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[troutbreath]

Sunshine Coast sturgeon farm prepares to harvest caviar after 11 years of nurturing
  By Randy Shore, Vancouver SunJanuary 13, 2011
  Canada's only white sturgeon farm is on the verge of its first black caviar harvest after 11 long years of tender slimy care.

The Target Marine hatchery and land-based aquaculture operation near Sechelt has about 2,000 mature females nearing harvest age, according to general manager Justin Henry.

About 100 fish will be harvested for caviar this year and some of those eggs will be held back for fertilization to start the next generation of sturgeon.

"We had thought they would mature at eight years, because that's what we had seen in other countries, so it's been a long wait," said Henry. "No one had ever grown the Fraser River strain before."

Each of the female sturgeon nearing sexual maturity this spring can weigh 40 to 120 kilograms and yield four to 10 kilos of black caviar, worth up to $3,000 per kilo retail.

The fish are killed by percussive stunning and the roe harvested through an incision the length of the belly. Target started selling mature males for meat about four months ago and plans to sell the meat from harvested females, as well. The wholesale price of farmed sturgeon is more than $20 a kilo.

Henry has been contacted by firms as far away as China and Japan interested in purchasing the caviar when it is ready.

"We have already had interested buyers from the United States come and visit the hatchery," Henry said.

The 25-year-old hatchery had specialized in producing coho salmon smolts for the aquaculture industry. But the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early '90s led to massive overharvesting of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and the collapse of the fishery that supplied much of the world's caviar.

Target was looking for opportunities to diversify and began to prepare its first generation of white sturgeon in 1999, the fish that are ready for harvest today.

"We had the technology here to rear these fish on land, with recirculation technology that allows us to control their environment," said Henry.

Target obtained sexually mature Fraser River white sturgeon from the Vancouver Island University aquaculture program and fertilized the eggs with the assistance of an aquaculture expert from University of California Davis.

Target's operation covers about two hectares (five acres) of a 24-hectare (60-acre) parcel of land on the Sunshine Coast. Water is drawn from a small creek and seven wells scattered throughout the parcel.

Target sold off eight open-pen fish-rearing operations and a processing plant in 2007 to concentrate on the sturgeon, though the hatchery continues to rear coho smolts.

Solid waste recovered from the sturgeon tanks goes to the Sechelt District compost, at least, what is left after the 20 hatchery staff take what they need for their vegetable gardens.

Large outdoor tanks covering the area of a football field are equipped with scrubbing towers and filters that remove ammonia, carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the water before sending it back for recirculation. Originally designed as a flow-through aquaculture system, many of the rearing tanks now recover 50 to 99 per cent of the water for recirculation. Target is in the process of converting two more tanks to the 99-percent standard with $100,000 in matching funds from the federal government.

The only remaining impediment to Target's plans to harvest caviar on its hatchery site is a rezoning application to the District of Sechelt. Although the district had already changed the zoning to allow processing on site, a group of local residents opposed to the change had the rezoning overturned by the court for a procedural error. A new application is in process.

"We can send the fish out and have the roe harvested, but we really need to be in control of the process to ensure the best quality product," said Henry.

Target is hosting an information meeting in support of the new application tonight at the Seaside Centre in Sechelt at 7 p.m.

rshore@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

[alwaysfishn]

Looks like land based fish farming works!

Now if we could get the ocean pen salmon farmers doing the same thing.

[typhoon]

Interesting. I wonder why they kill them instead of extracting the eggs surgically.
You would think that it would be less than 11 years until they spawn again.

[alwaysfishn]

Interesting. I wonder why they kill them instead of extracting the eggs surgically.
You would think that it would be less than 11 years until they spawn again.

Googled this.......

"Almost all caviar is harvested from dead fish. Fishermen on the Caspian wait until the mature female sturgeon (which are at least 10 years old) are ready to migrate upstream and lay their eggs. Once caught, the sturgeon will be transferred to a large boat, where workers slit her open and remove her eggs. The caviar is cleaned to prevent spoilage and then packed up; the rest of the fish is sold for flesh.

Fish farmers who raise sturgeon for caviar sometimes use a surgical procedure to remove eggs from a female without killing her. To foster reproduction in captivity, aquaculturists will induce ovulation in a female with hormone injections and then make a small incision in her abdomen. Eggs that have already detached from the ovaries can be scooped out with a plastic spoon or squeezed out into a bowl.

Most farmers use this technique only to obtain eggs for insemination, but some Russians do live-harvest eggs for food. In some cases, a farmer might perform a Caesarean on a fish that hadn't ovulated. He could cut out some but not all of her eggs before sewing up the fish and putting her back in the water. A farmer might also induce ovulation, squeeze out the loose eggs, and then use a novel process to restore the integrity of their outer coverings.

Caviar producers who harvest from dead animals can still use surgical techniques to improve their yield. Some fisheries will test the eggs of a mature female before killing her. First, an incision is made in her abdomen and then a small tube is inserted. The farmer then puts his mouth on the tube and sucks out a small quantity of eggs for examination. If they're the right color and consistency, he'll kill the animal and harvest the caviar. If they're too "ripe"—if the fish has begun to break them down for reabsorption—he'll put her back in the water and wait until her next reproductive cycle."

[StillAqua]

Interesting. I wonder why they kill them instead of extracting the eggs surgically.
You would think that it would be less than 11 years until they spawn again.

Probably time and money to surgically harvest 2000 ripe females that may have a limited window for harvest.
Cool project...I'd love to tour it.

[mykisscrazy]

I toured it a few years ago. It was quite the operation. Back then the province was not allowing them to sell thier Sturgeon Meat as they were afraid there would issues not knowing if it was legally harvested or harvested illegally from the Fraser River.
Good to hear that things have worked out for them!

[aquapaloosa]

Looks like land based fish farming works!

Now if we could get the ocean pen salmon farmers doing the same thing.

Land based fish farming(not closed containment) is about as old as man.  It requires the appropriate species of which salmon is not to succeed.
3 million in sales in the first 11 years is a pretty rough go for such a massive, massive, expensive facility. 
And this is not closed containment (50-99%)although facilitates technology that is part of closed containment. 
To suggest that this is an example of how to raise salmon in closed containment lacks insight.  The comparison can not be made for many reasons.
Sounds cool though.  I would love to see it.  I too would like to get my hands on that poo for my garden. 

[marmot]

Looks like land based fish farming works!

Now if we could get the ocean pen salmon farmers doing the same thing.

I'm all for *trying to move salmon to closed containment but it's an entirely different beast than raising sturgeon on land.  It's a different set of hurdles... not impossible though.  Marine Harvest is in the middle of setting up a closed containment facility.  Some say they are doing it to show how it cannot succeed, others like myself want to believe that maybe they can make a go of it in a responsible (to the environment and to health) manner...  we'll see as the proof is always in the pudding!

[Dogbreath]

Heard about this a while back and have heard about the same being done in California.

My guess is that they'll clean up-sell it to someone for top dollar and that person will sell it on for even more.

A worldwide shortage of Sturgeon Caviar means prices are in the stratosphere and there's always money around for luxuries.

[bigblue]

Wow! $3,000 per kilo. Amazing for a handful of fish eggs!
Hope introduction of BC caviar will not temp some people to go after the wild ones at the Fraser River.
I wonder what kind of certification procedure is in place to ensure only farmed products will be sold in the market?