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An Energy Budget for a Rainbow Trout Farm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Tony J. Pitcher
Tony J. Pitcher
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, New University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland.
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Extract

An industrial energy-budget for a Rainbow Trout farm shows that 93% of the energy costs of production are incurred in feeding the fish, seven-tenths of which is due to fishnieal incorporated in the food pellets. Only one-tenth of the input energy is converted into fish, but the energy subsidy of the farming operation compares favourably with conventional fishing and is 423 input megajoules per kg of output fish protein (55 MJ per kg wet-weight of fish landed). However, if the Trout could be fed on a diet composed of suitable vegetable protein, this performance would be improved to an overall conversion efficiency of one-third, and a subsidy of about 160 MJ per kg. A smaller but similar improvement could result if the Peruvian anchovy fishery regained its former production level.

As these improved energy-costs are comparable with those of crops of potatoes, and with those of bread and milk production, a 2-men Rainbow Trout farm yielding 25 tonnes per year on one hectare would become an attractive protein-producing enterprise in localities where the necessary water-supply is available.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , Spring 1977 , pp. 59 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1977

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