Menu:
Wideford Hatchery
The first OTFA hatchery was started in 1929 by Messrs. D Kemp snr. and
P Spence. It was small in comparison to today's set-up being a two box affair
housed in the cellar below Mr. Spence's home, with the water supply coming
via the bathroom.
The Hatchery building at Wideford
 |
Hatchery Building at Wideford |
Twice the hatchery was relocated after that finishing up in an old air-raid
shelter at Papdale where the Infant and Primary school's are now situated.
Throughout the first forty years of it's existence D Kemp snr.remained an
active hatchery committee member until his death in 1970.
The Stromness branch of the OTFA had their own hatchery at Queen
Street in Stromness. This was run under the convenorship of Mr. C
Ritch assisted by amongst others Mr. A Bullen.Kirkwall had capacity for
80,000 eggs with Stromness hatching 30,000 approximately.
In 1970 the hatchery was relocated to a site just outside Kirkwall at Wideford
Hill Reservoir. During the first fifty years many hundreds of thousands
of fry both brown and sea trout were stocked in burns and lochs throughout
Orkney. Fish were even transported to Shetland.
After yet another move, this time across the road within the same complex
the present hatchery was built in 1984.
 |
| Stewart Wood and Jim Harcus |
George Skea and Peter Miller were now at the helm and this was to prove
a highly productive period for the OTFA. Instead of releasing fry only,
George and Peter were keen to grow fish on to fingerling size which would
greatly enhance their chance of survival. After much trial and tribulation
they had success and managed to rear 20,000 approx. per annum for release
in the Spring of each season.
Orkney has some large water such as Harray Loch, which are looked upon as
self sustaining, but many of the smaller lochs had little or no stock. All
this changed during the 1908's when previously virgin waters were stocked
with fingerling trout. The results were to say the least phenomenal. After
a period of three to four years trout in the 3-4lb. class were common with
larger specimens both caught and lost. I have no doubt this boosted the
tourist trade on some of the outer islands of Orkney.