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 1.2million trout and salmon were released alongside nearly five million native fish such as Murray cod (1.6million), golden perch (2.3million), Australian bass (474500) and silver perch (235000).
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 (100000), Hume (69000), Tullaroop Reservoir (53000), Purrumbete (41500), and Wendouree (29000) 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 (427000), Rocklands (431000), Hume (320000) and Eppalock (300000), Gunbower Creek (300000) and Cairn Curran Reservoir (208000).
The hatchery has an annual budget of about $3.1million, with fish purchases costing about $1.8million.
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