THE INDUSTRY'S IMPROVING ALL THE TIME.

WITH SEAFARMS CEO CHRIS MITCHELL AT THE HELM, A DIVERSE AND SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE INDUSTRY BENEFITS MORE THAN JUST THE ENVIRONMENT – IT MEANS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY TOO.

- LISA SCHOFIELD

Prawns are as ‘true blue Aussie’ as the Sydney Opera House, Vegemite and stubby holders. We ‘put another shrimp on the barbie’ on long summer evenings and join the Christmas Eve queues at local seafood markets to snap up fresh prawns for our seafood platters. Australians love their seafood and so does the rest of the world.

Australia has a global reputation for premium, ethically sourced seafood. At the forefront of the prawn industry is Seafarms, an Australian sustainable aquaculture company. Under CEO Chris Mitchell, Seafarms is one of the country’s largest producers of high-quality farmed prawns. Available year-round, Seafarms’ branded Crystal Bay Prawns and Crystal Bay Tigers enjoy international acclaim. While Australians are still relatively unfamiliar with aquaculture, the importance of this growing industry can’t be understated.

“Wild fisheries have their limits. You can’t continue to overfish without depleting stocks and going commercially extinct,” suggests Chris. “The industry is improving all the time. We’re seeing how increasingly important aquaculture is to the world – it now provides more than half the globe’s seafood. What’s more, well-run aquaculture is sustainable.

“Australia has a reputation for having a clean and green environment. Consumers want quality seafood to reflect freshness, taste, sustainability and environmental safety.”

PROJECT SEA DRAGON

Seafarms’ sole strategic focus is on consolidating its aquaculture operations through Project Sea Dragon. Awarded major project status by the Federal Government, this project will deliver a marine prawn production system capable of producing in excess of 100,000 tonnes of prawns each year.