People wanting to get into the aquaculture industry but have been scared off by high set up costs, lack of knowledge and limited space may soon have an alternative.
The Stehr Group, owner of Arno Bay aquaculture company Clean Seas, is considering floating the Arno Bay hatchery and grow out operations on the stock exchange to help fund further development and the propagation of Southern Bluefin Tuna.
Company managing director Hagen Stehr said the public float is one of the options available to help fund further expansion, but not the only one. He said the Stehr Group has been looking into inviting two or three major investors to "come on board", but spoke more about the public float option as a reward for "mum and dad" investors in the local area. "My idea is if the district does the right thing by us, then we should do the right thing by the district so everyone can share in the wealth," Mr Stehr said.
He said already the company has had "quite a few" interested parties asking if they can become involved with the hatchery and the Southern Bluefin Tuna venture, including some of Australia's wealthiest people.
Mr Stehr believes the aquaculture industry across the world is still only in its infancy and the potential for growth could be likened to that of the computer industry over the past 20 years. "Wild fishing is gone as far as I'm concerned so we have to look at other ways of feeding the demand around the world."
The company is targeting 2005 to have its Southern Bluefin Tuna propagation and production up and running, but it is also investigating new species for production, which is unusual for an aquaculture company, as generally the focus will be on just one species.
Discarded by many as an undesirable table fish, Clean Seas is now pursuing Red Mullet as a viable seafood for overseas markets.
Clean Seas manager Stephen Bedford Clark said the market for Red Mullet throughout Europe is "huge". "There's a ready made market for them and because of that the potential for them could be as big as anything else we're doing here," he said.
As yet, little research has been done on Red Mullet's potential for production, but at between $18 and $25 per kilo, Clean Seas definitely thinks there is plenty of potential for a sustainable industry.
The company has about 30 of the fish in captivity, all have been "domesticated" (they will eat food from someone's hand) and, as they spawn naturally in December and January, preliminary results will be known soon.
South Australia's premier fish, the King George Whiting, could also be high on the list for the company as a fish for production and if successful, it's rumored the company could also be paid to re-stock the gulf in the future. "The issue with whiting is speeding their growth rate up as they take three years to get from an egg to a saleable size," Mr Clark said.