June 29, 2023
The Snobs Creek Hatchery Open day has been claimed as ‘a massive success’ and ‘beyond our expectations’ by organisers, after over 600 visitors attended the event on Sunday June 25.
The wildly popular event was so successful that the Victorian Fisheries Authority have raced to begin planning another event in the September school holidays, with organisers confident numbers will soar with warmer temperatures in the spring time.
Despite some visitors describing the conditions as ‘arctic’, the open day provided recreational fishers of all ages the opportunity to see how millions of fish are grown every year and stocked into waterways to improve freshwater fisheries. Visitors were provided with a rare, behind-the-scenes look into daily operations of the hatchery directly from staff, where no question was off limits.
Open day visitors also heard from experts from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action on the work being done to protect threatened native fish. The speakers shared how research, habitat improvement and translocations are making a positive difference.
‘It was fun and interesting to see how the little fish grow and are taken to different spots around Victoria’ said Toby, who had travelled from Wangaratta especially for the event. ‘I reckon I’ll be taking some of these home with me when I catch them when I go fishing with my granddad later in the year.’
The enormous success of the event has prompted organisers to schedule another open day for the September school holidays. The Victorian Fisheries Authority has marked marked Saturday 2 September, during the Goulburn Fishing Festival and opening of the 2023 trout season for another open day, with more attractions promised for the public to enjoy.
