Fish Trials
Introduction
Our hatchery is one of the oldest surviving commercial hatcheries in Europe. It was built in 1881 by Sir James Maitland, the 4th Baronet of Barnton, Sauchie and Bannockburn.
Sir James was one of the early pioneers of commercial fish farming developing innovative techniques for the hatching, growing and transportation of brown trout. In the early 80’s a small flow through smolt unit was added to provide salmon smolts for the newly established farmed salmon industry in Scotland.
Today we have 13 x 5m tanks, 5 x 3.6m tanks and 28 x 2m tanks in our hatchery.
We take great pride in returning the hatchery to its original use of rearing fish and providing fish trial space for fisheries around the world.
We’d like to think Sir James would be very happy with an innovative and pioneering company like Aqualife calling Howietoun home.
Moredun Scientific Partnership
We have also formed a partnership with the Moredun Group through their commercial company, Moredun Scientific, to utilise our hatchery and smolt rearing facilities. We provide the facilities and fish for Moredun Scientific to carry out fresh-water fish trials for customers across the globe. Our license covers salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout.
