Dive South Australia's Kingfish Pens

THE sensation of being in the middle of thousands of fish may soon become accessible in South Australia.

A diver gets ready to jump into a kingfish pen at Fitzgerald Bay, South Australia / Seanna Cronin

EVER heard of a fish massage?

Most people haven't but the sensation of being in the middle of thousands of fish may soon become accessible in South Australia.

The Eyre Peninsula's aquaculture industry offers a unique diving and snorkeling experience found nowhere else in Australia.

The region's yellowtail kingfish nets give divers and snorkelers the opportunity to immerse themselves in large schools of tens of thousands of fish a concentration that is impossible to find in the wild.

Each pen holds between 20,000 and 25,000 yellowtail kingfish, which can reach more than two metres in length and weigh up to 65kg.

The fish take 15 months to grow to 4kg, when they harvested and sold to domestic and overseas markets.

As the boat ties up to the pen you can see the bright yellow tail and dorsal fins of the fish slicing the surface of the water, and silver flashes as the sun reflects on the smooth bodies of the fish swimming just below the surface.

From the moment you slide into the water you are surrounded by fish, with hundreds of pair of eyes staring blankly back at you.

Unlike their cousins the tuna, kingfish have no sense of personal space. They rub against, peck and even swim straight into divers.

But there's no feeling of claustrophobia. The school thins out around the edges of the pen and most of the fish give way to bubble blowers.

More adventurous divers can swim straight into the middle of the throng, which blocks out the sun in a swirl of scales and fins.

The only time the school exerts its force is during feeding time, when the automatic feeding machine shoots pellets into the middle of the pen.

The excited fish swim quickly around the pen, creating a whirlpool. There's no danger of being sucked to the bottom of the net, 15 metres below, but the force of the whirlpool does push you out out to the edge of the pen.

The feeding only lasts five to 10 minutes and the kingfish quickly return to their cruising laps.

Whyalla Diving Services owner Tony Bramley wants to turn this unique experience which was has been for select divers and journalists into a regular tour for divers and snorkelers.

Mr Bramley has been servicing the aquaculture nets in Fitzgerald Bay since 1998, and has taken a few hundred people to dive the nets as guests with the permission of the kingfish farm owners.

"I just know how well this is going to go because I know how many times people ask me now if there's something like that available," he said.

Mr Bramley hopes to have the tour operation up and running in time for this winter's Australian giant cuttlefish mating aggregation, which attracts divers from around the world to Whyalla from late May through July.

In-depth: All the latest travel news

Follow our Twitter blog

Follow our travel reporter and travel editor's Twitter blog