Authorities in New South Wales have completed the recovery of a sunken fishing trawler and 50 tons of salmon from Eden Wharf.
The decomposing salmon, which has started to create a problem for residents of the town on Australia’s south coast, was left in the harbour after the trawler became submerged back in April.
Resident began to complain of the noticeable odour in the area as authorities re-floated the trawler as part of its salvage operation, local officials admitted.
Polaris Marine salvage accepted that recovering the 50 tonnes of fish that had been onboard the vessel was challenging, as previous retrieval efforts failed and the waster began to degrade.
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The company has taken to using specialised vacuum bins to dispose of the fish, working on tackling the waste before the trawler can be brought up the dock’s slipway. The removal was “done and dusted” by Sunday afternoon.
Despite hopes that the recovered fish could have been used as fertiliser, minimising the waste the incident created, the team revealed it was too degraded and would have to be disposed.
While the vessel had been carrying 5000 litres of fuel and 2000 litres of oil, the spill was minimised by the quick reaction of authorities who deployed absorbent booms around the sunken vessel.
