Hi all. I have a 1/3 acre water-table pond that contains about 100 rainbow and brown trout ranging in size from 12"-22". I would like to introduce brook trout this fall as I had intended to in 2013. I was unable to find any suppliers in the northern half of the state. Elsey creek in Terra Alta is the nearest listed hatchery that raises brook trout and they have never replied to an e-mail nor answered a phone call. Divergent Natural Resources in Elkview no longer raises trout. I bought my trout from the Laurel Hill trout farm in Somerset, Pa and could not import brook trout from Pa into WV. Does anyone have any recommendations for a reliable brook trout supplier in WV?

How about Castaline Trout Farm just across the stateline in Goshen, Virginia? Bryan Plemmons is a great guy and someone you can trust. He met my state health importation requirements for Indiana and sold me some brook trout when I couldn't find a source that met the requirements. I have since found a source closer in Michigan.

If you find another source, be sure they are tested and certified disease free. There are a lot of sources for brook trout out there that test positive for IPN and are still allowed to be sold. If possible avoid IPN positive fish.



http://vagrown.va-vdacs.com/product.aspx?pid=63686&category=TROUT

Start with a call to my good friend Dr. Ken Semmens, the WVU Aquaculture Extension head Contact info for Dr. Ken Semmens

If you can't reach him (they are eliminating his job due to budget cuts -- a real disaster for the S.E. U.S.), send an email or Private Message (PM) to me.

Ken
Vice President,
WV Aquaculture Association


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I feel your pain Ken. We get the lip service for aquaculture research and promoting aquaculture but the funding is not there.

A university in my state is the premier agriculture university. They had 20 million dollars bequethed to them, and were going to use some of the funds to get an aquaculture facilitator in the state, but it never happened. I knew it would go elsewhere as we've been there before. Lots of competition for money and politics at universities.

The university also terminated a course guide for aquaculture in the high school FFA classes. And they have some great people working in aquaculture at the university but the program pales in comparison to other universities and comes under the heading of Forestry. Trees, pigs, beef, poultry have a much higher priority even though aquaculture is the fastest growing segment of agriculture. Go figure.

My role as president of the state aquaculture association was an exercise in futility. Sure glad someone else is doing it.

Yes, it is really frustrating. Our WVU trout/aquaponics site was closed down a year ago. It seems like aquaculture research is dying all around, yet we seem to need more and more U.S. aquaculture products. No group seems to be able to provide research funding. It is also affecting regulations and laws being generated by people without oversight by educated aquaculture specialists.

Sounds acutely familiar. We got more regs dealing with VHS on fish farms at the state level recently even though there has never been one positive on a fish farm, nor in any of our state waters tested.

Illinois still requires VHS testing for tilapia for the table even though it poses no danger to humans and they are not on the susceptible list. They also don't allow tilapia to be planted in ponds for weed control even though they couldn't make it through the winter.

The world is leaving the U.S. behind in aquaculture. Even some third world countries are leaving us in the dust.