The British have always loved their game fish. Wherever conquered, they brought their beloved Atlantic salmon, Rainbow trout and Brown trout. Indeed, for a while, they tried to establish spawning stocks in every corner of the globe. However, we now know what "environmentalists" still do not, that Atlantic salmon are poor colonizers. This notwithstanding, Rainbow and Brown trout can be found in some pretty strange places around the world.

Shipping the old way

If Queen Victoria had had aircraft during her reign. However, she had to colonize her new lands with people and their fish by using boats. Think about it, transporting eggs from the Center of the Universe (England) to New Zealand with water, water everywhere and not a drop to irrigate eggs. These guys knew their fish.

Nowadays, things are a little easier transported around the globe. Or are they? 

There are three components when dealing with transporting eggs internationally or at least through jurisdictional boundaries: regulations, biology and logistics.

INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS

The Office International des Epizooties (OIE) in Paris, France is the international regulatory body that sets the guidelines for the cross-boundary transport of animals. Their mandate is to prevent the spread of pathogens via transported livestock.

For fish, the conditions for international transport of eggs are pretty much common sense: the hatchery and brood must be proven disease-free. This includes the screening of all breeding fish for bacterial and viral pathogens of concern. And the hatchery has to be certified disease-free for pathogens of concern.

Once the OIE stuff is out of the way, certification needs to be obtained from the country of origin and the receiving country. This can mean getting several agencies and government bodies to sign off on several issues: a task that is this side of Herculean. Exporters often get caught between the state/provincial and federal governments.

In Canada, an exporter has to obtain the above certifications, a certificate of origin, NAFTA clearance and a sanitary certificate (egg disinfection at fertilization, eyed and 24 hours prior to shipping – verified by a third party). These forms and a few others, not to forget waybill and invoice, are copied four times and placed with travel documents on the outside of the shipping containers.

Documents requesting the eggs from the recipient are also a good idea. In the US, the Lacey Act restricts movements and sale of wildlife species, so the stocks must have a waiver as well. As one exporter puts it "The paperwork is a pain in the papillae." The process of a) liaison with the regulatory bodies and b) getting the job done takes the time of at least two management level personnel.

Preparing the eggs

As far as the eggs themselves are concerned, things are a little easier. As stated, the eggs are disinfected for 10 min in 100ppm Ovadine for three times, the last 24 hours before shipment to which a vet must sign off. The eggs are then loaded into either trays or tubes, such as those used by Aquaseed of Washington (see figure).

DFO used to transport tonnes of eggs and they used square boxes wood and screen or Styrofoam trays. Modern methods are not a vast improvement on this theme and rely on the central theme of moist eggs, gravity and cold air being more dense than warm.

In trays, about 1.5 - 2 litres of eggs are loaded into a tray. Very damp cloths at chilled temp are wrapped around the trays and the units put in a cooler or a cardboard sleeve. Sometimes the bottom tray is empty to provide for drainage. The top tray can contain wet ice, depending on the length of travel time, which drips cold water over the eggs below. The Aqauseed system uses similar trays in a cooler or the eggs are loaded into tubes that are capped and placed in rows. This method can transport between 50-80,000 Coho eggs or 100,150,000 Atlantic eggs to a cooler.

Transport Time

Transport times should be less than 48 hours, but remember the Limey sailors took a little longer. The boxes of eggs need to be clearly labeled "refrigerate between connections" less they incubate on the tarmac between flights. A similar notice of "pathogen free" saves them from a dangerous cargo designation by the unenlightened of the baggage crew. The shipping containers should be chilled between 2 and 7^oC.

In this instance, using a freight forwarder is a capital idea. These people know the business and have

the connections. They too have their paperwork demands, but then they take over the hassle. And don’t forget insurance.

On the receiving end, the eggs should be opened in a quarantined cold room under low light. The eggs are again disinfected and picked for dead eggs. Then normal incubation practices ensue. 

Payment often takes a bit longer.

Many thanks to Steve Fukui of Heritage Salmon, Maureen Lawrie of Omega Salmon and Amanda Whitty of Aquaseed for help in preparing this article.