Cage culture of rainbow trout in Lake Tota (Colombia)

Photo credit: Karen Sachica Cepeda (Colombia)

Review: Karen Sachica Cepeda and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

Cage culture of rainbow trout in Lake Tota (Colombia) 01 Cage culture of rainbow trout in Lake Tota (Colombia) 02

 

 

 

Lake Tota with its 15,000-acre coverage is the largest lake in Colombia. The lake is located in the east of Boyacá department, inside the Province of Sugamuxi, and is the source of the Upia River which flows into the Orinoco River basin.

Lake Tota lies at about 3,200 m above sea level with annual temperatures of 10- 17° C (average 13 °C), which allowed for the introduction of rainbow trout (Onchorynchus mykiss) in 1939 and created an excellent trout fishery as well as encouraged the trout farming industry.

According to FAO statistics, the freshwater trout aquaculture fluctuated from 9016 tons in year 2000 to 4248 tons in 2003 representing about 23% of total freshwater aquaculture in Colombia in 2003.

Trout farming in Colombia is distributed among several of the country’s departments whereas farming is practiced in ponds as well as in net cages. So far, the majority of the eyed ova used by the industry are imported from the United States amounting about 28 million eyed ova in 2005. Typically, the average harvest weight of trout from cages is about 250 g.

The inserted picture was taken in Lake Tota whereas trout farming is of utmost importance to the local area as many people are employed in this activity, half of whom are from households headed by women.

 

 

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