Source: Adelaide Now
Tony’s Tuna general manager off the coast of Port Lincoln
Port Lincoln is to enjoy a new era of prosperity within four years, the tuna industry predicts.
It expects up to 1500 new jobs and the doubling of turnover to $400 million on the back of Innovative technologies, higher productivity, added value and new markets will lead to growth.
Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association president Brian Jeffriess said the growth of the tuna sector, along with mining wealth, increased agricultural and aquaculture income and a rise in tourism, would boost the Eyre Peninsula economy.
The new technologies include catching younger southern bluefin tuna in the wild and farming them up to three times longer than normal.
Tony’s Tuna International, owned by Tony Santic and the Smorgon Group, started farming smaller tuna off Port Lincoln on December 5 with more than 12,000 fish caught in the Great Australian Bight in November. The commercial trial by Tony’s Tuna follows a successful Tuna Association research trial from 2005 to 2006.
The fish, weighing about 7kg each or a total of about 85 tonnes, are expected to be farmed for 18 months, compared with the existing system where 16kg to 20kg fish are caught and farmed for six months.
Tony’s Tuna general manager Andrew Wilkinson said the benefits of catching smaller fish included a much better use of the quota.
Farming younger tuna is expected to enable farmers to increase the weight of their original quota by up to five times in 18 months and add more value compared to the present system where they grow the tuna by 100 per cent in six months.
“Farming them for a longer period will also allow us to supply fresh fish year round and supply new markets which would want fresh fish on a regular basis,†Mr. Wilkinson said.
He said the economics should be a lot better, despite the higher feed and associated labour costs, because the company would be able to add far more value to its wild-catch tuna quota.
Year-round farming is set to help smooth out quota fluctuations and fully use the investment in boats, pontoons, wharves and staff, now only used for six months.
