Farming the sea
Posted by Webmaster | Filed under Features, Seafood
SUSANNAH HARDY
There’s no doubt about it Australians love their seafood. In fact according to the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, the demand for seafood has increased dramatically over the last three decades. Australia is also known the world over for its high quality and sustainable seafood and now aquaculture—the farming of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants—is one of our fastest growing primary industries.
Between 2004–05 and 2011–12, the value of Australian aquaculture production reached $1.1 billion. The value of farmed salmonoids (salmon and trout) saw an impressive rise in 2012–13 and became our most valuable fisheries product, worth $497 million. However more recently, the ABARE reported in 20014–15, the value of our fisheries and aquaculture production increased to $2.8 billion, largely due to the rise in volume and prices of wild-caught rock lobster.
While products such as lobster, salmon and trout are increasingly popular here and overseas, not to mention tuna, oysters and prawns, there are now other choices, hooking the interest of our chefs and seafood lovers in general.
Marvellous mussels
Blue Mussels, actually black in colour, are a fabulous option being relatively inexpensive, highly nutritious, easy to cook and absolutely delicious. Phil Lamb, managing director of Spring Bay Seafoods, farms mussels in Spring Bay, on the east coast of Tasmania, a pristine location with ideal water and depth. ‘There are not many areas suitable for growing mussels,’ says Lamb. ‘We’re lucky that we’ve got one of them.’
Traditionally ropes are put out in the water, to catch enough spat (baby mussels), which then attach and grow. However Lamb induces the mussels to spawn in a hatchery environment, which he believes gives more control over production. Young mussels are then put onto ropes in the deep water and left to grow for 18 months, feeding on whatever comes their way. ‘It’s quite novel producing all of your own mussel spat in a hatchery and not relying on wild caught spat as most people do,’ says Lamb. Lamb produces between 700 and 1,000 tonnes of mussels a year, apparently small scale compared to other countries.
John Susman, a mussel farmer for Eyre Peninsula Seafoods in Port Lincoln, South Australia, shares Lamb’s passion for mussels.
‘Dollar for dollar, they are one of the best value seafoods from both nutritional and culinary perspectives,’ he says. At Eyre Peninsula Seafoods, the largest mussel farming operation in Australia, all the spat is caught in the wild, receded onto long lines in the water of Boston Bay and left for only 9 to 12 months, creating a smaller sized blue mussel. ‘Most Tasmanian and Victorian farmers grow a large oceanic mussel, which is typically big, glamorous and savoury,’ says Susman. ‘We’ve gone for a more European style, which suits the region and is typically smaller and very sweet.’ But similarly, their mussels feed off the natural environment. ‘It’s what’s called benign aquaculture because you’re not putting any feed into the water,’ he says. Susman produces around 2,800 tonnes of mussels a year and has worked tirelessly to promote them in Australia, through tastings, presentations and farmers markets.
Almighty abalone
Another delicious seafood farmed in Australia but rarely consumed here is abalone. A marine mollusc, abalone is generally produced on land-based farms however Brad Adams, CEO of Ocean Grown Abalone, in Augusta, Western Australia, is doing things differently. A third-generation fisherman from a family passionate about abalone, Adams worked as a commercial abalone diver for 12 years and completed a post-graduate degree in aquaculture. After much research, he then developed a more free-range method of farming abalone known as ranching, where juvenile Greenlip abalone, reared in a land-based hatchery, are placed on an artificial reef and allowed to thrive in the natural environment.
‘The system we’ve developed is unique,’ says Adams. ‘There’s no one else doing what we’re doing.’
Adams knew that with the ideal location and the right habitat, abalone would grow, so he designed a concrete reef, which he calls an ‘abitat’ (combining the words abalone and habitat), and placed it on the seabed. Here young abalone are left for two to three years, feeding naturally on seaweed, before being harvested. ‘Essentially it’s a wild catch product with all the advantages of aquaculture, where we can harvest whatever size we like, we can harvest on demand and we’re not limited by quota,’ says Adams. ‘But we end up with a product which is identical to the wild catch product.’
Being a low volume product, abalone is incredibly sustainable. A fish farm might produce 10,000 tonnes, whereas Adams may only produce 100–200 tonnes so much less nutrient output. In fact nutrients are recycled as Adams simply uses local food. There are also no feeding costs, nor power needed for the water pumps used for land farming. In addition, the artificial reef has become home to new sea life, such as pink snapper and jewfish. ‘The only thing we’re altering is an area, quite barren as far as marine life, into something that’s not only supporting our abalone business but also lots of fish, living and growing on the reef.’
Abalone is rarely seen in Australia, as it’s expensive and popular overseas, particularly in China where it’s traditionally served at weddings, banquets and Chinese New Year. According to Adams, approximately 95 per cent of Australia’s production goes to South-East Asia, however he does have a small domestic market in Sydney and Melbourne and is now seeing greater interest, closer to home in Margaret River, with its many winery restaurants. ‘The chefs there are really onto it,’ he says. ‘We’ve got half a dozen of them that are regularly purchasing abalone from us.’
Overall the future is exciting for Adams, whose business was only commercialised three ago. ‘It’s been a really interesting ride and now we’re in an expansion phase—we’ve got a new site in Esperance and we’re doing some trial sites in Port Lincoln,’ he says. ‘So the business is looking to expand the technology in other areas along the south coast where we think it will work.’
For the the full story, grab a copy of Sprout Magazine, Autumn 2017 issue, at your local stockist or online.
Published at the beginning of each season, Sprout is a celebration of local food, producers and cuisine. It is about living sustainably through promoting fresh, seasonal produce from local farms and encouraging people to make a difference by growing their own food and making sustainable food choices.