Future of fish by Alison Smith

Airline gadget ban

A family affair

Dealing with the threats

Hitt earns small-school honor SPORTS, PAGE D1

NATION & WORLD, PAGE C2

MOSTLY SUNNY 56 • 40 FORECAST, C6

SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2017

magicvalley.com

FUTURE OF FISH

Labor force tops 99k HEATHER KENNISON

hkennison@magicvalley.com

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS

Manager Dirk Bogaard — pictured March 14 in the natural spring water used at Idaho Trout Co. in Hagerman — says the aquaculture industry’s future lies in lower waste loads. ‘The ability to produce fish economically with the water we have available is key,’ he says.

Aquaculture in Idaho’s “Trout Capital of the World” isn’t the aquaculture of a decade ago. You won’t find as many fish farms now, and employment and trout production have dropped. As the industry faces challenges in disease, regulation and water supply, some farmers are prepared to make even more changes. See the story on E1.

State passes on public preschool Idaho is one of only 6 states without public preschool, and it may be that way for years JULIE WOOTTON

jwootton@magicvalley.com

TWIN FALLS — Another legislative session is winding down without movement toward state-funded preschool. Idaho is among six U.S. states that don’t offer public preschool programs. Early childhood education advocates say the lack of statefunded preschool is holding Idaho children back. But opponents say it’s the responsibility of parents, not the government, to prepare children for school. State legislators have expressed concerns about the large price tag of implementing a program, and the impact on school facilities and the already-existing teacher shortage. “We know this is a long haul,” said Beth Oppenheimer, executive director of the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children. “We know this

is certainly a marathon and not a sprint. I think the interest is beginning to bubble.” But with no traction during this year’s legislative session, what’s next? Is there a chance a proposal will arise during the 2018 session? Blake Youde, spokesman for the Idaho Board of Education, said he has no doubt the topic will come back in future years. State legislators, he added, are being “very deliberate in their thought process.” In February, an 18-member coalition pushing for statefunded preschool — along with Lt. Gov. Brad Little — gave a presentation to education committee members. The hearing was organized by Oppenheimer, Idaho Business for Education and Rep. Hy Kloc, D-Boise. They didn’t offer specifics about what the state should do and a bill wasn’t introduced by legislators. But the hearing about statefunded preschool was different than those in the past, Oppenheimer said. “This one allowed us to bring in different voices.” Speakers included three superintendents whose school dis-

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Volume 112, Issue 149

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A Lee Enterprises Newspaper

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Please see LABOR, Page A5

Trump and Mnuchin say focus will turn to tax reform MARTIN CRUTSINGER

AP Economics Writer

The Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children recently received a three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Money will be used for research, including polling and focus groups, in Idaho communities about people’s perceptions about early childhood education.

WASHINGTON — Now that the effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system has collapsed, the Trump administration is turning its attention to tax reform. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that the administration will now focus on gaining congressional approval for a sweeping tax overhaul plan. Trump’s comments came after Republicans were forced to cancel a House vote on their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act because they could not get the support needed for passage. After Republicans pulled the health measure, Trump told reporters at the White House, “I would say that we will probably start going very, very strongly for the big tax cuts and tax reform. That will be next.”

Please see PRESCHOOL, Page A5

Please see TRUMP, Page A4

TIMES-NEWS FILE PHOTO

Paraprofessional Laura Egner shows an avocado to preschoolers during breakfast in May 2015 at Harrison Elementary School’s preschool program in Twin Falls. tricts have a preschool program, business leaders, a preschool teacher, kindergarten teacher and retired Navy admiral. Law enforcement and prosecuting attorney representatives talked about research showing children who have access to a high-quality preschool program “are less likely to commit crimes down the road,” Oppenheimer said.

 If you do one thing: Pickleball is available for all ages, levels and beginners

from 1 to 4 p.m. at 302 Third Ave. S. in Twin Falls. Cost is $3.

TWIN FALLS — The labor force in southern Idaho is the largest it has ever been, topping 99,000 workers in the latest Idaho Department of Labor report. The seasonally adjusted civilian labor force for February across the region was 99,002. “I think that’s really a threshold,” said regional economist Jan Roeser. “It’s reactive to the fact that there are so many jobs out there and opportunities.” So will the Roeser Magic Valley top 100,000 workers this year? “It is highly unlikely we would break 100K this year,” Roeser said. “But it is a goal.”

OPINION BRIDGE CROSSWORD

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DEAR ABBY JUMBLE SPORTS

E10 E5 D1

SUDOKU OBITUARIES

E7 C3

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Times-News

THE BIG STORY

Sunday, March 26, 2017 | E1

Sunday, March 26, 2017 | magicvalley.com | SECTION E

big changes in Idaho aquaculture PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Manager Dirk Bogaard cleans a drained raceway while another sits full of fish March 14 at Idaho Trout Co. in Hagerman. ‘It’s very advantageous to be able to drain and thoroughly clean your raceways,’ Bogaard says. HEATHER KENNISON

hkennison@magicvalley.com‌

‌BUHL — Venture off U.S. 30, and you’ll find the quieter side of Idaho’s agriculture. From Hagerman to Twin Falls, fish farms feature the low walls of gurgling, concrete raceways. This is aquaculture in Idaho’s “Trout Capital of the World.” But it’s not the aquaculture of a decade ago. You won’t find as many fish farms now, and employment and trout production have dropped. And as the industry faces challenges in disease, regulation and water supply, some farmers are prepared to make even more changes. “Almost anything you do, if you’re doing what you were 10 years ago, you’re going broke,” Fish Breeders of Idaho’s Leo Ray said. “Things change that fast.” Six big changes at Magic Valley’s commercial fish farms:

Consolidation, declining employment‌

A fight over water rights between fish farms and groundwater users led to the sale of Idaho Trout Co.’s three largest farms in 2011. Since then, the company has cut its staff and production by at least 75 percent, Manager Dirk Bogaard estimates. “It was not ideal, but it was the best solution for everybody in the state,” Bogaard said. Four groundwater districts owed water to Clear Springs Foods and gave it one of the farms they purchased from Idaho Trout Co. At the time, Clear Springs’ CEO told the Times-News the company could never file another water call against those districts if they conveyed the property to Clear Springs. The other two farms in the $30 million purchase have been leased. Bogaard foresees more consolidation not only in his company, but industrywide. “Most of the consolidation has occurred already,” he said. As small-farm owners age, it’s difficult to pitch to the next generation. As Bogaard put it, it’s gotta be in your blood to do it. Increased regulations over the past 20 years have hindered small-farm success, said Gary Fornshell, aquaculture extension educator with the University of Idaho. But it also comes down to economy of scale, and that’s not unique to aquaculture. “Volume is the key to be able to produce fish as cheaply as possible,” Bogaard said. Not only have farms consolidated, but employment has dropped — falling nearly 14 percent in south-central Idaho from 2005 to 2015. Clear Springs Foods has reduced employment at its processing plant over the years by switching to more mechanization and robotics, said Randy MacMillan, vice president of research, technical ser-

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PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Randy MacMillan, vice president of research, technical services and quality assurance, looks at bacteria smears in the bacteriology lab Jan. 25 at Clear Springs Foods in Buhl. catfish to markets in Seattle. But about 15 years ago, First Ascent could no longer compete with international products like Vietnamese catfish. “They could produce it, ship it and sell it in Seattle for less than our production cost,” Campbell said. Fortunately, there was another growing market for live fish: tilapia, a tropical freshwater fish that became a replacement for ocean fish in popular dishes. “The demand of tilapia is so high,” Production Manager Eric Hernandez said. Today, Campell’s business ships live tilapia — and sturgeon from other producers — twice weekly to Seattle, where the fish are dispersed to 14 stores. Asian and European restaurants and customers there value the live product, creating a niche market that’s safe from internaHEATHER KENNESON, TIMES-NEWS‌ tional competition. Don Campbell, owner of First Ascent Fish Farm in Buhl, shows raceways full of tilapia March These kinds of markets are becoming 9. The business ships live tilapia twice weekly to Seattle. increasingly important to small American farms. vices and quality assurance. The U.S. imports more than 91 percent “Through normal attrition, we’ve been Finding niches‌ of the seafood it eats. But Magic Valley able to not have to recruit more people,” A moving, underwater tapestry processors say that quality, AmeriMacMillan said. features shades of red, cream, can-raised fish has its own place in the The production jobs Clear Springs has brown, gray and black at First market. now require more technical skills, such as Ascent Fish Farm in Buhl. To get more bang for his buck on Fish knowledge of computers and data-colStanding in front of the raceways full of Breeders of Idaho’s farms, Ray changed lecting programs. fish March 9, owner Don Campbell talked his customer base. Making processing more automated about how he got into the farm-raised “Most of my product went through makes sense, Fornshell said. “Processing tilapia business. done by hand is very labor intensive.” Please see AQUACULTURE, Page E3 Campbell’s farm had been sending live

MORE INSIDE: World fish meal shortage forces farms to adapt, E2

E2 | Sunday, March 26, 2017

A ladder leads to the top of a 9-ton feed bin at Fish Breeders of Idaho. Each bin holds ingredients to make fish pellets, such as wheat, corn, barley, soybeans and field peas. PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

BIG STORY

Times-News

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Fish Breeders of Idaho expects its new extruder to be running in two months, sterilizing raw guts as it makes fish feed that floats. ‘For most fish we want a feed that floats on top,’ owner Leo Ray says. By running cold water through the extruder, Ray can produce sinking pellets for sturgeon.

World fish meal shortage forces farms to adapt HEATHER KENNISON

hkennison@magicvalley.com‌

‌HAGERMAN — Leo Ray is fed up with the price of fish food. So the Fish Breeders of Idaho owner is taking matters into his own hands. In February, a new piece of equipment arrived that Ray hopes will make his business more sustainable: an extruder that will use his processing waste to make fish feed. The motivation: His price for feed has more than doubled in the past 20 years. “There’s a world shortage of fish meal,” Ray said. “Fish meal is basically the trash fish of the ocean. … In the last 10 years, the amount of fish meal harvested has leveled off.” But demand for it has only grown, as China develops its aquaculture and pet food industries pay premium prices for fish meal. Some industries have stopped using it as a result of high prices and limited supply, Ray said. With aquaculture, it’s not so simple. “The best feed you can feed a fish is another fish,” he said. Aquaculture uses about 80 percent of the world’s supply of fish meal, said Ken Overturf, a federal research geneticist at the Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station. In the late 1990s, fish feed cost about 28 cents a pound, said Dirk Bogaard, manager of Idaho Trout Co., based in Boise but with operations in Hagerman. Now, it’s about 70 cents a pound. Put that way, it doesn’t sound like much. But when you’re producing a million pounds of fish a year, it adds up; it takes a little more than 1 pound of feed to produce 1 pound of trout. “Fish prices haven’t gone up that much,” Bogaard said. In Idaho, the average price farms received for a pound of trout was $1.26 in 2016. Ray is taking a more proactive approach on feed costs than some other farms. The $300,000 fish feed extruder he purchased will put waste products from processed fish to use on his own farm — instead of sending them to Idaho Trout Products in Hagerman for making pet food and other goods. “I’ve felt all along that there ought to be a way to put that into our fish food,” Ray said. His farm processes its own catfish, trout, tilapia and sturgeon. The extruder can cook up to 300 degrees, grinding fish waste and combining it with plant ingredients and water, then pressurizing this to form a pelleted feed. It will all happen the same day the fish are processed. Thirty-five years ago, Ray said, he couldn’t have justified the cost of the system. And it means he’ll have to formulate his own feed with low-phosphorous ingredients. But with the help of a staff member who’s working on her doctorate of philosophy, Ray believes the system will pay for itself within three years. Bogaard remains skeptical of Ray’s approach. It’s difficult for farms to produce their own feed for trout, he said, because of the fish’s specialized diet. Clear Springs Foods has produced its own feed for decades. Randy MacMillan, vice president of research, technical services and quality assurance, said the Buhl company is researching to find more sources of plant proteins — a less expensive alternative to fish meal. “We recognize the need to do that,” he said. Clear Springs is also trying to increase the use of plant proteins by developing broodstock that can use them. Overturf has selectively bred trout since PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌ 2002 to develop a strain that can live off a plant Fish Breeders of Idaho owner Leo Ray, pictured next to one of his feed bins March 9 in Hagerman, is installing a new extruder to produce protein-based feed. He’s working to improve his own fish feed. the fish’s ability to synthesize these proteins into healthy oils for consumers. And there’s another benefit to using these trout: They have a different intestinal physiology that appears to be pathogen-resistant, Overturf said. A few farms in Western states are producing them, feeding them either entirely plantbased diets or low-fish-meal diets. Overturf believes it’s going to be more necessary as fish meal prices rise. Other animal byproducts are not an option, he said, because supply is limited. “You have to come to something sustainable, and that comes back to plants,” he said. But Bogaard and others aren’t totally sold on the idea of switching to a new kind of trout with a new kind of marketing. Development of a plant-protein feed could be costly. And, several farmers agree, it’s difficult to Reporter Heather Kennison met her change a carnivorous animal into a vegetarian. first white sturgeon on this assignment “By and large, you’re going to be able to – and wondered why it looked darker raise fish faster … with traditional diets verthan the name suggested. A fish farmer DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS FILE PHOTO‌ sus plant-protein diets, today,” Bogaard said. explained what she couldn’t see: The “Mother Nature designed them to eat meat.” underside is white. Processing operator Patricia Baeza works in 2015 at Clear Springs Foods near Buhl.

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BIG STORY

TIMES-NEWS

SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2017 |

IDAHO AQUACULTURE Idaho is the top U.S. producer of trout, and the Magic Valley is the star of the state's aquaculture industry.

Aquaculture employment

BOUNDARY

BONNER

Average employment in aquaculture and seafood product preparation and packaging. Data include only employees who work for establishments covered by unemployment insurance.

Idaho aquaculture facilities

KOOTENAI

SHOSHONE CLEARWATER

NEZ PERCE

700

488

600 500 400

Total farms: 112

Source: Idaho Department of Agriculture

300

LEWIS

Source: Idaho Department of Agriculture, February 2016 data

IDAHO

■ Rainbow trout ■ Cutthroat trout ■ Golden trout ■ Tilapia ■ White sturgeon ■ Channel catfish ■ Blue catfish ■ Barramundi ■ Ornamentals (such as goldfish) ■ Caviar

South-central Idaho

800

Licensed and active aquaculture facilities; includes multiple farms for a single producer, and hobby farms.

BENEWAH LATAH

Idaho

451

200 100

WASHINGTON

Source: Idaho Department of Labor

LEMHI

VALLEY

Lee Enterprises graphics

PAYETTE

BOISE

GEM

CANYON

BUTTE

BLAINE ADA

CAMAS GOODING

BINGHAM

LINCOLN

JEROME MINIDOKA OWYHEE

MADISON TETON JEFFERSON BONNEVILLE

ELMORE

FREMONT

CLARK

CUSTER

POWER

BANNOCK

TWIN FALLS CASSIA

ONEIDA

FRANKLIN

BEAR LAKE

$45.2 million – Idaho farm gate sales of trout, 2013

50M

33 million – Trout 12 inches or longer sold by Idaho farms, 2016

40M

1.2 pounds – Average live weight of trout 12 inches or longer, 2016

30M

$1.26 – Average price per pound of trout received by Idaho farms, 2016

39.7 million pounds

2.5% – Seafood consumed in the U.S. that is farmed in the U.S.

10M

$37.5 million – Idaho farms’ food fish sales, 2005

$1.5 million – Idaho farm gate sales of tilapia, 2013

Idaho trout production, in pounds

20M CARIBOU

By the numbers $47.4 million – Idaho farms’ food fish sales, 2013

0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 ADAMS

10 Idaho aquaculture products

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service

Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service’s “2013 Census of Aquaculture” and “February 2017 Trout Production” reports. Farm gate, or cash receipts, is the value of the product when it leaves the farm.

DEBORAH HILE, LEE ENTERPRISES

the U.S.,” Ray said. But commercial farms have also reaped the benefits, serving a growing market From E1 for live and processed sturgeon and for caviar. supermarkets years ago,” he said. “We’re turning customers down all the Now he sends most of it to Whole time,” said Ray, whose farm now can’t Foods, which desires a chemical-free, keep up with the demand. “When we first reliably available product to distribute to started selling ‘em, you couldn’t hardly restaurants. sell ‘em.” Clear Springs Foods, Magic Valley’s And he sees potential for more growth. largest trout producer, sends boneless “I think sturgeon could be the cow of fillets and cuts with specialty coatings to the aquaculture industry,” he said. both the retail and food service indusWhite sturgeon, however, take longer tries, MacMillan said. to produce commercially than traditional “American aquaculture has a hard farm-raised fish — or farm-raised cattle, time competing with imports to that for that matter. low-priced market,” Ray said. “To grow “It’s not that they’re slow-growing,” our business, we have to go to the highRay said. “They’re just a huge fish.” er-priced market, the specialty market, Ray separates the males and females and develop the product that market when they are 4 years old and processes wants.” the 20- to 25-pound males. About 40 percent of the fish goes to waste, but he can sell the fillets for about $15 a pound. Females are kept for at least 10 years — Growing market longer for some — until their first spawn, for sturgeon when eggs can be harvested for caviar. North America’s largest freshIf the fish is allowed to live another two water fish is making a big splash years, a second spawn may produce even in Idaho aquaculture. larger eggs. White sturgeon farming has slowly exA female sturgeon can carry up to a panded in Idaho since the late 1980s. The half-million eggs, weighing up to 17 program got started as a public and pripounds. After egg harvest, the rest of the vate partnership to repopulate the species usable fish is processed for meat. in the wild. Besides fetching a good price, sturgeon “What we now have is probably the can thrive in waters where other fish, such as trout, can’t. The hardy sturgeon healthiest wild sturgeon population in

Aquaculture

has an efficient immune system, doesn’t have a highly specialized diet and can live in a wider range of water temperatures, Ray said. It’s partly because of these benefits that Blind Canyon Aquaranch has been able to expand. The company now owns 11 farms in Hagerman, Bliss, Buhl, Wendell and Filer, and all of them produce some sturgeon. It also opened a sturgeon processing facility, Idaho Springs Foods, last year in Filer. The sturgeon are using those ponds which are no longer suitable for yearround trout production, processing facility manager Linda Lemmon said. Blind Canyon Aquaranch had been selling the fish to another Idaho processor but knew its caviar production would soon outgrow that company’s processing capabilities. But caviar is a tricky market, because farms have to project 10 to 13 years into the future. Strictly speaking, caviar is the salt-cured eggs of the Acipenseridae family, which is comprised of more than 20 species of sturgeon. “We didn’t keep as many fish in the beginning as we should have,” said Lemmon, lamenting the missed opportunities when today’s demand for the delicacy is so high. Farms in Florida and North Carolina are using hybrid fish that produce eggs earlier than the full-blooded sturgeon, she said. But those eggs have different characteristics and taste.

Could breeders design this monstrous fish further to meet industry needs? Give it time. “They have to be 10 years old before you get your first spawn,” Ray said. “So the genetic program takes a while.”

Phosphorous limits

As government agencies began reevaluating Snake River water quality in the 1990s, fish farms were asked how much they could reduce their levels of phosphorous pouring into the river. “They said 40 percent,” Fornshell said. “And that became the number.” Twenty years later, the industry has managed to reduce phosphorous by that much and more. What’s the issue with phosphorous? “It causes excessive plant growth, and the weeds interfere with activities and become a nuisance aesthetically,” Fornshell said. It also uses up oxygen in the water. The aquaculture industry contributes phosphorous when its used water enters the river. Most of its phosphorous comes from fish feed — and feces. The Idaho Department of Water Quality set a total maximum daily load for the Snake River, but the Environmental Protection Agency sets a waste-load Please see AQUACULTURE, Page E4

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS

A sturgeon swims March 9 at Fish Breeders of Idaho.

TIMES-NEWS FILE PHOTO PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS M 1

Hatchery manager Grant Zeutenhorst fills feeders March 14 at Idaho Trout Co. in Hagerman.

Eric Hernandez, left, and Jason Barnes prepare for tilapia harvest in 2012 as fish try to leap from a raceway at First Ascent Fish Farm in Buhl.

BIG STORY

Times-News

Sunday, March 26, 2017 | E4

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Fish eggs in a jar wait to hatch in the Idaho Trout Co. hatchery March 14.

Aquaculture From E3

allocation for each farm in its discharge permit. To reduce phosphorous entering the river, Ray explained, feed companies have cut back on fish bones in fish meal. They even developed a strain of low-phosphorous barley as an ingredient for feed. “Now we’re at the point that if we reduce it any more, the health of the fish is affected,” Ray said. Discussions among state and federal environmental agencies may tighten the limits even more, Fornshell said. In the meantime, fish farms try to reduce or maintain phosphorous levels. Idaho Trout Co. keeps its raceways as clean as possible, Bogaard said, drying the waste to create fertilizer. First Ascent and Blind Canyon Aquaranch also remove the waste from the water to use it in land applications. And settling ponds help filter sediments from the water. Not everyone agrees with current regulations. While the maximum load set for the river accounts for “non-point” applications — things like crop-irrigation runoff — discharge permits and their limits apply only to point sources, like fish farms. “It’s really not fair, but that’s the way VIRGINIA HUTCHINS, TIMES-NEWS FILE PHOTO‌ the system is developed,” Lemmon said. Project Leader Craig Eaton in 2016 shows off Hagerman National Fish Hatchery’s partial recirculating system, which uses three circular tanks Irrigators are encouraged to use best with a carbon dioxide stripping tower and oxygen water injection. management practices to cap their phosphorous discharge. But the switch, farm owners worry, may be pricey. Eaton said the federal hatchery spent $1.2 million for a system Recirculating tanks‌ of three tanks. Evaqua Farms has big plans for “I know they can do it more cheaply saving water. than we can,” Eaton said. In January, the ColoraThe systems at Hagerman National do-based company took over five farms Fish Hatchery use a quarter of the water formerly belonging to SeaPac. The farms that normal raceways do. And in time, stretch from Twin Falls to Hagerman and Eaton believes recirculating tanks will produce rainbow trout and golden trout. become a necessity for companies that Evaqua started as a cattle ranch in have limited water rights but want to inColorado but purchased a steelhead crease production. trout and coho salmon farm in Wash“It’s something they definitely need to ington three years ago before setting its look at,” he said. sights on Idaho. Hernandez, however, isn’t sure he For now, the plan is to continue where would recommend farms like First AsSeaPac took off, General Manager Jim cent put all their fish in one basket. Henderhan said. But as water flows have “A lot of stuff could happen bad, real steadily declined, Evaqua is also planeasy,” he said. ning for the future. And some farm owners worry about “It’s very evident that it’s going to how many people would be needed to continue to drop,” Henderhan said. keep recirculating systems running. Within three years, Evaqua hopes to Eaton agreed that backups such as have parts of its farms switched over to COURTESY PHOTO‌ diesel generators are needed to ensure recirculating tanks — which reuse 80 Gary Fornshell, aquaculture extension educator for University of Idaho Extension, handles a fish survival in case of a power outage. percent of the water, up to six times, sturgeon. One farm in Challis, Garden Creek before it is separated off and used for Ponds, has used recirculating tanks to irrigation. MacMillan said, the company has begun said. Southern Idaho saw an increase in produce tilapia, Eaton said. Other than “It’s definitely more environmentally early discussions to collaborate with losses from the disease in 2015 and 2016. that, the tanks haven’t been used much friendly,” Henderhan said. other researchers and enlist another Blind Canyon Aquaranch has purin Idaho. The hope is to increase production and company to make the vaccine. chased some eggs from a strain of bachire more people for the farms. When it comes to fighting coldwaterial-resistant trout developed to resist Idaho’s trout production has dropped ter disease, Clear Springs isn’t alone; coldwater disease, Lemmon said. But in Fighting disease‌ in the past 10 years, and as water flows researchers Ken Cain and Doug Call at general, Fornshell said, fish selected for Clear Springs Foods has been decline, south-central Idaho fish farms the University of Idaho’s Aquaculture disease resistance may not grow as fast researching a way to prevent have pretty much capped out on producResearch Institute have also developed as other fish and may even be more susbacterial coldwater disease in a vaccine and probiotics. In an August tion, Fornshell said. ceptible to other pathogens. fish for three decades, MacMillan said. That’s why Hagerman National Fish 2016 article in trade magazine AquaA third route producers can take is Now the company almost has it right. Hatchery started testing recirculating culture North America, Cain said the antibiotics, but antibiotics can lead to Coldwater disease and columnaris (also tanks in 2015. The tanks allow producuniversity was looking for a company antibiotic-resistant bacteria. called cotton-mouth or cotton-wool) tion of more fish with less water, Project to partner with so the vaccine could be “There’s a growing interest in decan be devastating, but the company Leader Craig Eaton said. optimized, licensed and made commercreasing the number of antibiotics used It’s too early to say for sure how effec- is about to reap the benefits of years of cially available. The pair’s research also in agriculture,” MacMillan said. research. tive these tanks are for raising fish on a determined that probiotics could treat A vaccine, on the other hand, relies on “Very soon we’ll have a vaccine for commercial scale, but Eaton said those the effects of coldwater disease. the animal’s immune system to prevent both of those,” MacMillan said. he’s raised so far have been able to conMacMillan, however, said the probidisease rather than treat it. It could happen this year. Clear vert feed more efficiently. He’s hoping otic isn’t practical because it must be In the meantime, with improved techcoated on feed. further research could help Idaho’s com- Springs would then be able to use the Bacterial coldwater disease is the most nology, Clear Springs Foods uses molecmercial facilities adapt the tanks to their vaccine for its own trout, but it does ular biology tools to detect pathogens in not wish to get a special license to sell common fish disease here and can be own practices, as farms in other states the vaccine to other producers. Instead, caused by poor water quality, Fornshell its fish. have done.

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