UK’s first organic carp farm

Channel 4’s River Cottage food guru Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall gave the UK’s first organic carp the thumbs up as a tasty sustainable alternative on Thursday.

Photo: Jimmie who used to live near Nailsworth at his Devon Carp farm

See my blog re 21st August 2007 for more re my visit.

In the last of three progammes on fish: ‘Gone Fishing’ Hugh visits all too briefly the pioneering carp farm in Devon which has grown its fish almost entirely on locally sourced organic feeds. This is in stark contrast to virtually all other fish farms in the UK. These farms, as I've noted previously on this blog, use highly processed fish pellets that contain a significant proportion of wild caught fish originating from many areas of sea where fish stocks are seriously threatened. Hugh cooked the carp for an invited taste panel which rates the fish very highly and also explores the idea of growing carp in your own pond for your table.

The organic carp project at Upper Hayne Farm. Devon is the brain child of husband and wife team: Jimmie and Penny Hepburn who used to live in Burleigh just outside Nailsworth. The fish are reared at low densities in carefully managed ponds which produce much of the carp’s feed naturally (e.g. daphnia). Additional feeds are also given to the carp including meal worms, compost worms and locally sourced wheat grain. A week before harvest, the carp are transferred to natural spring water which thoroughly cleanses the fish and allows the true taste of the carp to be revealed.

The Hepburn’s carp is the first in the UK to be grown to the Soil Association’s organic standard for carp. The farm is planning on harvesting the first organic carp during 2008 and supplying restaurants, shops and Farmers Markets.

The demand worldwide for fish is increasing, however three quarters of the worlds fisheries are either fully or over exploited (FAO). Aquaculture is increasingly playing a key role in supplying this demand, indeed globally, it is the fastest growing food sector. Here in the UK, it is mainly carnivorous fish such salmon or trout which are farmed. The farming of these species can have a significant environmental impact such as their dependence on wild caught fish which is further threatening wild stocks. An alternative is to grow a species such as carp which occupies a lower level in the food chain requiring less energy to produce the fish protein. In fact more carp are farmed worldwide than any other group of fish – much of this takes place in Asia but also in central and eastern Europe. Although carp were grown in the UK in Medieval times the rapid development of the sea fishing industry led to the taste of carp and other course species to be lost and today carp are only regarded as a sport species.

We have come full circle, it is now important that we not only farm more fish but that we do it as sustainably as possible. This trail blazing project along with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s approach demonstrates what is needed to produce a fish which tastes good is much more ecologically responsible and you can even grow the fish yourself!

If you are interested in the project/venture and would like to find out more please contact:
Jimmie & Penny Hepburn 01823 680888 www.aquavisiononline.com

Forget Trout and Salmon: organic carp farming is the way to go

On my way down to Devon last week I stopped at a friend's home near Cullumpton - Jimmie Hepburn who used to live near Nailsworth and stood as a Green party candidate there has embarked on what I think is a particularly exciting project: organic fish farming.

Photo: Below Aquavision - Jimmies company and me talking to Jimmie as we walk around the farm

When I arrived Jimmie was on the phone organising a visit the next day by Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall - Hugh (a Green party supporter) was hoping to do a programme on carp and I did get to see the fish he would be meeting and taking back to River Cottage or wherever.

Anyhow it's been known for many years how unsustainable most fish farming is - salmon particularly has come in for much criticism (see Green party letter here) - indeed the world's fishing industry is wholly unsustainable (read more here) - 75% of commercial fish stocks are over-exploited and close to collapse - 90% of big fish like tuna and marlin are gone - we urgently need action - and today a campaign has been launched - I strongly urge people to visit this website here and sign the petition - but hey thats all for another blog entry I want to share news of this project in Devon.

Jimmie has for years worked and studied as an aquaculturist - did I spell that right? Anyhow he has advised many different organisations and I think it is fair to say been frustrated by the current loose standards around organic fish farming. Although there have also been exciting projects which he has been involved with like at Sheepdrove Organic Farm - read more about that here.

Photos: more shots of the farm including mealworm pilot project and pond plant developments

'Carp' I hear you cry - 'Who eats that?'

It is true that it is not really eaten here in the UK - even some fisher folk I've spoken to have even been surprised by the suggestion of eating it - but it's eaten widely in other countries - a delicacy - and Jimmie's visited farms in Austria to see how they do it there - the fish can be a bit 'muddy' sometimes but a 30 min soak before hand in salt water completely eliminates the problem - there is also a special filleting tool that helps with bones - it is by all accounts great - not least because of it's sustainability (more below on that) - however there will be a challenge to market it - although with the increase in farmers markets and desires for organic local produce I cannot see a problem longer term.

Why carp?

Well basically it is one the most sustainable fish requiring the least energy inputs - salmon for example requires huge inputs in terms of protein - other fish - indeed Aquaculture already uses up over 70% of the world’s supply of fish oil and by 2010 that figure will rise to over 90%.

In contrast carp tend to be omnivorous, feeding on snails, mollusks, worms, algae, aquatic plants, seeds and detritus. Abroad they have been incorporated into rice paddies to feed on the insects and other organisms associated with rice culture. Carp are also able to tolerate less than ideal environmental conditions.

4 acres of water

Anyhow Jimmie owns 4 acres of water - 17 ponds - in 18 months I have been astounded by the amount of work he and his wife Penny have achieved there. Initially they still had goldfish there from the previous farmer and were involved in completing a sale - there are still some varieties left but his aim is to develop carp and they are coming on already.

Much work has been done in restoring the sheds and ponds and working out how to reduce energy costs by looking at water flows, filters, increasing natural light etc - how to make the whole lot more sustainable - using some of the waste from the fish to develop pond plants for sale - maybe sheep to save on grass cutting the pond edges...and how best to stop the otters and kingfishers feeding on the carp - at the moment enormous nets have been put up over several of the key ponds.

Jimmie also has a pilot project to grow mealworms for the fish to increase their protein intake. I'm afraid you'll need to contact Jimmie himself if you have any technical questions - indeed I hope I've given a fair report in this rather hurried scribble....

Already Jimmie has got the local college and schools involved and is keen on the idea of cooperatives and supporting local markets....indeed with peak oil and climate change local fish will become an increasingly important. Most current fish farming is wholly unsustainable on many fronts - here is a way forward that offers many opportunities....exciting stuff....very good luck to him.

Coffee Morning, organic carp, meetings and comments to press

A slightly quieter week which is very nice as lots to catch up on - but thought I might as well do a round-up of some of the meetings over the last few days below. I've also included some links to this weeks news releases - and have to mention a freelance journalist phoned yesterday re an article he was considering for The Independent - looking at how green is Stroud - ended up talking for over half an hour - we'll see if it translates into an article (see my blog on 7th November 2007 for a previous discussion on this).

Photo: Coffee morning, Whiteshill Village Hall

- Coffee Morning this morning in Whiteshill Village Hall. This was to promote the work of the Village Agent, Pam Thorne (see my blog for 25th October for more info). Sadly only a couple of people turned up but it was nevertheless useful to hear their views on how the Parish could be improved. Traffic as always featured highly.

- a Transition Town Stroud meeting - the core-group of over 15 people fed back on what had been happening with the sub-groups. We've also just launched a new blog site - but virtually nothing on it yet - we hope to build it as a history of the project that maybe useful for others.

- Gloucestershire Green party meeting - this was in Gloucester - a thrice annual meeting of Greens from across the County. A great opportunity to share where we are at and plan ahead. Much discussed like the planning applications at Staverton (see my blog on 2nd March) and letter to press on this subject sent today.

- Ruscombe Brook Action Group AGM last night - much discussed like the next leaflet, our public talk planned for 25th April in Randwick Village Hall, the details of the partnership agreement with other parties plus election of Officers - I'm again Secretary for the group. We then had what can only be described as a very very wonderful meal by Julian Jones and Ali from Water 21 - Julian has been particularly supportive of our project and this meal was a fitting tribute to the first two years of RBAG - we have learnt lots and much has happened - I'm hoping the next years will be just as exciting!!

- Organic carp farm - well this wasn't really a meeting so much as a social - Jimmie Hepburn who is starting the country's first organic carp farm is a good friend. He is now based in Somerset but was passing through so it was great to hear about his project. Fish farming is highly controversial as is any food production system that puts profit before principles and good practice. However carp is different from many of the other vastly more polluting fish like salmon - plus we are talking organic standards and with carp unlike many other varieties of farmed fish you don't need to import vastly energy-intensive fish food - carp is very popular in Austria and Germany but over here you never hear of people eating it - let's hope that will change when the first fish come out of Jimmies ponds in Somerset and that people choose this rather than from other less sustainable farms.

And news releases include...

Nurses pay award is effectively a cut and Blair's latest proposals for health make no sense at all. I also commented on the Council Tax settlements by SDC and GCC, noting what we really need urgently is a reform of the whole system. Plus a comment on the absurd situation where grants for renewables run out in minutes - this month in 75 mins and also had a journalist contact re the threat to Painswick Library (see previous blogs for background). So far these comments haven't translated into print yet, but I'm not going to do my usual moan about how the press fail to cover stories properly.....

Don't buy Princes tuna

I have just managed to see Hugh Fernley Whittingstals' Fish Fight on line at Channel 4 on demand. The programmes are there for a couple of weeks more. The great news is that people have been signing up like mad to the anti-discards petition – at this moment in time we've passed 438,000, which is phenomenal. You can read more on the horrors of discards on Hugh's website and send a letter to your MP here......but in this blog I want to cover the Princes campaign, Salmon farming and chip shops - all of which featured on Hugh's three TV programmes.

Princes tuna

Well Greenpeace have just published their new tinned tuna league table, showing which supermarkets and leading brands are using the most sustainable fishing methods and which ones are responsible for killing sharks and turtles, and possibly even dolphins in their tuna nets - see the picture.

While Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose come out on top, Princes has performed abysmally. Like many I wrote to the company last year about its policies expressing concern at the huge purse seine nets coupled with fish aggregating devices (or Fads) which don't just lure in tuna, but sharks, turtles and other fish as well.

It seems before the table was even published, the Greenpeace tuna league table has produced results. Greenpeace write: "Tesco got wind it had come last and made a rapid u-turn from its previous statements. It announced that, by the end of 2012, it aims to get 100 per cent of Tesco tinned tuna caught by pole and line, the most sustainable tuna fishing method. Of course, Tesco needs to make good on this promise but it was enough to move it from the bottom of the league table, leaving Princes with the wooden fish knife."

Greenpeace have just managed to force Princes to change the labels on its tins, which falsely claimed that the company is "fully committed to fishing methods which protect the marine environment and marine life". Now we need to get it to improve its fishing methods too. Email Princes here and tell them to change their tuna. Well done Hugh and Greenpeace for campaigning on this.

Salmon farming

The murky world of fishmeal production and how it is used by Scottish salmon farms was exposed in the Fishfight films. Some of those issues have been discussed previously on this blog - ex-Nailsworth resident Jimmie Hepburn has taught me lots on this - and I have also visited his challenge to consumers and producers - organic carp. See here re the UK's first organic carp farm.

Photo: Talking to Jimmie Hepburn as we walk around the fish farm

The Ecologist magazine has also highlighted the problems - see here article and Ecologist Youtube - previously they went to Peru, the world’s leading exporter, supplying 28 per cent of the UK’s fishmeal, and documented a host of unreported environmental and social costs – including pollution and health problems, overfishing, and impacts on ecosystems and wildlife - all arising from the production of fishmeal and fish oil, principal ingredients in farmed salmon feed.

They write: "Salmon production requires huge amounts of fishmeal - an estimated 4kg of wild fish is needed for every 1kg of farmed fish produced. However, the ecological impacts of fishmeal production and the consequences for communities who are losing sources of fish for themselves, has left many to question whether it is sustainable."

Hugh offered shoppers at a Bournemouth shopping centre 300g of small oily fish in return for any 100g of salmon in their basket to highlight the fact it takes 3kg of small fish to produce 1kg of farmed salmon and not a single person had turned him down. As he said: "It shows that when the public realise what's at stake they may be prepared to make some different choices." If you eat farmed salmon, try to buy organic farmed salmon because the feed is comprised of trimmings from fish that has been processed for food, thus has a lower impact on the wild fish stocks.

Fish 'n' Chip shops

Lastly if you missed the programme - one of the aims was to get mackerel on the menu in Fish and Chip shops across the UK. By offering a more sustainable alternative to the habitual favourite Cod and Chips you will be helping to save our fish. See here. Anyone for a campaign here with Stroud chippies? Stroud is not yet on the map - see here.

Well done all for highlighting this issue - now we need to keep momentum up to create the changes needed. See also blog here re GM Salmon and here re Marine Bill.

Carpenter's Arms Win National Darts Cup

The Randwick Runner brings news this weekend that after three years of progressing through to the national finals, the Carp's darts team finally won the Boddington Holsten Darts Classic Cup in Coventry - with it's £3,000 prize money!! Well done indeed to the team and all the others who helped get them there.

Meanwhile some dates for the diary also taken from the Runner:

Sat 15th November 2pm to 5pm More Hall, Randwick are doing their authentic chicken and vegetable curries, cake stall, entertainment and refreshments.

Sat 22nd November 10am to 12 noon Randwick Village Hall Table top sale of baby and children items. 50p admission and £4 to book a table - money towards Randwick Playgroup - call Jess on 759420 or Sue on 766532

Sat 29th November 7.30pm a performance of 'Home Service - a Wartime Review' at Randwick Village Hall £6 (£5 concessions) from 764289 or 763485.

When will salmon return to Salmon Springs?

This short film was produced in 1989 by Stroud Valleys Project and I only saw it earlier this year - I've been meaning to add it to this blog as it is sadly still relevant today - although moves for hydro at Ebley are again being explored - these are important as hydropower is one of the critical requirements for restoring salmon.



The last known rod caught salmon was at Salmon Springs in the late 1950s, following the closure of access to the River Severn. There is theoretical access via the Gloucester Sharpness Canal - and I'm told by local water expert Julian Jones that a salmon was claimed to have been pitchforked out of the Frome in the 1960s. Julian also notes that he did several times hook large salmon-like fish while trout fishing in the '70s & '80s but couldn't get them to the surface to see what they were, before being snapped up.

Another obstacle for salmon is the river Frome weir at Whitminster - they can apparently sometimes been seen there - dying.

Salmon was once so common that servants complained of its frequent appearance on the menu. The decline of salmon fisheries throughout the UK, especially where salmon farms are in estuaries, places an important emphasis on there restoration wherever possible. I'm also told that the Frome 'salmon' probably included runs of Slob Trout, estuarine sea trout, as the local 'salmon' were often claimed to have white flesh. This is a feature of Slob Trout, which are Sea Trout that live in estuaries and feed only on fish - they grow very large, are very silver and look like salmon. The pink flesh of salmon, sea trout and some (most of our larger local) brown trout, is pink from a diet of crustaceans.

Anyhow it would be good to see interested individuals come together on this issue to see if we can really restore salmon to Salmon Springs. Certainly in the Ruscombe Brook Action Group and the Stroud Valleys Water Forum we are pushing for the improvements that will eventually lead to their return! Anyone interested in helping take this issue forward?

Combined Sewer Overflows in the Stroud District

As noted in the film a Combined Sewer Overflow is a valve that operates when the sewers are surcharged due to heavy rain. The valve discharges the sewage that the sewer can not carry into the brooks, streams and rivers of Stroud - a problem that most of the country suffers from and has been covered previously on this blog.

Severn Trent has permission from the EA for this practice, and Severn Trent has a list of where the outlets are in Stroud. The impact on bio-diversity can be very large. One way of solving the problem without re-building the Victorian sewer network would be a series of reed-beds to clean-up the discharge before it enters the water-course.

In the last couple of months I have been following up on the Combined sewer overflow problem at Gladfield Gardens in Ebley. I have written to Severn Trent (no answer), spoken to Cainscross Parish Council who were going to write a letter of concern and I have now spoken with the Environment Agency at some length. I am particularly concerned that this site poses a health risk to residents and will also negatively impact on plans to develop the canal.

See also ex-Nailsworth resident's Devon organic carp farm here.