June 1, 2004

 

 

Bags Of Live Australian Barramundi Head For US
 

Fish farmer Australis Aquaculture Ltd is flying plastic bags full of live, baby barramundi to United States in a bid to hook into the lucrative $55 billion North American seafood market.

 

Australis says barramundi are fast becoming known as Australia's flagship fish and the company is convinced its first-of-a-kind disease-free live export trade will catch on quickly in the world's second biggest fish market.

 

Since March, the Perth company has been exporting South Australian-bred barramundi fingerlings - infant fish - to a vast tank in the US, with the first of the fast-growing marine delicacies expected to hit US menus from September.

 

In a trip lasting about 31 hours, some 60,000 little barramundi a month are flown to the US in oxygen-filled, plastic bags to a patented aquaculture facility on 5.8 acres at Turners Falls, Massachusetts.

 

The facility, specially designed to prevent the carnivorous fish from eating each other, is within five hours drive of some 51 million people including New Yorkers who import about $US2 billion ($2.8 billion) of fish a year.

 

Chief executive Stewart Graham said barramundi is already exported to the US. But the market preferred live fish and Australis was the first to meet that need with its farming methods.

 

"Now, for the first time, this highly-prized northern Australian fish is being grown in the 'snow-belt' in the heart of one of the world's biggest fish markets," Mr Graham said.

 

"We predict that increasingly, large scale aquaculture like ours will bridge the gap in premium quality fish markets where demand is much greater than supply."

 

Wild barramundi - which come from northern Australian billabongs, rivers and oceans - can have variable flavour.

 

But Australis says it can guarantee quality and flavour with its aquaculture techniques which will grow a dinner-plate sized barramundi to about 550grams to 600 grams in between six and eight months.

 

Fingerling stocking will rise from 60,000 a month, or 360 tonnes a year, to about 700 tonnes per annum in 2005.

 

Australis has been farming barramundi successfully near most Australian cities for about 10 years and believes other species such as Yellowtail Kingfish and Murray River Cod have farming potential in the US.

 

The company hopes to raise $5.5 million with the issue of 22 million shares at 25 cents each in an initial public offering, which is due to kick off on Thursday.

 

The funds will be used to pay for the US farming facility and provide working capital until profitability is reached in the first quarter of 2005.

 

The company plans to list on the Australian Stock Exchange later this year.