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> Dive into Aquna’s annual fingerling release program

Newsroom Detail
Newsroom Detail
Newsroom Detail

Dive into Aquna’s annual fingerling release program

Aquna Sustainable Murray Cod (Aquna) is set to release more than 200,000 native fingerlings into the Murray-Darling Basin in January 2019.

For hatchery manager, Ian Charles, Aquna’s restocking program represents the core of who we are as a business.

“Our aim is to have a positive impact on peoples plates as well as the environment, and with wild Murray cod currently listed as a vulnerable species, we believe our fingerling release program is having an extremely positive impact on the environment.”

Currently there is a commercial fishing ban on wild Murray cod due to over-fishing in the late 1800s early 1930s. Explorers and early settlers were astounded by the abundance, size and delicacy of Murray cod and relied on the fish as a source of fresh food. From the 1860s, a large inland commercial fishery developed, based mainly on the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers.

Protection of wild Murray cod stocks through commercial fishing regulations was introduced in New South Wales and Victoria in the 1990s.

Targeted restocking of Murray cod fingerlings has proven effective in addressing declining numbers. As one of only five businesses accredited by the NSW DPI Hatchery Quality Assurance Program, Aquna is in a unique position to contribute.

“Our Silverwater hatchery has been involved in public water restocking for more than 10 years and we estimate that over the years we have released in excess of 1 million Murray cod fingerlings into the river system, Ian said”

Aquna partners with the Victorian Fisheries Authority on the public water restocking. We breed and raise the Murray cod fingerlings at our hatchery, which are then released into the Murray-Darling Basin.

This year the Murray cod fingerlings are being released in numerous impoundments in Victoria as well as in the upper Murray and Riverina areas of New South Wales.

In addition to the government restocking partnership, Aquna supports several angling groups to assist them with restocking their fishing area.

Aquna has earned a worldwide reputation as a supplier of safe, high quality Murray cod, produced using environmentally sustainable practices – through all stages of production to plate and beyond. Life tastes better with our Murray cod.

More information on the history of Murray cod is available here.