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mainly salmon pieces, and there���s still a market for the plate size product. Depending on the conditions, we can get them through to three-to-thekilo ���sh in 11-15 months. Derek Meggitt of Goulburn River Trout said market conditions were tough. ���Because of the high Aussie dollar and the cheap exports from Turkey and Iran, our Asian markets had dried up completely. Our smoked product is moving okay, but the chilled product is struggling a bit. The market generally contracted, now there���s a lot more supply, but the market hasn���t kicked back up to where it was.��� While post-bush���re production is creeping back up to its maximum capacity, these market forces have driven wholesale prices down from $9.40/ kg to $6-$7/kg for HOGG* ���sh. With feed prices hovering around $1800/t and feed conversion, under the favourable conditions, at 1:1, the industry���s recovery is moving along nicely. But at the same time it���s precariously balanced. Much of the extra production is being driven by growers adding mechanical aeration to the natural, gravity-generated dissolved oxygen, and to benign conditions. With power bills continually creeping up and the Weather Bureau trumpeting a return to El Ni��o conditions, we could well see the end of easy street for the Victorian rainbow trout sector. *HOGG ��� heads on, gilled & gutted. Aquatic laboratory services Providing the New Zealand aquaculture sector with a comprehensive range of diagnostic and food testing services, including: Parasitology Haematology Bacteriology Biochemistry Toxicology Necropsy Histopathology General health screening Diagnostic interpretation and consultation Nutritional value analysis Feed testing VIP.AC45 an entirely different perspective when Threatening bushfires it���s you making the news. Everyone has been extremely supportive, even the general public. The ���shout section of the business has increased; I feel sure because of the exposure the farm had at the time.��� They lost their hatchery, but were able to save their house. He had three choices: walk away, wait 2-3 years for the catchment to recover and the water quality to improve, or re-stock immediately. With the usual ���nancial obligations and a market to protect, waiting was hardly an option. So in true pioneering spirit they chose the third option. Other growers came to the fore. They were able to purchase ���ngerlings and advanced stock and the government hatchery made eyed ova available to those who lost ���sh during the ���res. Buxton Trout and Salmon Farm is typical of the familyrun operations that make up Victoria���s 2000 tonne freshwater salmonoid sector of predominantly rainbow trout. Licensed to divert 23ml a day from the Steavenson, by thoughtful management, the increased ef���ciency of the diets available, and the deployment of mechanical aeration, the McRaes have been able to build the production of the farm to 100 tonnes a year. During the prolonged drought that preceded the 2009 bush���res they���d been forced back to as little as 70 tonnes in the really bad years. Conditions since the ���res, blessed by a run of favourable seasons, have been slowly improving.They���ve worked production back up to 90 tonnes. ���Within a couple of months we were half stocked,��� Mitch said. ���We did run into a few water quality issues, but not enough to wipe out the whole place, and it gave us a momentum of stock to get ourselves back on the road and rolling. Even psychologically��� we had people back at work ��� we were putting out a couple of hundred kilos of feed a day. Even though we weren���t selling any ���sh this week, we knew that that was going to come back to us one day, as long as we could keep them alive.��� ���For everyone the journey���s been a little bit different. Some waited, and they���re just now getting back into business. Others have had to reappraise their whole operation. All in all, the region is slowly recovering. The government has been generous with money, but it takes more than money to re-build a community. You try to take the positives out of it. There���s plenty of negatives, but the people are the same, the landscape���s the same. I still see people struggling, both ���nancially and psychologically.��� The markets: Due to the drought leading up to the ���res, the markets had been under-supplied. One of the major suppliers was under ���nancial stress and by the time the ���res had ravaged the Upper Goulburn Valley, three of the top four producers were out of production. The major producer, Goulburn River Trout, missed the full impact of the ���res, but their production too was compromised by the drought. The ���res still left a huge hole in the supply. Now, after a run of good seasons, the supply is starting to build up again. Further to that, the Tasmanian salmon and ocean trout sectors have been boosting production since the El Ni��o-driven sting has gone out of their water temperatures. ���They���re talking about lifting production by 10 percent,��� said Mitch. That���s as much as the whole industry produces a year here in Victoria. They sell 0800 GRIBBLES (0800 474 225) Email: aquatic@gribbles.co.nz www.gribblesvets.co.nz JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 ��� NZ AQUACULTURE ��� 9