Fran Bailey (McEwen, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The trout and salmon industry has thrived in my electorate by making use of the cold waters of the Goulburn River below Lake Eildon and the numerous tributaries of the Goulburn River. The industry in just the Murrindindi shire produces about 1,500 tonnes of rainbow trout per year. These fish are processed and value added into a range of products: whole, gilled and gutted, trout fillets, various forms of smoked trout, pates, dips and caviar. These are then sold throughout Australia and exported into Asia. The significance of the trout industry to the Shire of Murrindindi simply cannot be underestimated. The synergies that exist between the trout aquaculture industry and tourism industry are very strong as is the connection with the research centre at Snobs Creek Hatchery.

However, on Saturday 7 February 2009 the industry was devastated by the huge bushfire that swept across the region. This came on top of a prolonged drought of many years and then a record heatwave. To give you an example, Paul Cox at Wilhelmina Trout Farm lost about 100 tonnes of trout as they were overcome by contaminated water filled with ash and fire debris. The Murrindindi River stopped flowing into the farm as burnt trees and trash formed beaver dams. Paul tells of the great anguish he felt trying to save his house and processing plant while trying to keep his trout alive. All through the night he worked, but was eventually overwhelmed by the filthy water. He said, ‘I knew it was over when the fish in the river started to die.’ At Buxton Trout Farm, Mitch McCrae had a number of people sheltering in his house with towels over their heads as the flames licked his hatchery. The house next door was burnt as was the garage over the road. Mitch lost about 30 tonnes of trout as the water turned the colour of Coke. In his words Mitch said, ‘It was a bloody scary night and although we have lost all the fish, we are just lucky to be alive.’

These are amazing stories of human spirit. The effort to rebuild is going to be very difficult because the catchments have all been burnt out and the first rains are going to bring more ash into the river system, and of course the trout industry needs the cold, clear waters of the Goulburn. This is an indication of the difficulty of rebuilding these industries and the importance of maintaining employment in these regions to allow these families to become self-supporting and to maintain critical mass within these communities.