Africa
Farm for sale
HIDDEN in a deep and secluded valley in South Africa’s Eastern Cape is a place called Rivendell. Straight out of a Tolkien tale of elves and dwarves, this charismatic mystical valley is complete with ancient forest, clear water dam, distant view of the sea…and South Africa’s oldest warm water fish farm.
Current owner and original developer Nicholas James discovered the unused property way back in 1988, when it formed part of a larger farm.
No one had ever lived there before, with the only infrastructure a breached 19th century dam, hand built by the early settlers, and fed by a permanent stream rising in an indigenous forest in a steep sided, protea filled valley.
The potential for something innovative was clearly there. Armed with a bottle of wine, an evening visit to the aged and delightfully eccentric farm owner ended with several empty bottles and a partnership.
Over the intervening years, Rivendell was formalised as a subdivided property and developed into Rivendell Hatchery.
The dam was rebuilt and enlarged, and provides a reliable gravity feed supply of high quality water to the fish farm. Even in times of drought, for which the Eastern Cape is infamous, the water supply has never failed, much to the envy of neighbours.
Four recirculating tunnel based systems were constructed from 1993 until 2014, each improving on the design of the previous one.
Three hatchery buildings were purpose built for the breeding of ornamental fish from Lake Malawi, as well as tilapia fry incubation, sex reversal and fry rearing.
Hapa based units [net enclosures in ponds] were installed for fingerling preparation prior to despatch, and heat pumps installed for heating in time of cold fronts.
Having built his first RAS (recirculating aquaculture system) in a tunnel as a researcher at the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology
(now SAIAB) in nearby Grahamstown in 1987, James’s experience helped early innovation at Rivendell.
During the 26 years of developing the hatchery, the fine line between optimal high-tech systems (usually financed by donor or state funding) and systems that were actually economically viable, became apparent.
A decision was made at an early stage to construct and standardise all water containments of plastered concrete blocks, using self-cleaning rectangular tanks to optimise space usage in the tunnels, and to ensure longevity and robust user friendliness.
Old technology and short lifespan circular plastic tanks were avoided, as were high energy consumptive filtration machines and other equipment that, should failure occur, would negatively compromise the survival of the fish.
However, fully automated electrical backup was an essential introduction for peace of mind.
Fundamental to the design of the fish farm was simplicity and robustness in construction
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The country has been slow to authorise Nile tilapia production but this is changing”
and operation, low energy usage, and reduced dependence on skills and parts that might not be readily available.
This philosophy paid dividends over the years, as other high tech, high investment competing hatcheries started at frequent intervals, only to fail a short time later.
A visit to Thailand in 2013 was an invaluable learning experience in realising that Asian technology in aquaculture was way ahead in many respects to elsewhere, in its simplicity, cleverness, yet practicality, and examples such as hapas and green water use for fry were incorporated into the hatchery.
Rivendell Hatchery started off as an ornamental fish hatchery specialising in the production of around 80 species of Lake Malawi cichlids, sold both to the trade and to private customers.
Emphasis was put on the higher value and rarer species, such as the Aulonocara ‘peacocks’, to carve a profitable niche in the South African market.
This continues to this day, but the bulk of production has shifted to specialised tilapia fingerling output in more recent years.
As development of improved strains of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Asia in the 1980s caused a boom in warm water aquaculture worldwide, Rivendell found itself well positioned to capitalise on this.
South Africa was slower to open up aquaculture to the best performing species than many other African countries further north, with environmental laws initially limiting development.
Rivendell Hatchery developed strains of red O. mossambicus that outperformed other existing inbred strains then available in the first decade of the new century.
Crossing red fish with the best wild strains of O. mossambicus, and then back crossing the progeny with the red strain was done six times, resulting in Rivendell’s well known ‘Red 6’ strain that is widely used in aquaponics systems countrywide. These fish fulfil environmental requirements, yet provide viable opportunities for farmers to use.
The advent of aquaponics in the last decade as a system of producing both fish and plants created a substantial demand for relatively small individual shipments of fingerlings that needed transport country wide
over long distances. Situated between the cities of Port Elizabeth and
East London, Rivendell Hatchery capitalised on this to perfect the distribution of live fish shipments with minimal mortalities, both by road as well as by air from Port Elizabeth.
With a strict protocol of fish preparation days before despatch, and strict emphasis on never sending out fish that were not in 100 per cent good condition, the hatchery soon gained, and retains, a reputation for professionalism, quality and honesty.
When the first South African permits were finally issued by the authorities in 2014 for Nile tilapia importation and use, Rivendell used its environmental authorisation to import four strains of the best Asian developed fish.
These imports were soon reared and bred, and now form the foundation of a hatchery well positioned to supply commercial scale hatcheries of all scales with fingerling stock.
One of the essentials soon learned was that a combination of fingerling hatchery and grow-out unit does not work well, except in the most high volume and high investment scaled ventures. In the same way as the chicken broiler industry separates day-old chick production from growout in separate facilities, Rivendell therefore concentrated on high quality fingerling production.
Two strains of O. mossambicus (red and silver), four strains of Nile tilapia (two red, two silver), Tilapia rendalli for aquaponics systems, and even T. sparmannii for those with cool water outdoor systems where plant production was the priority, comprise the output at present.
South Africa has been slow to authorise Nile tilapia production in commercial scale systems to date, especially in warmer parts of the country, but this is changing.
Neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique have prioritised aquaculture using the best strains over purist environmental legislative concerns and, resulting from this,
Nile tilapia have invaded larger rivers in South Africa shared with these countries.
It is only a matter of time for pressure to be permitted to use these high performing strains, already occurring in South African rivers, to be acceded to in certain catchments. Rivendell Hatchery is ready for this.
One of the lessons learned from running a fish hatchery for 26 years, is the immense amount of space required to develop strains, keep the species separate, breed them, house the fingerlings, and hold stocks ready for sale.
The frequently expressed desire by some customers ‘to breed their own fingerlings’ so often results in poor quality, inbred and un-sex reversed fish that simply don’t perform, inevitably leading to eventual economic failure of the grow-out unit.
This is due to the failure by most entry level fish culturalists to realise the complexity and scale of infrastructure required for a professional hatchery to operate efficiently and viably.
Based on the fundamentals of what has been learned in developing the hatchery, several large scale tilapia farms and hatcheries have been set up in Zambia, Burundi, Mozambique and Botswana since 2013.
A series of 169 popular aquaculture articles by James in South Africa’s Farmers Weekly magazine since 2012 has also enabled many practical and successful ideas to be disseminated to a wider audience.
Rivendell Hatchery has also formed the focus of several training and demonstration activities over the years, with close ties to various institutions.
Rivendell is a charismatic and very special place, and so much more than just a fish hatchery.
With its gabled house perched high on a mountainside above the dam and forest, with its distant sea view, it is a place of swirling mists, spectacular sunrises, waterfalls, abundant birdlife and a multitude of flowers.
Despite its unspoiled quietness and peace, it is only a 15-minute drive to Grahamstown with its good schools, university (Rhodes University), institutions such as SAIAB and the Rhodes Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science. Rivendell is also a safe place, being at the end of a road with no passing traffic.
The owner has now reached the point where he reluctantly wishes to retire, and hand over further development of the business to younger hands.
For enquiries as to details of the property and business, please email him at nickjames@ intekom.co.za or to Nick.James@saiab.ac.za or by cell to +27-825759781.
“The owner now wants to hand over further development of the business to younger hands”