Barramundi project wins innovative research award

An academic from the University of the Sunshine Coast has been recognized for her research into the Australia farmed barramundi industry.

USC Associate Professor of Marketing Meredith Lawley (pictured) has been awarded the Most Innovative Research Award by the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association (ABFA).

Lawley has spent the past five years investigating how best to promote Australia farmed barramundi and develop the market. During that time she has interviewed seafood industry experts, fishmongers, wholesalers, retailers, consumers and dozens of chefs.

She discovered that Barramundi is Australia’s favorite fish in restaurants, but many people don’t realize that more than half of the barramundi consumed is imported.

“Something that surprised us is the amount of Australian pride in barramundi. People know it is an Aboriginal word and really think of it as an Aussie fish,” said Marty Philips, ABFA president. “The research has given us a lot of direction and focus and the momentum to go forward and develop the industry which is currently worth around AUD 50 million (USD 44.3 million, EUR 34.5 million) at the farm gate.”

Lawley said that initially many of the barramundi farmers she spoke to were primarily production focussed.

“They only wanted to work out how to get an extra AUD 1 (USD 0.89, EUR 0.69) per kilo and how to grow bigger and better fish. They had little concern about their product after it left the farm,” she said. “What my research showed them is they needed to understand what people like about barramundi and what consumers value. Quality control and marketing need to happen in parallel.”

The Australia farmed barramundi industry began in the mid-1980s. ABFA said that to expand the market and increase sales a whole of industry marketing approach is needed rather than individual farmers going it alone.

Lawley’s research project “Repositioning Australian Farmed Barramundi in the Domestic Market” was funded by the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Center and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

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