North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Check this story in the NT Government business publication about the proposed barramundi sea cages - does it read a little like they have already made up their minds?

http://www.nt.gov.au/dcm/publications/b ... ritory.pdf

It does read a bit like a foregone conclusion but if they are that concerned about tides etc why don't they go do it in Gove harbour or somewhere east of the Wessels where the tides are much smaller.
One benefit of the big tide flows though is that the nutrient load from waste products will be dispersed over a much wider area.

Chanos.

I was talking to a Geoff Corry (he used to manage Barra Base) about the proposed farms in Darwin. Geoff said there is a lot of info, people haven't been told. The farm at Port Heard was set up to stock only local fish to breed from. They have now bought in fish from other areas. When the pens up ended months ago and a large population escaped, the down side to that was that when these fish breed with the local wild stock, the off spring won't be able to breed with the local fish. They will only be able to breed with the other cross bred fish. As this escaped batch have a high incidence of disease, what will be the flow on results for the next generation? Apparently there are differences between fish from different areas. Barra are basically domicile.

The strong currents at Port Heard were not enough to keep disease down from the excrament & decay that build up in the pens (resulting in diseased stock). Do you want that problen in Darwin Harbour?

And if introduced fish escape, what will be the long term effect on the the wild fish population?

I don't know how factual this information is, but if it is true, I think there needs to be a concerted effort to block these proposed farms.

I don't believe the bit about cross breeds only breeding with cross breeds, and yes it does depend on the genetics of the parent fish and where they come from as to whether any undesirable traits or problems will manifest themselves. Most barra populations in the N.T are basically the same due to the way they travel up and down the coast and that during breeding season the place is a lake anyway. And when they spawn they just tend to find the right salinity level in the estuary system, have a big get together and then a big mix of sperm and eggs is let go to mix as it may.
However I don't want cages near darwin either.

chanos.