build facilities capable of raising the coldwater fish on land with seawater.