Fishing bonanza in NT as Million Dollar Fish returns

Fishing Tourism is set to receive another shot in the arm as the Northern Territory Government has committed to launching a second season of the hugely popular and lucrative Million Dollar Fish competition.

The inaugural season saw 10 prize tagged barramundi worth $10,000 caught across the Northern Territory over some last five months.

Chief Minister and Tourism Minister Adam Giles said the Million Dollar Fish competition had been a great success and delivered huge promotion for the Northern Territory around the world.

"We've had more than 43,000 people register for the competition from 62 different countries including 25,800 people from interstate and 14,600 Northern Territory locals," he said.

"This was 33 per cent higher than our original target and a figure we hope to see grow further now we've announced a second season of the competition.

"After our 10 $10,000 competition winners during season one, interstate anglers can travel up here with confidence that the tagged fish are real and can be caught."

Mr Giles said the competition generated more than 200 media articles and the Million Dollar Fish website received over 26,000 visits a month.

"A Tourism NT registrant survey showed an estimated quarter of the 25,800 interstate registrants – roughly 6000 people – came to the NT and went fishing with the visitors mainly coming from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria," he said.

"It was also great to hear that while in the NT, these holiday makers said they undertook sightseeing tours, visited Litchfield and went camping, providing further flow on benefits for local businesses.

Mr Giles said the competition generated spin-off benefits for local businesses with marine dealers reporting a boom in outboard motor servicing, servos selling more fuel and tackle shops reporting increases in business.

"Tourism NT research showed locals also loved Million Dollar Fish with 92 per cent of Territorians registered saying they would definitely register and fish in the competition again," he said.

Owner of Barefoot Fishing Safaris Glenn Watt said he put on extra fishing charters to cater for the Million Dollar Fish demand.

"Normally I'd be finishing up a month earlier than I did this year, but we went all the way up to just before Christmas. Everyone wanted to catch the million dollar barra. We put on new shorter charters around Darwin Harbour especially for Million Dollar Fish customers and they went gangbusters," he said.

"All our customers were tourists who were registered in the competition and we saw a lot of families on these charters which we don't normally get and that was great to see."

Competition partners and underwriters of the cash prizes, CrownBet, paid out $100,000 throughout season one and they were thrilled to be back on board for another season.

Matt Tripp, CEO CrownBet, was overwhelmed by the support Million Dollar Fish received during season one.

"CrownBet is delighted to pioneer unique competitions and we congratulate the nine fishos who landed ten $10,000 cash prize barra," he said.  

"It was exciting to see thousands of people register and the media get behind the competition, and it was especially exciting to hear the buzz around the NT once the competition launched and fishos started catching the CrownBet red-tagged barra.

"CrownBet are ready for an exciting season two and maybe one smart fisho will land the $1,000,000 prize fish next season.

Highlights of season one include:
>> Nathan Neave defying the odds to catch two $10,000 fish
>> 10 fish caught from four different locations across the Top End (Darwin Harbour, Daly River, Corroborree Billabong and Bynoe Harbour);
>> One fish caught without a boat (Kurt Bauman on the Daly River).

Registrations for season two of Million Dollar Fish will open soon. More at www.milliondollarfish.com.au