Effects of fish farming studied in Experimental Lakes Area

CANADA - For the fourth consecutive year, approximately 10,000 rainbow trout fingerlings were transported to a simulated fish farm in one of the over 50 lakes that make up the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Experimental Lakes Area, located east of Kenora.

A contingent of over 30 research scientists and graduate students gathered Monday morning to shuttle the small fingerlings -- approximately 60-90 grams each -- from a large tanker truck to an open water mesh cage placed in the middle of what is called Lake 375 in the Experimental Lakes.

This particular experiment is to test the effects this type of cage aquaculture, used prominently by fish farms in the Great Lakes, has on native species of fish and other aquatic life in the lakes where they are used.

Each fall, when the trout reach a mature weight of about one kilogram, they are removed from the cage and harvested, as they would be in actual fish farm operations.

Source: Kemora Daily