Victoria’s barramundi experiment deemed a success

"I fished Darwin for barra and never got one. Paid for guide, flights, accommodation, cost plenty. Fished Hazelwood and christened my new boat with a Vic barra. How many people can say that? Thanks Fisheries Victoria for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Bruce Lee on Fisheries Victoria's Facebook page.

Forget the East Alligator, Roper River or Tinaroo. For a hullabaloo is being made over Fisheries Victoria highly successful barramundi stocking of the warm-water Hazelwood Pondage in the Gippsland region. That's where the barra have been biting.

But after Engie, the French-owners of the local power station, turned off the hot-water outlet as they closed their coal-driven power plant in late March 2017, one might wonder if this unique stocked fishery was short sighted and, well, short lived.

Fisheries Victoria released some 5500 barramundi into the Pondage in mid-2016. The Fishery opened on December 9, 2016. Thousands of anglers flocked to the pondage for their chance to catch a barramundi.

The biggest fish we heard landed was an 80cm whopper caught by Jesse Mathias (photo above). But there were plenty of other solid barra caught from the dam by top anglers. As with these fish just about anywhere, they can be fickle at times.

A GREAT FINANCIAL RETURN
Fisheries Victoria says the Hazelwood barramundi fishery has been a great success for the State thanks to funding from the Target One Million Plan.

The fishery attracted more than 5000 new visitors to the Pondage and returned more than $700,000 to the local community over a four-month period. Who knows what the tackle sales brought in.

The cost for developing the fishery, including the purchase of barramundi, upgrading access infrastructure and signs, and consultation with recreational fishers, was estimated to be $150,000.

Recreational Fishing License fees were not been used to develop the barramundi fishery.

So that’s a pretty good return on investment. However, the longer-term returns may be much greater, as the experimental Hazelwood fishery may have planted a seed for future barra fish stockings.

THE BARRAS' FUTURE
Since the closure of the power plant, Fisheries Victoria says it has been closely monitoring the fishery and now expects barramundi to migrate into the warmer outflow channel over the next few weeks.

Fisheries Victoria are also working closely with Melbourne University researchers to explore how geothermal water could be used to support the barramundi fishery.

The warm underground water (up to 40 megalitres/day at 45 degrees Celsius) will continue to be pumped from the open cut coal mine into the Pondage.

Fisheries Victoria is currently working with researchers to understand:
>> How reduced heated water inflow will impact the barramundi fishery in the short-term.
>> The feasibility of using geothermal water to sustain the barramundi fishery in the longer-term, and
>> What social and economic contribution the Hazelwood barramundi fishery has made to the local region.

FISH CONSUMPTION WARNING
While there has been a one fish per day bag limit for Hazelwood Pondage, there was no size limit as most barramundi were stocked at 30cm + and would exceed 50cm in length when fishing opened.

But National food safety standards has recommend Hazelwood barramundi consumption be limited to 1 x 150g serve per week for adults. For children 1 x 75g serve per fortnight is now recommended.

This tsrict consumption advice was due to the warm 22C water from the mine and power station being high in chemicals called PFAs. These have been found in the flesh of the barra in Hazelwood Pondage. It would stand to reason that PFAs would also be in the Aussie bass, native eels, and noxious carp, tilapia and cichlids in the lake.

Fisheries says the food standards are highly precautionary and relate to total intake of fish over a lifetime of exposure — people who have eaten Hazelwood barramundi need not worry, it says. Many fishers also choose to catch and release barra, rather than take a feed home anyway.

VERDICT: YAY OR NAY
Fisheries Victoria says it’s committed to preserving and developing Hazelwood Pondage as a high-quality recreational fishery. While it’s unfortunate that the power station has closed and the hot water has been turned off, there are high hopes the barra will survive.

What has become clear is that anglers will travel, spend and engage with well-stocked and productive impoundment fisheries.

Fisheries Victoria executive director, Travis Dowling, reportedly said the early advice from researchers was that a section of the pondage will remain at a temperature that allows barramundi to survive.

"That section is currently inaccessible to the public because of the high temperatures of the water at about 40 degrees, but that would drop to about 27 degrees with the closure of Hazelwood, allowing it to be opened up to anglers, and anything above 20 degrees would keep the barra happy."

An independent survey of 4000 boat-based barramundi anglers who were permit-holders of the ballot process found the direct economic benefit of the fishery was between $600,000 and $800,000 over a four-month period, during which at least 5000 people visited the Pondage to fish for barra.

Looking into the crystal ball, perhaps a hot-water service created using solar energy and wind power could warm man-made dams that were stocked with barra just for the purpose of sportfishing? If you can catch barra to 80cm in Victoria then anything’s possible.

More on the future of Hazelwood Pondage and its barra at Hazelwood Barramundi FAQs.