Great salmon escape sparks Aussie fishing frenzy

Hobart, Australia - A great escape by thousands of big Atlantic salmon from a fish farm has fuelled a mid-winter boom in a seaside Tasmanian town, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Thursday.

The fish were about to be harvested two weeks ago when their pen ripped while being towed across Macquarie Harbour on the west coast of the island state and they swam to freedom.

As the news that 9,000 salmon weighing around five kilograms (11 pounds) were on the loose, recreational fishermen descended on the local town of Strahan -- to the delight of Mayor Darryl Gerrity.

"We're thinking about putting zippers in the nets to help us through the slow winter months," he told AAP.

"This is usually a quiet time of year, but the place has been wall-to-wall with fishermen, four-wheel drives and dinghies."

Gerrity said the harbour was like a fishbowl because the only way out to open sea was through a narrow gap called Hell's Gates.

"The very nature of the water has provided people with a virtually guaranteed catch of salmon," he said.

Fish farm company Tassal employed a professional fisherman to catch as many of the escapees as possible but he gave up after netting about 900 of them.

"There were just too many people out in the harbour with nets to make it a viable operation," Gerrity said.

Tassal spokesman Mark Ryan described the escape as a minor problem.

"We are talking 9,000 fish out of eight million and they (the salmon) were fully insured," he said.

The escaped salmon are believed to have been worth about 200,000 (166,000 US dollars), AAP said.

Agence France Presse