Just a little bit of info this fortnight from the Fish E...

Just a little bit of info this fortnight from the Fish E Newsletter. Mostly what has been released to the market and some newspaper articles. I'm also including the following two articles which shows "copy cat" companies doing the same thing as Australis in Las Vegas and the United Kingdom. I guess if your successful then there will be copy cats..

Happy Fishing
Wheeler


AUSTRALIS UPDATE
With an established market for barramundi with US restaurants, Perth-based
Australis Aquaculture has begun discussions with US and Canada-based
supermarkets and already distributes to 400 of those outlets. Hopes are
sales will reach 80 tonnes of plate-sized barramundi each month by next
year. The company is taking out various forms of advertising to educate
Americans about the fish. Australis increased sales by 60 per cent in the
last quarter compared to the previous three months, to $906,000, and
appears destined soon to make a profit. The company has temporarily scaled
back its expansion plans in the US after lower-than-expected sales in the
first three months of this year. Managing director Stewart Graham explains
the first-quarter performance as being less than expected because of a
seasonal glut in the live fish market in New York and Boston. The company
flies fingerlings from Australian hatcheries to its farm near New York
where they are grown out. Australis also has a network of 150 Australian
outlets.
Source: Michael Evans in the Sydney Morning Herald (5/4/2006); John Rolfe
in the Daily Telegraph (4/4/2006); Cathy Bolt in the West Australian
(4/4/2006); Foodweek (7/4/2006).

BARRAMUNDI FARMERS TO BUILD THEIR CREDENTIALS
The National Aquaculture Council (NAC) and the Australian Government is to
work with barramundi farmers to demonstrate farmer's economic,
environmental and social credentials. The NAC has been authorised to
administer an AusIndustry-funded project progressing work started under
the Aquaculture Industry Action Agenda. Several farmers recognised as
industry leaders have developed integrated management systems, and the
project will draw on this work to develop a flexible but standardised
approach to capitalise on the industry's clean, green image, and to
improve practices. It's expected the work will, with other advantages,
help with increased regional employment, and support bringing aquaculture
back into indigenous traditional practice.
Source: Sunday Canberra Times (9/4/2006).

BARRAMUNDI ON SALE IN BRITAIN
Barramundi became available for sale in British supermarkets in April this
year, with hopes the availability of the species might take pressure off
the region's cod, which is threatened because of long-term demand. The
barramundi is being harvested from England's first farm at Lymington and
is expected to be sold at $36 per kilo, which is around twice the price it
fetches at the Sydney Fish Market. Attempts to ship grown-out barramundi
product from Australia to England have proved unsuccessful because the
travelling times involved make the fish uncompetitive when compared with
fresh British product. Currently the farm has a contract with the Waitrose
supermarket chain, which provides for 165 store outlets. Barramundi
fingerlings are flown from Australia, where they are grown out - and now
the farm now has broodstock.
Source: Australian (11/4/2006).

SEAFOOD BIZ IN THE MOJAVE DESERT
Seafood Biz, a Gold Coast-based company, has launched a high-tech fish
farm in the Mojave Desert in Nevada, US. Barramundi hatchery fingerlings
flown out from Australia are to be grown out in the Cumminscorp C-Box
Recirculating Aquaculture System. It's known the market - currently
there's no live fish being produced for consumption in Las Vegas, it's all
imported - is likely to exceed production from the pilot plant. Also the
local Jewish community is interested in kosher fish and produce from the
greenhouses which recirculate water through the culture system.
Source: Dynamic Business (1/4/2006).