State shelves plan for peninsula carp farm

Jessica Benton
A LACK of investor interest has forced State Government to shelve plans for farming carp in a 100-hectare pool of recycled water on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Department of Primary Industries aquaculture and in-land fisheries manager Andrew Forster said the plan failed to attract private backing.
“It doesn’t say anything about the future prospects of the project, it’s just no one has grabbed and run with it yet.”
Mr Forster said Barwon Water, which would have supplied recycled water, had also “identified other priorities”.
The Independent revealed last year the department was investigating a self-feeding “carp farm” with a pond about 40 times the size of Geelong’s Skilled Stadium. Algae would have grown off nutrients in the recycled water for carp feed.
Researchers warned the project could have “issues” such as odours, increased traffic and visual impacts.
Geelong Environment Coun-cil president Joan Lindros said the issues were probably behind the project flop.
“Any odour or environmental issues would have been unacceptable,” she said.