The owners of the South Westland salmon farm are devastated after a tank was tampered with, resulting in the deaths of 13,000 salmon fingerling - a whole new season's worth.
Paringa Salmon Farm co-proprietor Alice Bellio said yesterday that they had lost at least 13,000 young salmon - all would
have quickly died when they were starved of oxygen.
The deaths equated to between $15,000 and $20,000 of production for next season.
She said someone deliberately tampered with the water supply to tanks.
They entered the property overnight on Saturday and deliberately cut the water to the rearing tanks.
All the young fish had suffocated by the time they were found on Sunday morning.
Haast police are investigating the incident and were last night describing it as a burglary.
Senior constable Paul Gurney said "unknown persons" had entered the salmon farm grounds and tampered with equipment on the site.
"This has caused thousands of dollars of loss for the business and police would like to hear from anyone who has seen anything suspicious in the South Westland area during this time," Gurney said.
A vehicle parked on State Highway 6 several kilometres from the salmon farm was also tampered with during that night, he said.
Bellio said they were devastated to discover what had happened.
Whoever entered the farm site knew what they were doing as it would have required knowledge of equipment at the site.
"They just came overnight and cut the water that was supplying water to the tanks with our baby fish for next season," she said.
"We lost the whole production."
Bellio said a water trap had been deliberately pushed in, cutting a pipe supplying water flowing to the particular tanks.
They had "absolutely no idea" who might have acted in such a malicious way.
However given the salmon farm's isolation - about 45 minutes driver either way from either Haast or Fox Glacier - there must have been some pre-planning or prior knowledge of the site.
"They would have either to be really mean and think it's a prank - a really nasty one - or know what they're doing. It was calculated."
The nearby Salmon Cafe which had surveillance was not apparently tampered with.
Police had yesterday gathered some forensic evidence from across the site.
Bellio said they had put the word out via social media in the hope someone in South Westland with knowledge of what was done would help identify or track down the perpetrator.
It could be that someone had heard someone else sounding off at a local hotel about their part, but at this point they had yet to receive any information, she said.
"It's a tough one."
Gurney urged anyone with information to call him at the Haast Police on 03 7500850 or to e-mail Paul.Gurney@police.govt.nz. Information could also be provided anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
- Greymouth Star