Small But Mighty

Mt. Lassen Trout Farm Leads in Responsible Aquaculture…

Having recently celebrated its 75th anniversary raising trout and steelhead in its spring waters surrounding Mt. Lassen, the family-owned Mt. Lassen Trout Farm knows a thing or two about sustainable aquaculture.
The all-natural spring water is the lifeblood of the business, with millions of fish swimming around in various North State creek water/snowmelt ponds every year. Eighty percent of the fish are then moved to recreational ponds all around California (one site is three miles away from Disneyland), and the other 20 percent are mostly sold in high-end restaurants.

“Chefs love our story and process,” says Mt. Lassen Trout Farm General Manager Katie Harris. “It’s such a compliment from these chefs for them to be so excited about our product. We give tours sometimes and I’m always humbled by their response. It’s a testament to the mountain and our fish being raised in a good environment. It all leads to the taste and texture of the fish, and that’s why it’s our job not to mess it up,” she adds.

Mt. Lassen Trout Farm is the largest private trout farm in California – it produces 800,000 to 900,000 pounds of fish per year – and at one time it was the largest trout egg supplier in the United States. Since the mountain spring water is so centric to everything they do, it is committed to nonconsumptive aquafarming. That means the water comes out of the ground, is run through the facilities, then can go toward something like generating electricity or fighting wildfires.

“This industry is heavily regulated. There are strict water quality standards, so in utilizing the water we’re trying to not do too much with what we’ve got,” Harris says. She explains that several ranches around them have water directly reclaimed from the trout farm, and that water was especially vital to have during the Park Fire, allowing firefighters to draft it out of the trout farm’s raceways.

“The spring water is the lifeblood of everything we do, so being a nonconsumptive user is critical for us,” Harris says.

There is negative press about farmed fish, but Harris says that in the economics of supply and demand, if we relied on just the ocean for fish, we’d deplete it fast – much like if we were out there trying to hunt our own chicken and pork.

“People think farmed fish is bad, but I see how far aquaculture has come and folks like us are good stewards of the land,” Harris says. She is a big proponent of U.S. aquaculture and believes fish are a wonderful protein used to feed the world.

“This is a local product and most of our fish stays in California. That’s important,” adds Harris. “Our fish is going out to ponds and chefs. Our customers, end users and consumers always tell us how they’re happy with the quality of our fish and that’s something I’m proud of.”

Harris has been involved with Mt. Lassen Trout Farm pretty much her entire life. Her dad, Phil Mackey, has been in the aquaculture industry for more than 54 years, and Harris says she grew up on a “7,000-acre ranch in the middle of nowhere.”

“We had no neighbors, so I hung out with my grandpa a lot. I was pumping fish poop when I was 9, weed eating, and doing whatever else I could to help,” she adds.
She went off to college, not planning to become a fish farmer, but family drew her back to Manton. “The fish farm is a weird sense of home. I love the people I work with, and I love this industry,” Harris explains.
When asked what her favorite aspect of the Mt. Lassen Trout Farm is, she instantly says it’s the people who work for them.

“We’re a small but mighty family company and employ a lot of people in this community, from Hat Creek to Shingletown. Being a small business in California is hard, and we’re charged with the care of live animals. We can’t just be done with work after eight hours. The water is the lifeblood, but it’s the folks who make this place go.

“We have such a low employee turnover rate. There are people still here from when I was a kid. We make decisions that prioritize the fish and the people…and we hope to keep this going for another 75 years.” •

Mt. Lassen California Trout & Steelhead
www.mtlassentrout.com
www.mtlassenseafood.com