The first “Troot in the Shed 2012” batch of alevins were released today on Stronsay into the Meikle Water. The Upper Primary class and the “Peedie AFYDs” (Ben, Matthew and Natalie), all put on their wellie boots and waterproofs and headed for the loch to bid farewell to the 250 small fish they saw hatching  4 weeks ago. The alevins’ yolk sacs were almost reabsorbed and this meant it was time to let the fish go to feed and grow in the loch. Let’s hope that these youngsters get to see some of these fish again in a few years!

Special thanks to Mrs. Bowen for joining us on the trip, Natalie for her photography skills and Matthew and Ben for the videos.

On Saturday 9th April, an  interesting shipment arrived to Stronsay onboard the ferry: a vivier type tank containing about 20,000 brown trout alevins!

After the rather sad end of most of the fish hatched during the “Troot in the Shed” project, when about 80% died 3 days before they were to be released, this was a golden opportunity for some of the Stronsay boys who had worked so hard, to take part in a proper stocking operation. Thanks to Mike Holland who, very kindly accepted to take delivery of the Orkney Trout Fishing Association’s  tank, drive to the various locations and send back the tank to Kirkwall on the last ferry, Craig, Daniel, Keith and Kevin had the chance to release 10,000 alevins in Lea Shun, in the south of the island, and as many in Meikle Water. Let’s hope they manage to recapture some of them in 5 or 6 years, once they’ve put on a bit of weight! Again, well done to these young people who braved that cold and foggy morning to help maintain a decent head of fish in the two lochs!