Squeezed trouts, “milk” and cloves: like this they are repopulating the lakes and rivers
We went to have a look at the "magic" that in a few weeks time will allow a million new fish to be placed in the lakes and rivers of Varese
In the fish farming Piscicoltura of Brusimpiano these are days of great activity. In the weeks that mark the transition between autumn and winter is the period of trout reproduction.
We went to have a look at the “magic” that in a few weeks time will allow almost a million new fish to be placed in the lakes and rivers of Varese.
Everything takes place in the site of the fish farmers Piscicoltura founded in 1925 and managed by the Unone Pescatori del Ceresio, where one of the most important tasks today is the breeding of trouts to be placed in the waterways of the north of the province.
The breeders, bred in pools fed by the waters of the Trallo, in the late autumn are ready: the females full of eggs, and the males hormones high and a lovely reserve of “milk”, which is what the fishermen call the fish sperm.
These days in the Piscicoltura there is no trace of fishy “smells”, and in the air hangs a persistent smell of spices. To cause the trout to sleep before extracting eggs and sperm, they use in fact essential oils made from cloves: “We got the recommendation from a veterinarian,” explains Rosalba, who is supporting fishermen in these days of intense activity. “Before we used an anaesthetic synthesis, which was very expensive, now we use this oil, which has the same effect on the trout and it is all natural.”
The trout that have to be “squeezed” are separated from those that don’t yet have mature eggs. They are moved to the bath with the essence of cloves, and after a few minutes they fall asleep. The squeezing of the eggs operation is fast, a few seconds to extract with a special massage the eggs from the female and the “milk” of the males, and immediately the trout is put back into the water.
First they are disinfected, “because,” explains Rosalba “this handling can damage the mucus layer that acts as a protection to the skin, and they could develop some disease.” Outside the basin with the disinfectant treatment, the trouts are “reanimated”: a cool water bath with an addition of oxygen for a few minutes and then the fish return as before. Handling and squeezing occur with great respect for the animal and the attention due to these valuable players, some of which even have names.
Even the eggs receive a fast and gentle treatment: In the pot full of yellow-orange pearls, is poured the seed of males, which in thirty seconds fertilises the eggs. To entice a few more lazy sperm, the eggs are left to rest for half an hour in the dark. After this time the “milk” is rinsed off and white eggs are removed, which are those that have not been fertilised.
The miracle of life is fulfilled: in each one and a half litre jug are already working the cells which will form around 6,500 fingerlings, who will be born in exactly 400 degree days. “The birth is not determined by the time but by the water temperature,” explains Luigi Corti. “This means that if the water is 10 degrees it will take 40 days for the ageing and hatching. The duration of the egg incubation period of a trout lowers as the water temperature increases.”
In four or five weekends, the volunteers of Piscicoltura will complete the work. Sunday morning they have “squeezed” in addition to the 100 river trout, in the previous weekend 280 lake trout. Then there will be a second round for both species, because in the meantime the immature trout will be ready.
In a few weeks for the eggs, now resting in the long incubation tubes, there will start to be born the first young fish that once they have absorbed the yolk sac will be placed in nature: “The sooner the better,” explain the Ceresio fishermen, “because they learn straight away to hide under the rocks to be less vulnerable.”
The activity of the historic cooperative of fishermen of Lake Lugano is followed and monitored both by the public veterinary service and by technicians of the Province, as well as the distribution of restocking fish to fishermen and associations who request them.
Production could grow: “For now we reproduce only river and lake trout, but we would like to try also with the brook trout, which in the Lake Lugano there is and could be increased.”
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