Ms ADDISON (Wendouree)

My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Fishing and Boating, and the action that I seek is for the minister to visit my electorate of Wendouree to meet with the Ballarat Fish Acclimatisation Society and help to stock our magnificent Lake Wendouree with locally bred trout.

The Ballarat Fish Hatchery, located beside Lake Wendouree, is the oldest fish hatchery on the Australian mainland and was formed on 15 August 1870.

The hatchery committee had a fantastic event planned in 2020 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first ovum arriving on the mainland, which like many events has been postponed due to the COVID pandemic.

The hatchery is entirely run by volunteers, of which there are approximately 30; dedicated locals who stay true to the original, heritage-based methods of trout breeding, with a few modern upgrades.

The hatchery breeds both brown trout and rainbow trout, both of which do very well in Ballarat, and they stock Lake Wendouree with 3000 brown trout every year as a gift to the Ballarat people.

In addition, the Victorian Fisheries Authority stocks the lake with another 3000 trout purchased from the hatchery. In total the VFA purchased 55 000 fish from the hatchery in the last year, so our Ballarat fish are swimming in bodies of water all over the state!

But the majority of sales from the Ballarat Fish Hatchery go to the public. Around 110 000 fish per year are sold to farmers and recreational fishers to stock dams, as well as to hydroponic farmers and other trout farms.

I would be delighted to welcome the minister to Lake Wendouree as I am sure that she would enjoy meeting the volunteers, touring the hatchery facility and learning more about the history of trout in Ballarat.

Read the Minister’s response here – or for more of my contributions in Parliament, click here.