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Landcatch-Troutlodge venture ships first eggs

As the first rainbow trout eggs produced by Landcatch-Troutlodge Chile SA recently shipped to customers in Ecuador, executives say that their new genetic improvement program is attracting interest from various South American producers.

            In July, managers at the recently expanded facility, located in the Chilean Region of Araucania, in the town of Cautin, said they had shipped their first batch of 200,000 eyed eggs to an Ecuadorean trout producer, and that another batch is set to be sent to producers in Peru.

            The shipment, first reported in the Chilean fisheries news site Aqua, is a modest milestone for the successful joint venture between the Scotland-based salmon egg and smolt producer Landcatch and Washington, USA-based Troutlodge, which formed the new company Landcatch-Troutlodge Chile SA where the eggs were produced.

            The joint partnership, which includes a 45% share of Troutlodge by Landcatch, also involves a genetics agreement with Hendrix Genetics.

            Though executives admit 200,000 isn’t huge by Chilean standards, it is a good first step.

            “We must not forget that the market for the type of pan-sized trout is much more atomized and less industrialized,” as in Europe or in North America, Rodrigo Torrijo told Aqua.

            He explained that foreign clients in the region have expressed interest in their breeding program.

            Specifically, the first egg shipments will be used for the production of trout in freshwater systems in Ecuador, Peru, and Columbia for both domestic consumption and export to North America.

— Erich Leuning