Tassal Operations Pty Ltd has submitted an environmental impact statement to the Tasminian Environment Protection Authority for a new salmon hatchery, to be located in Ouse, Tasmania.
The new hatchery, which will use a recirculating aquaculture system, is projected to cost AUD 46 million (USD 31.1 million, EUR 28.3 million). According to the environmental impact statement, the new hatchery will have a potential biomass capacity of roughly 750 metric tons (MT) a year, with a maximum annual production of 1,400 MT.
“The Hatchery will enable Tassal to improve and expand its onshore facilities and production to meet a growing national and international demand for sustainable Atlantic salmon,” the company’s environmental impact states.
Tassal, based in Tasmania, currently operates to hatcheries, which between them have a capacity to produce “around 10 million smolt a year,” according to the company. The company’s hatchery in Ranalegh, which underwent expansion in 2016, is the largest land-based salmon nursery in Australia and can produce 8 million smolt each year.
Currently, Tassal produces roughly 33,000 MT of salmon each year, grown in five different regions in sea-based pens.
Photo courtesy of Tassal
