Perhaps it was considered an Act of Cod — fish farmer Murray Cod says its insurer has refused to pay out the full value of 8000 fish lost in a pond failure.

The dead fish were worth $175,960.

Murray Cod (ASX:MCA) reported the calamity last week, after oxygen levels in a pond hit catastrophically low levels due to a mechanical failure.

Chairman Ross Anderson told Stockhead at the time there was nothing fishy about the cod-tastrophe.

“Normally we have three different aerators operating. What happened was the bolt came off the electric motor of an aerator from an overseas manufacturer, which twisted the power cord and sliced partially though it. The aerator fell into the water and shorted out the whole pond,” Mr Anderson said.

Fish absorb oxygen through their gills. Still ponds are only able to exchange gases as the surface and need extra help from an aeration machine to support large numbers of fish.

At the time, the company believed insurance would cover the full value of the fish lost and that it wouldn’t have a material impact on its financial results.

Murray Cod (ASX:MCA) has been contacted for comment.

The business is not floundering in the wake of the news, however.

At its annual general meeting on Friday, Mr Anderson said the company had 12 dams with a total of 247,688 fish weighing an average of 300g — and planned to stock 400,000 fish over the summer.

The average sale size of the cod is 1.45 kg, and Murray Cod is selling about 1000 kg of fish a week, a number limited by supply. The inference is they could be selling more.

Murray Cod listed in January, raising $10 million, and had $2.2 million cash remaining at the end of September.

The shares were up 5 per cent in Friday afternoon trade to 5.6c.

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