Move Over Salmon; It’s Ocean Trout’s Turn

Here at Huon we talk a lot about Salmon, but now it’s time that Ocean Trout got its well-deserved spotlight with a cutting-edge selective breeding program that will see even better fish served up on dinner plates across Australia.

For many years, Huon has been informally selectively breeding Ocean Trout for desirable traits, namely size and skin colour. In late 2020, samples were taken from some 1,200 broodstock and sent to California, USA, for genotyping. “Genotyping our stock has allowed us to get a really clear picture of what each individual’s genetic strengths and weaknesses are,” said David Mitchell, Huon’s General Manager of Aquaculture.

–Genotyping is the process of determining differences in the genetic make-up of an individual by examining their DNA sequence. –

“The Center for Aquaculture Technologies, did the genotyping for us and part of their service is to propose breeding options based on the traits that we want to move forward with.”

Huon is focusing on breeding for flesh quality and growth while maximising genetic diversity. “We will look to select parents based on their complementary strengths that will amplify these qualities in their progeny. The idea is that we want to see improvements in key areas year on year.” The foundation of our Ocean Trout breeding program is the same as it is for Salmon—focus on making strong breeding options and creating genetically ‘elite’ future stock.

“We’ll be paying close attention to the quality of these fish at harvest so we can feed this information back into the breeding program,” said David. The program will be based at Huon’s Springfield Hatchery with Site Manager Kirsty Chalmers, Projects Manager Simon Pitney, and Fish Stock Manager Jarrod Wells, all playing key leadership roles. The first selectively bred Huon Ocean Trout will be put to sea in Macquarie Harbour in 2022.

–Even better Huon Ocean Trout is on the way –