Australian tuna tossing festival to use fake fish

The annual tuna tossing competition at Port Lincoln's Tunarama festival in South Australia will use a fake tuna next year.

Festival coordinator Merriwyne Hore says the decision to change from frozen tuna to a replica is mainly due to the waste involved; literally throwing away very expensive fish.



The replica has been sculpted by Ken Martin, the same artist who made the statue for Port Lincoln of its champion racehorse, Makybe Diva.

Ms Hore says she is confident the fake tuna will be better than the real thing, eliminating a lot of the mess.



"What happens when the tuna is tossed, even though it's frozen and frozen very solid, it does start to break down as it's tossed," she said.

"The tail comes off, the fins come off, the eyes fall out and then the underbelly breaks and you know it really, it gets to be extremely messy."