Hatchery helps stock waterways

Millions of fish were grown and supplied into Victorian waterways at 200 places around Victoria in 2017-18.

The Snob’s Creek Fish Hatchery, a Victorian Government authority, set a record in the 12 months with more than six million fish stocked. It also celebrated its 70th birthday.

With Snobs Creek hatchery working at full capacity, the Victorian Fisheries Authority relied on the purchase of several million fish from interstate fish hatcheries to provide its entire stocking commitment into Victorian waterways.

According to the annual report, more than 1.2 million trout and salmon were released alongside nearly five million native fish such as Murray cod (1.6 million), golden perch (2.3 million), Australian bass (474 500) and silver perch (235 000).

Large numbers of the trout and Murray cod were grown at the Snobs Creek Hatchery, near Eildon, which is funded by fishing licence fees and the project Target One Million.

Lakes Eildon (100 000), Hume (69 000), Tullaroop Reservoir (53 000), Purrumbete (41 500), and Wendouree (29 000) received trout and salmon, most of which were one-year-old fish.

More than four million Murray cod and golden perch fingerlings, only a few months old and averaging one gram each, were stocked into lakes Eildon (427 000), Rocklands (431 000), Hume (320 000) and Eppalock (300 000), Gunbower Creek (300 000) and Cairn Curran Reservoir (208 000).

The hatchery has an annual budget of about $3.1 million, with fish purchases costing about $1.8 million.