Petuna says its escapees were tiny, so where have the big fish come from?

Anglers have been reporting reeling in 4kg and 5kg fish after two recent salmon escapes, but the company whose fish fled their pens says the escapees were only tiny smolt.

A TASMANIAN conservation group is calling for salmon companies and the state’s environmental watchdog to immediately clarify which fish farmer recently lost a large amount of fully grown salmon in Macquarie Harbour.

The Environment Protection Authority this week said Petuna had notified it of two fish escapes – one in November and another last week – and West Coast anglers have reported catching large numbers of big salmon in the harbour.

ANGLERS SMILING AFTER TWO FISH ESCAPES

But Petuna has again distanced itself from the big salmon catches saying there was no connection between its loss of 50,000 baby salmon in November and the presence of bigger fish in the harbour.

The EPA said no escaped fish numbers have been given in relation to last week’s incident.

Environment Tasmania said clarification was needed.

“Petuna has claimed responsibility for the loss of a large number of small salmon, but denies that the larger fish being caught by anglers belong to them,” strategy director Laura Kelly said.

“That leaves Huon or Tassal – both companies need to immediately state if these fish belong to them and if so, how many salmon they have lost and whether they are carrying any diseases.

“Escapes have become a bit of a carnival in Tasmania, with embarrassing levels of non-disclosure from companies. While they might be fun for punters to catch, there are serious environmental, biosecurity and animal welfare considerations.”

Altantic salmon jumping in fish pens in Macquarie Harbour Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

Huon Aquaculture said it had checked all its pens in Macquarie Harbour over past few days using divers as well as on-pen cameras and there had been zero escapes.

Tassal said it had also inspected its operations and no breaches were detected.

Petuna Aquaculture said one of its pens was damaged in stormy weather just over a month ago damaged and 50,000 small Atlantic salmon escaped.

“The fish we lost weighed only around 250 grams having only recently been transferred from our hatchery at Cressy. Under no circumstance could they be described as big fish. They are tiny,” strategy and technical general manager Richard Miller said.

“It appears that our situation has been incorrectly linked to claims of large size fish being caught in the harbour.

“Petuna reports any fish loss through the appropriate regulatory channels, as we have always done. If Petuna had a known fish loss relating to big fish, this also would have been reported

appropriately.

“In terms of production, the small fish that escaped represent only around 14 tonnes of the

company’s annual production of several thousand tonnes.”