Huon Aquaculture considering calling police to investigate hole in “bullet-proof vest material” net that caused mass fish escape

Salmon farmer has also hired independent investigator to find causes of fire last week.

Huon Aquaculture has been at centre of two big escapes in just over a week. On Thursday, the salmon farmer told authorities that up to 130,000 salmon had escaped from a hole from its Fortress Pen at its Yellow Bluff lease in Storm Bay, Tasmania, Australia.

These are no ordinary nets. Huon has invested more than AUD 100 million in its patented Fortress Pens, which are in use in Storm Bay, which they say are in some of the “roughest farming conditions in the world” and can withstand extremely high current flow. According to its site, the nets made out of the “same material used to make bullet-proof vests” and are two-net design to “keep seals away from the fish, and fish away from the seals”.

Nets are made from the same material as bullet-proof vests. PHOTO: Huon

The happened just over a week after a fire damaged a pen infrastructure, resulting in the loss of 52,000 harvest size fish.

Talking to ABC News, Huon Aquaculture co-founder Frances Bender told the station that it was considering reporting the accidents to the police. Working through the night to assess the cause, the company said that weather conditions are not thought to have caused the net to tear.

Huon added that it has hired an independent fire investigator, from which the results are expected to be released soon.

“We are doing intensive investigations, but as yet we’ve failed to find any operational cause for either incident,” said Bender.

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