Trout released as gift to city

VOLUNTEERS from Ballarat Fish Hatchery released 6000 Brown Trout into Lake Wendouree this morning.

The group were assisted by the Fly Fishing Club with boats to distribute the fingerling trout around the lake as an annual gift to Ballarat.

“It’s part of our ongoing commitment to supply fish for all the fisher folk of Ballarat,” volunteer Robert Darby said.

“In Lake Wendouree we do donate 6000 fish every year and that’s been an ongoing thing for many years so we keep this well stocked.”

The Ballarat Fish Hatchery has been located behind the Botanical Gardens since 1885.

The group breed around 60,000 Rainbow and Brown Trout each year to be stocked in dams or supplied to Victorian Fisheries.

“We breed those fish from eggs, we capture the trout, we strip them a fertilise the egg and we grow the fish,” Mr Darby said.

The Hatchery is managed by a group of volunteers from the Ballarat Fish Acclimatisation Society and Mr Darby said the group’s work is crucial to Victoria’s fishing stock.

“It’s 100 per cent run by volunteers so the importance is to maintain the fishing stock for Victoria for years to come,” he said.

“Our work is crucial to maintaining the fish health and providing that product.”