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Kingfish are naturally occuring fish in the area, but the
large groups of relative young fish are apparently unusual
and some are concerned the a big population increase in the
predatory fish could impact on the ecology of the gulf.
The kingfish farming industry
for its part has welcomed the testing and argues the schools
of fish could be a naturally occuring phenomonon or could be
wild fish attracted to the fish farms.
There have been no reports of
mass escapes from the four or five operators that currently
have an estimate of between 500 and 1,000 tonnes of fish in
the water.
SA Marine Finfish Farmers
Association executive officer Mark Cody said any escape
would cost the fish farming companies money, so the farm
managers did everything they could to secure their fish.
"The industry supports solid
research that leads to even more sustainable farming
operations," Mr Cody said.
"We need to be careful as to
how we grow the industry and government needs to work with
the industry along the way."
Mr Cody said not much was
known about wild kingfish and so research should be
conducted before any drastic measures such as a size and bag
limit reduction, as some in the recreational sector have
suggested.
Kingfish farming is only a
few years old in South Australia with markets being
developed in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Primary Industries and Resources SA
aquaculture manager Michael Deering said the prelimanary
plan was to collect 20 free-swimming fish and then 20 fish
from inside the farm, with fisheries scientists from the
South Australian Research and
Development Institute (SARDI) conducting the
tests.
Along with working out
whether the fish were either from the farms or were
interacting with the farms, another important goal would be
to attempt to work out the numbers of small kingfish out in
the gulf, Mr Deering said.
"We need to work out the
numbers," he said.
"We are getting reports of
thousands of fish, but the other possibility is that it
could just be a school of 20 or 30 fish around a boat."
Tests on ear-bones could
determine the age, while diet and any external
characteristics such as damage from nets could also be
checked.
By Stan Gorton
FIS.com |
