Fish Farming at the Black Forest 

When we purchased the trout farm in the Buhlbachtal valley and its »Fischerstüble« restaurant in 2016 one thing was certain: we would retain this institution that had grown over decades and guide both of them, the gastronomy and the farm, into the next generation. In addition to far-sightedness and imagination, implementing a project of this magnitude requires patience – it was sensible and responsible to only complete it bit-by-bit. So we initially gained experience in production and finishing of the fish before we started installing the state-of-the-art aquaculture equipment, representing a trailblazing milestone in the history of our family-owned company.

An unspoiled natural idyll and the purest of water have provided the best prerequisites for sustainably producing something special here in a unique location in the Buhlbach conservation area: fish of organic quality – deliberately without certification, grown slowly with the best of food, with monitored oxygenation, and without chemicals, antibiotics or other breeding aids. Whereby the use of highly sensitive sensor and monitoring technology ensures optimum living conditions and guarantees maximum animal welfare.

An innovative infrastructure and optimum production processes; ecological and social responsibility; transparent processes; and respect for the food – this was the vision, and this is the goal that we have already reached.

We focus on top-quality regional production. The main fish species are rainbow trout, salmon trout, char and golden trout.

Absolute transparency on the producer side is our promise of quality, and this includes all the steps – from the egg to the finishing – from keeping spawning fish; through the egg stripping process, incubation and growth of the young fish; to the smoking process. We cover everything here on-site because this is the only way that we can guarantee, in all conscience, the best of origins and an unadulterated taste.

Rainbow trout, salmon trout, golden trout and char grow here under the best of growth conditions for top-quality regional production – about 65,000 food fish per year – locally produced for local sale, fresh daily for consumption in the restaurants of the Forellenhof, in the Bareiss restaurants, and for sale in the Forellenlädle shop.

Smoking takes place using proven Altona smoking processes –with both cold smoking and hot smoking, employing beech logs that have been dried for three years.

The production facilities – with four flow channel pools, the hatchery and a technology centre – are largely immune to climate change. The spring water from the nearby Leinbächle stream is passed through a modern filter plant at the end of the flow channels, cleaned and fed back into the circulatory system. The water leaving the plant is as clean as the water flowing into it.

Thanks to having our own reprocessing plant, smooth operation is guaranteed with low spring discharge even during longer dry periods. This results in a saving of about 300,000 m³ of water during a whole year. From a technical point-of-view, installation of the flow channels also ensures ideal conditions for animal welfare, while our first-class qualified specialist staff and state-of-the-art monitoring technology guarantee that problems or disruptions are promptly detected and corrected.

The Forellenhof Buhlbach is one of Baden-Württemberg’s most innovative fish farms and is considered an exemplary model throughout Germany.

An investment of forward-looking character in fish farming – focusing on fish welfare, organic quality and sustainability – was completed on 7 October 2022 with the official commissioning of the hatchery, flow channel system and water preparation plant.