Tassie Salmon Escape!

[Hodgey]

WooHoo! Tassie fishos must be having a ball

The World Today - Wednesday, 13 June , 2007 12:48:00

9,000 Atlantic Salmon have escaped from a fish farm in Macquarie Harbour at Strahan and they're not going anywhere.

The fish farm owners have now given up trying to compete with fisherman to retrieve the salmon, and the only way out of Macquarie Harbour is through a narrow entrance called Hell's Gate.

As Felicity Ogilvie reports.

FELICITY OGILVIE: It's not quite as easy as going fishing in an aquarium, but if you drop a line or net into Macquarie Harbour at Strahan, you're bound to catch Atlantic Salmon.

Not just any salmon, but huge five to six kilogram fish that were about to be sold.

The West Coast Mayor Darryl Gerrity has been watching the fishermen.

DARRYL GERRITY: Macquarie Harbour is virtually land-locked, except for a small entrance into the ocean called Hell's Gates, and they tend to swim around the Harbour and lots of recreational fisherman net them during an escape, and eat very well, and use a lot of salmon recipes.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The 9,000 salmon escaped two weeks ago when the company Tassal was towing a pen across the harbour.

The fish were about to be harvested but a net got caught on a line and the 9,000 salmon in the pen swam free.

Word of the escape spread fast and fishermen from across Tasmania flocked to Strahan.

Darryl Gerrity says the locals have caught so many fish they're happy to share.

DARRYL GERRITY: What are you going to do with a hundred salmon? Especially 8 kilo fish, you can only store so much in your fridge, so, obviously locals don't go out as frequently as say recreational anglers from all over Tasmania. They come here in droves and net them.

The Strahan Police checked more than 300 fishing nets on the long weekend.

FELICITY OGILVIE: Is it a situation where it is illegal for people to pick up these salmon that have escaped from the nets, or is it all right for them to be fishing?

JONATHAN SUMMERS: No, it is encouraged. Once the salmon have escaped, it is in the interest of the fisheries I think to recover as many as possible.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The Tassal group hire a commercial fishermen to recover as many salmon as possible. He caught a thousand fish.

Mark Ryan is the Managing Director of the Tassal Group and he doesn't begrudge those making the most of the salmon bonanza.

MARK RYAN: At the end of the day, it's just part and parcel. I try not to take it too personally at the end of the day, it's just one of those things that happens with the industry that we are in.

FELICITY OGILVIE: Tassal is used to salmon escaping their pens.

Often clever seals chew through the nets or crafty salmon use their own teeth to break free.

And the bush telegraph is always at work with Tasmanian fishermen flocking to the site.

Mark Ryan says while the escape of the 9,000 salmon in Strahan is regrettable, there's plenty more fish in the sea.

MARK RYAN: We have about 170 pens, and we have about, at any point in time, we have about 8-million fish in the water. So to lose 9,000 fish out of 8-million gives you some sense of the perspective of it, so it is a very very small percentage.

FELICITY OGILVIE: And if any fishermen were feeling guilty about feasting on Tassal's salmon, Mr Ryan says the company turned over $150 million last year, and the fish in this escape were worth $200,000 and they were insured.

[arpie]

NEWS FLASH!! 5 plane loads of Mainlanders arrive in Tasmania & are creating a traffic jam as they find their way to Strahan to get into the salmon frenzy!!

How good is that??? It will bring a whole new tourism venture to the Southern State & with a bit of luck, they will go on to procreate & create a yearly event!!

A win/win situation, really - they were insured, so the company gets reimbursed & I bet there is plenty of fish smoking & pickling going on, with the sales of freezers going thru the roof!

Oh to be there!!!

Cheers

Roberta

[jill7779]

Sure makes you want to hop a plane to Tas eh!

Jill

[Davemmm]

The same thing happened at the same farm about two years ago.

Fella I worked with was down there and cleaned up. He reckoned he took about 50 in an arvo session but had nowhere to store them so was just giving them away.

Apparrantly tassies came from everywhere to have a shot at them I imagine it would be the same now

[wrasseman]

Yeah, it'd be nice to get down there but I for one won't be going. Can't afford the time atm, its a long from home to strahan, at least 5hrs each way. Besides, all the locals will just net em as Tassie still allows "recreational" gill-netting (dark ages hey). Its more of a bonanza when the southern farms lose fish as they are closer to the people in hobart. Up my way we only have one farm and as far as I know they've only ever had one breakout, but that made for some fat times.

Col.