Hi guys! Last Thursday (15th November) was an fun and interesting morning. We took the Dingwall Green Gym along to the salmon hatchery at Tarvie to help the Cromarty Firth Fisheries Trust collect broodstock. Everyone was excited.
Simon, the director of the Cromarty Firth Fisheries Board, explained the process of broodstock collection.
The fish are collected in bags according to sex, taken to the hatchery, recorded and placed in tanks. Fish that are ready for stripping are placed in the stripping bath.
The fish in the stripping baths are then anaesthetised and stripped of their eggs or sperm.
The eggs and sperm are mixed together for fertilisation, left for a couple of minutes and then rinsed. Later these will be reared in the hatchery and then TCV will no doubt be helping plant the fry!
We ended the morning with a walk to the burn to see if we could find any spawning fish.
Love Esther & Gillian 😀