Victorian barramundi thriving in Hazelwood Pondage

Barramundi are booming in Hazelwood Pondage, just a few hours out of Melbourne, following a recent survey that captured 20 stocked barra' including a whopping great specimen weighing more than 6kg.

It's believed this 6kg-plus barra was from an initial stocking of 33cm-long fish (about a year-old) released in September 2015. So in less than a year in the warm-water hydro pond, the fish has grown to 80-81cm or more than double its length.

From this you can deduce that Victorian barra are thriving in Hazelwood and a promising new fishery is on the cusp on being opened later this year. For background, read our previous report on the stocking of the first ever barra fishery in Victoria.

Fisheries Victoria Executive Director, Travis Dowling, said that the exceptional growth was very exciting news for freshwater anglers hoping to chase a barramundi in Victoria.

"Stocking barramundi into Hazelwood Pondage was one of several State Government commitments in its Target One Million plan for recreational fishing, which aims to get more people fishing, more often and grow participation to one million anglers by 2020," Mr Dowling said.

"Eighteen barramundi measuring about 33cm were stocked into the Pondage in September 2015, following a successful acclimatisation trial.

"These were followed in April 2016 by three size classes consisting of 1000 fingerlings at 5cm, 500 fish at 10cm and 100 larger barramundi at 30cm.

"We believe that the six largest barramundi surveyed last week, including the thumper over 6kg, were all from the first small stocking in September 2015.

"Nine of the barramundi surveyed were around 50cm and from the recent stocking of 30cm size class fish in April 2016.

"These growth rates are comparable, if not better, than some of Australia's best tropical barramundi fisheries."

Mr Dowling said the results indicate that stocked barramundi, in particular those released as larger fish, have thrived in the Pondage and grown exceptionally well.

The Pondage’s unusually warm water, combined with its abundant population of exotic prey-fish, appear to have provided barramundi with an ideal home away from home.

“The performance of the stocked barramundi has been monitored with leading fisheries research methods including acoustic tagging and listening stations, water temperature loggers and electro-fishing," Mr Dowling adds

Recreational fishing in the Pondage remains closed until at least October 20, 2016 to enable further fish surveys to be conducted.

Fisheries Victoria and a working group of anglers, the land owner and the Latrobe City Council are looking at ways to ensure the fishery is well managed prior to re-opening, including facility upgrades, fisheries enforcement and education, and usage rules so everyone can enjoy the waterway.

More at
vic.gov.au/fisheries. The Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources helped source the government agency photos accompanying this release.