THE tuna barons of Port Lincoln have withstood every force the sea and the economy could throw at them, but yesterday two succumbed to fire.
The Stehr Group was counting the losses last night after fire swept through Anna Stehr's highly–prized Anna's Vine-yard – one of only four in the region – and destroyed a significant shed area. Next door, Dinko Lukin's Dinko Tuna Farmers lost a large seafood cold store, but its office and engineering shed were saved.
Once again the fire struck with little warning and in a similar region for the third time in 10 years.
A distraught Marcus Stehr said it had caused more than $1 million damage to the business.
"All our property out there is destroyed, we've lost a net shed and a workshop," Mr Stehr said.
The Stehr's losses included about 10 large nets worth $30,000 to $40,000 each.
The damage to Anna's Vineyard is expected to be significant, if the grapes are lost as normally happens after fire.
Mr Stehr said he was devastated by the damage which could be fixed, but it would take time and was hugely frustrating. `We will have a fair bit of cleaning-up to do when we can get out there," he said.
The damage to the Stehr and Lukin properties on Proper Bay Rd is expected to have an impact on their tuna farming operations this season.
Stehr Group general manager Anthony Ellin said it had lost a net shed with about 10 nets for its tuna farm which were expected to be going in the water in about a week, and 70 tonnes of feed, enough for about three days at the Clean Seas Tuna public company.
He said the fire remained a threat to other tuna companies including Sam's Seafarms, Tony's Tuna and Marnikol last night. The next property along from the Stehr Group and Dinko Tuna Farmers was Port Lincoln Tuna Processors, the last surviving tuna cannery in Australia.
Australian Tuna Boat Owners Association president Brian Jeffriess said, thankfully the cannery had survived as its destruction would have devastated the region with the loss of hundreds of jobs. "If it was destroyed you would never get it back," he said.
Mr Jeffriess said it was hard to believe the same thing had happened twice previously in the same area in the past 10 years.
The $200 million-a-year tuna industry was well into the season with about 20 per cent of the quota caught already, he said.
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