Murray Cod Hatcheries falling apart as owner Greg Semple awaits outcome of legal fight over alleged PFAS contamination

Greg Semple, the owner of Murray Cod Hatcheries, says the condition of the sign is symbolic for the general state of his business, once a popular tourist destination.

"You could take a picture of the sign and that's pretty well the state of things," he said.

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Millions of fish used to be bred at the site each year and busloads of tourists once flocked to visit the attached zoo and snap pictures with the iconic sign.

But these days, Mr Semple struggles to even keep any fish alive at the facility and those that are born regularly emerge with deformities.

Tourists are even harder to come by.

The hatchery owner blames the issues on contamination from PFAS chemicals used at the neighbouring Royal Australian Air Force base.

He is in a long-running and slow-moving legal fight to receive compensation from the Department of Defence, which has left his business in limbo as it slowly falls apart around him.

"I started painting things and fixing things up ... but there's no point in putting any money into the place because it might need to get demolished," Mr Semple said.

The ponds behind the hatchery lie empty and overgrown, a far cry from their past as fish-filled watering holes, while breeding tanks have been drained and abandoned.

Inside the building, rooms are vacant other than scattered pieces of equipment and old information boards - remnants of a successful past.

Although still a fully licensed fish hatchery, Mr Semple is not confident the facility will ever be able to return to its former glory.

"It's the beginning of the cod breeding season right now and normally I'd be out there scraping the ponds, getting them ready and fertilising them for the first of the fish," he said.

"But instead I'm here twiddling my thumbs one year after the next."

According to Mr Semple, the latest tests conducted at the site found PFAS levels in the water were "pretty well just as high" as when they were first detected.

Marrar resident Chris Nicholes used to take his four children to visit the Murray cod sign in the 1970s and said it was disappointing to see the former landmark waste away.

"It was a good landmark and a bit of an icon so it's a shame to see it falling apart," he said.

Mr Semple purchased the Murray Cod Hatcheries in 1996, just one year after the attached fauna park was closed by the previous owners.

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