May 17, 2022

Opal Australian Paper gets federal grant for indoor barramundi farm in Victoria, Australia

Opal Australian Paper and its project partner, Mainstream Aquaculture, have received a $30 million federal grant from the Australian government to progress plans for a $125 million indoor barramundi farm in Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia.

The project plans to use excess heat from the Maryvale Mill near Morwell to warm water to about 30 degrees elsius for barramundi to grow in.

Opal aquaculture project lead Craig Bosch said the company hoped to begin construction, pending approvals, early next year.

"We currently run a lot of cooling towers to cool water from our turbines, so rather than running those cooling towers, we'll just put in a number of heat exchangers and we'll transfer that across to heat the freshwater coming in for the fish," Bosch said.

It is not the first time barramundi has been grown in Gippsland, but this time, the fish will not be accessible to the average angler.

The 3,700 tonnes of barramundi grown at the farm each year is destined for the local market to replace imported white flesh fish.

"With the supply chain disruptions caused throughout COVID, it's highlighted the immediate need to ramp up domestic production of white flesh fish to replace the 100,000 tonnes a year that's currently imported," Bosch said.

"If you look at the Australian barramundi market at the moment, it is a 25,500 tonnes a year market, of which 15,000 tonnes a year is frozen imports … so our initial target is some of that 15,000 tonnes."

The Maryvale site will have the capacity to scale up to 11,000 tonnes.

- ABC