Salmoniculture marine : la collecte, une étape clé

For several reasons, the harvest stage is most important in aquaculture. Not properly managed, it may diminish efforts invested throughout the whole culture cycle. This operation consists in harvesting and in killing the fish for marketing purposes and must be achieved with care to optimizing the final quality of the product in terms of flavor, sanitary aspects and preparing it well for processing. Analysing the numerous complaints expressed by endusers concerning the quality of cultured salmon demonstates that the harvest stage is the main cause of these failures. Among the failures reported, we can quote the problems of "gaping" (disconnection of the myotomes in the fillets), of brown spots (spotlights of blood), of soft texture, discoloration and early oxidation of the flesh. These failures are mostly connected with the final stage of production. It is consequently important not to underestimate this stage and moreover to consider it in the same way as, for example, the genetic improvement, the feeding and culture practices.