Intensive North Queensland barramundi nursery project to farm one million fish

Mainstream Aquaculture, at Mourilyan Harbour, is expanding to produce 3,000 tonne of 4kg barramundi fish a year, grow its workforce, and develop a hub for production and processing to create maximum value to the Cassowary Coast region.  

Known for its award-winning barramundi, the company was previously responsible for the largest intensive recirculating aquaculture system for barramundi in the world. The system underpins plans to build a nursery system to produce a million fish to be grown through the nursery every year.  

The plans, funded using a Rural Economic Development Grant, will mean production will triple.  

Mainstream Aquaculture Queensland head of business Marty Phillips said the on-site nursery production system would grow juvenile fish from 0.2g to 70g under carefully controlled environmental conditions through the most high risk phase of their production, improving the survival, health, growth and supply of the fish stocked in the ponds for grow-out.  

The fish will grow to up to 4kg in on-shore saltwater ponds.  

“Central to this intensification and increase in production is the supply of robust, high quality and healthy juvenile fish to support pond-based production of harvested fish,” Mr Phillips said.  

Mr Phillips said existing measures imported fish as small as 0.2g, or 20mm, to the farm, where they were grown out in ponds with lower survival. 

“The project was specifically developed to address variability in the supply of juvenile fish and will underpin the expansion of pond-based production systems to 3,000 tonne a year,” he said. 

“The project will design, construct and commission a bespoke intensive barramundi nursery system to produce a million high-quality juvenile barramundi, up to 70g or 140mm, to support the expansion of land-based pond grow-out farms more than three fold.  

“The nursery system consists of two production trains with each capable of delivering 500,000 fish a year. The fish are held in optimum conditions under a quality feeding regime to be grown for 110 days.” 

An increasing demand for seafood with a surge in growth in the aquaculture industry in Australia warrants more intensive production of aquaculture in both existing infrastructure and new areas of aquaculture production, Mr Phillips says.  

Mr Phillips said the project would support eight new positions, eight during construction and another six indirect jobs.  

Direct jobs will be created in the nursery, delivering long-term employment in the local area, including a nursery manager, supervisors, technical staff and farm hands.  

The Rural Economic Development (RED) Grants program offers emerging projects up to $250,000 in co-contributions to build industry and grow employment opportunities across the agricultural sector. The $10 million grants program provides for three funding rounds over a three-year period ending 2021. 

A total of 14 businesses have received $3.34 million under the second round of funding for the RED Grants program. Overall these 14 projects are expected to create more than 600 jobs across the agricultural sector in regional Queensland. 

QRIDA offers a range of assistance to primary producers, small business and non-profit organisations. To find out what’s available visit Programs and Services.

The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) administer the RED Grant scheme on behalf of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.