The Trip To the Hanover – Durham Hatchery

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We visited the hatchery in Hanover/Durham in March 2015.

The eggs come to the Hanover/Durham Fish Hatchery in styrofoam trays. They are brought to 7 degree celicius carefully and put into “the nursery”. They will live here until they become actual fish (called fry). There is a certain amount of mortality and the farmer (Gustavus) checks every tray daily and removes any dead eggs. You can see the eyes forming in the eggs pictured. When they become fry which are little fish that still have egg sacs, they are moved to the bigger nursery. (No photo of fry) There, they grow into little fish. Gus cleans EVERY runway, EVERY day. The water in these raceways comes from clean, cold spring water outside. it is constantly moving which keeps the water fresh and oxygenated. Over one million little fish live here at any given time.

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Attached, you can see the label of what these little fish are fed, as I know many customers are curious about this.

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As you can see by this thermometer, the water is kept very cold at all times. The trout are moved as they grow, from one raceway to another, always with plenty of space and crystal clear, oxygenated and cold water that rainbow trout thrive in. When the water leaves the hatchery, it is just as clean as when it went in. Filters, like that big white barrel are specially made to deal with any residue created by the fish. When they are about 4-6 inches long they are put in trucks and moved to Manitoulin Island. Click here to see that process.

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