According to association secretary Alec Miller the organization wasn’t given the option of renewing its £1,800-a-year lease ($2,864 USD) on premises at Kergord, a hatchery they’ve rented for four years. To complicate matters further, the hatchery (allegedly) has been “rendered inoperable.”
With only a week or two to go before the Angler’s captive sea trout broodstock – held in nearby Loch of Brouster – were to be stripped, Miller was relieved that there was a possibility of an arrangement with a commercial hatchery in the islands. This would take care of the situation for this year.
The association expects it will have to pay a commercial hatchery to hatch the eggs during the 2013-2014 season, and that for biosecurity reasons the hatchery owner-operators will likely want to do all the handling of the eggs until the parr are ready to be stocked out.
Miller concedes that this will give the association a year to sort out a solution for the future. It’s even thinking of seeking permission to put in a new hatchery of its own, to supply sea trout for the anglers into the future.
– Quentin Dodd
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