Nikolaus Höplinger worked on the product for a long time. How would he get the arctic char from the Wolfgangsee into the can? And in such a way that the taste is preserved and shelf life is guaranteed? “We experimented for a year,” says the 59-year-old, who is now the ninth generation to fish at Lake Wolfgang – tradition with a good portion of innovation.
Fishing has played a role in St. Wolfgang on the lake of the same name in Upper Austria for centuries. Since the late 13th century, believers have made pilgrimages to the lake to which St. Wolfgang had once retired. All the pilgrims had to be taken care of, including fish from the lake, and that remained so until the 19th century, when the pilgrimage lost its importance. Höplinger’s ancestors had been fishing since 1783, as tenants, so to speak. It was not until 1860 that they were able to buy the fishing rights from the Habsburgs – who at that time needed money after the lost battle of Solferino against the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Since then, the family has managed two thirds of the lake, 864 hectares. Above all, char, lake trout and Reinanken – this is what whitefish are called here – are fished and sold. That sounds easy, but it isn’t necessarily. “The spawning habitats of the lake trout are limited,” says Höplinger. In the Strobler Bay he built a hatchery for reefs and lake trout to support the natural stocking. He has also installed a trapping system for plankton. The plankton are sorted in such a way that they can be taken in by the young fish. As soon as the offspring have reached a length of five to six centimeters, they are released into the lake. The advantage: “This means that the fish are genetically unadulterated, the water chemistry is the same, and this increases the likelihood that the fish will survive.”
A great effort, but the family is not afraid of it. Höplinger catches around six tonnes per year, around three quarters of them directly in the lake, the rest comes from ponds. Especially in the warmer months he goes out fishing at 4:30 a.m. “It’s quiet there, there are no boats on the move, and it’s cool, so the quality of the catch is better.” He still takes the catch out with his hand, he and his son, “the Bua and me”.
Freshwater fish are difficult to preserve
If Höplinger had shied away from all the work, he would probably not have started the experiment with the tin cans mentioned above. It was simply about preserving fish for a long time. He found a suitable machine in China. “Then we flew to Portugal and looked at the production.” It was extremely interesting, says the fish master. But the problem was once again in the detail. “Saltwater fish is different from freshwater fish,” explains Höplinger. Marine fish can be pasteurized at higher temperatures than fish from freshwater lakes, i.e. it is easier to preserve marine fish. In retrospect, the Austrian is a bit surprised about himself: “We had little idea what was in store for us.” They practiced for a year, preserved the fish, checked the germ count. The product has recently been on the market – but of course we continue to experiment. Month after month, a food technician opens cans to examine how the germ counts develop – in both cool and warm storage.
Speaking of warm. Climate change will pose new challenges for fishermen on Lake Wolfgang. In the 1980s it was possible to significantly improve the water quality with a circular sewer system. It is now perfect, the lake surrounded by mountains is the EU reference body for alpine lakes. But the temperatures are rising, and char, puree and trout don’t tolerate that very well. “In the long term, the carp-like will benefit if the water becomes warmer due to climate change,” says Höplinger. Then it will be time again for experiments at Lake Wolfgang.
Information: www.wolfgangsee-fischerei.at