Huon Aquaculture has tabled its plans to farm kingfish in Australia’s Port Stephens marine park, according to a recent company announcement.
The Dover, Tasmania, Australia-based company was two years into a five-year trial for the proposed kingfish farm when it informed the government of New South Wales on Tuesday, 5 February, that it would be ending the project early. While the firm will retain a commercial 62-hectare lease near the trial site, it doesn’t have plans to farm there “for the foreseeable future,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Peter Bender, Huon’s chief executive, considers the trial a success despite its early conclusion.
"We have learnt a lot about how to farm high-quality yellowtail kingfish in warm water as well as farming in a highly exposed site," he said, according to the Herald.
In January 2018, two of Huon’s sea cages situated within the Marine Aquaculture Research Lease (MARL) area weathered significant damage due to rough seas. An entire population of 20,000 yellowtail kingfish escaped from one of the cages, inciting an angry response from conservation groups and local tourism operators, who demanded the project be shuttered.
At the time, Huon noted that it faced unique challenges at the Port Stephens marine park site.
“Every farming site is unique, particularly in the marine environment with a range of environmental considerations. The research trial lease in New South Wales is in a very exposed site which, earlier this year, waves of over 11 meters passed through. In comparison, the lease in Western Australia is relatively sheltered behind the Abrolhos Islands. Wave modeling has shown that the new lease will be sheltered from the worst of the weather, which will be an added layer of protection for the operation,” the company wrote on its website last year. “As an outcome of the trial in NSW, we have made changes to some of our pen rigging and implemented improved maintenance operations. These are learnings that we intend to apply to our new lease in [Western Australia].”
Although Huon’s kingfish endeavor has come to an early end, the company’s salmon business has seen new developments recently – earlier this month, Ronja Storm, a wellboat commissioned by the company, set sail for Norway for its internal fit-out. Believed to be the world’s largest wellboat, the Ronja Storm will join the rest of Huon’s fleet in Tasmania, Australia, once its fit-out is completed.
