Owner of mysterious object found on Southland beach steps forward

The mysterious black object has been claimed by Huon Aquaculture in Tasmania.

The owner of the mysterious object found washed up on a Southland beach has come forward.

The 100m long black pipe is the property of salmon farming company Huon Aquaculture, which is based in Tasmania, Australia.

The company lost the pipe in August when it broke free of a marine farm in Trumpter Bay, Tasmania.

There were a few suggestions about what the pipe could be when it washed up last week. Most people believed it was a boom used for containing and cleaning up oil spills.

There were many suggestions as to what the object could be, but the mystery has now been solved.

Others said it was a polyethylene pipe, most likely intended for stock effluent, sewage or water.

It gained worldwide media attention as far as the United Kingdom.

"We received a huge number of suggestions from the public as to what it might have been, and how it could have gotten to Te Waewae Bay," Environment Southland deputy harbourmaster Ian Coard said.

After losing the pipe, the company immediately launched a search involving a number of vessels and aircraft but it was not found.

Since losing the pipe Huon Aquaculture have moved to orange pipes to make them more visible and they also fit them with GPS tracking devices.

Huon Aquaculture is investigating options for retrieving the pipe.