SMALL-SCALE TROUT FARMING

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THE FACILITY

MOTHER's trout ponds are supplied by a small, spring-fed tributary stream that feeds into the Eco-Village lake. Rick measured the flow over a weir (a standard flow-measuring device) for a year, combined those figures with less formal observations that he'd made during the four years he's worked at EcoVillage, and decided he'd be safe if he figured on a minimum flow of 60 GPM. (At certain periods of the year, the volume of water is many times that amount, but since he's raising fish that take about a year to mature, it's important that he not run short during the dry months.)

At the point where the creek emerges from the woods, MOTHER's crew built a dam that's approximately five feet tall, forming a pond about 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. A spillway and standpipes allow the excess water to run downstream, while the 60 GPM flow is diverted through a six-inch PVC pipe fitted with a flow restrictor. The pipe runs a little ways downhill (and to the north of the creek bed) before entering a 900-gallon rectangular concrete tank. This uppermost tank is the home for the hatchery-bought fingerlings ... as many as 3,000 of them at a time!

Water leaves the bottom of the first pond, passes over an aerating spillway, and flows downhill a few more feet-in another six-inch PVC pipe-to the second container.

This pond (along with the two below it) was simply excavated from the gradually sloping hillside and lined with gravel to keep silt down. Concrete is used only to form the spillway at the lower end. You see, when the tiny new fish are brought in, it's much easier to "herd" them in a square tank with smooth sides. But as they grow, they can be netted and moved easily enough in a simple earthen pond. Rick says that many people feel that trout grown in a dirt-and-gravel pool taste better, and have flesh of a more pleasant color, though the graveled bottoms are a bit more difficult to keep clean.

The second and third ponds contain 900 gallons each, but the last pool holds approximately 1,100 gallons, and thus is large enough to accommodate the market-sized trout living at the lowest point in the chain. (Incidentally, the larger a Kamloop grows, the more tolerant it is of adverse temperature hygienic, and oxygen conditions.) Finally, from the fourth pond the water returns to the creek, which is dammed up one more time for our catch-out pond.

Rick uses a net and a "grader box" to sort the fish as they grow. Once the trout reach a size that prevents them from slipping through slats in the grader's wooden tray, they're moved down to the next lower pond in the series. Then, when the fish in tank four reach market size, the processor is called in to pick up (and pay for) our crop.

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