He's Growing Arctic Char In New York

He s Growing Arctic Char In New York LIVESTOCK Exotic Animals Fish farming takes time money and there s a steep learning curve Gary R Green of Farmersville N Y has paid his dues over the past few years and he has high hopes that his farming venture will start paying off soon
    By starting small and educating himself along the way Green has been preparing himself on a part-time basis for the past seven years to tap into the high-end restaurant market for Arctic Char He also plans to sell breeding stock to other fish farmers through his licensed hatchery
    Green was a dairy farmer who left the business to take an off-farm job He currently has between 2 000 and 3 000 Nauyuk Arctic Char but has capacity for about double that amount thanks his six large tanks He calls his operation Gary s Arctic Char
    The Nauyuk variety comes from Lake Nauyuk in the Northwest Territories Green purchased eggs from a hatchery in Whitehouse Yukon for 19 cents each
     The Nauyuk are mature and produce eggs at about five years old Mine are now six years old and this is my second year milking eggs At this age the fish weigh seven to eight pounds Milking for eggs is done once a year in the fall he explains
    Green will hatch the eggs and grow those fish for the restaurant market In about three years he says they should be between 2 and 4 lbs and ready to sell
    When he first got into the business Green had Frasier Arctic Char a species that matures quickly - at 2 years of age but they only reach about 2 lbs
     I decided I liked the Nauyuk better because they grow bigger and therefore more markets are open to them he explains
    In his fish farm development Green has been receiving guidance from John Foster an aquaculture and natural resources professor at Cobleskill College about 30 miles from Albany N Y Foster is also actively raising fish so his knowledge and experience have been helpful
     John Foster and I are the only ones I know of in New York State that have Nauyuk Arctic Char He also has some Frasier but I don t anymore Green says
    Another excellent resource person has been Gavin Johnston at Salt Springs Island B C according to Green Johnston has provided a lot of advice over the phone and email in addition to authoring a book on Arctic Char aquaculture
     With tanks at his own place and also on his parents farm Green uses both well water and gravity-fed natural spring water for the fish
     A key to all of this is our water temperature We re taking advantage of our cold water It s 48 to 50¦ F which is the same temperature as the Arctic water is during the growing season for these fish Green says I chose to raise the type of fish that would fit into our water temperature not try to alter our water temperature to fit the fish
    An important part of fish farming is to not allow a large temperature variation in the water so Green says he must sometimes provide shade in the summer and insulate the tanks in winter Putting hay over the pipes that run between the tanks provides insulation He says he uses enough flow-through that he s had very little problem with freezing
    Other equipment required is aeration automatic feeders settling tanks and filters
    Green saved about $10 000 in set up costs by converting several old stainless steel cheese vats from a factory into fish tanks Since they re rectangular the tanks require special water circulation He has some that are 16 ft by 4 ft by 2 ft deep and others that are 35 ft by 5 ft by 16 in deep Green also has four round fiberglass fish tanks that are 6 ft in diameter by 5 ft deep
    The fish are fed commercial pellets that Green purchases at a local feed store A combination of automatic and manual feeding is used so that he can check on which fish are eating what and he can watch the drains closely during spawning time This is because they can get so caught up in spawning that they don t eat and the feed can clog the drains
    A 16-oz fillet of fresh Arctic Char retails for $29 99
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gary R Green 1507 Elton Rd Franklinville N Y 14737 ph 716 676-2442 home or 716 307-1434 cell ; dnggreen@ischuavalleynet com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.