{"id":776496,"date":"2026-09-20T05:30:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T05:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776496\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T05:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T05:30:29","slug":"kingfish-flown-to-tasmania-for-bass-strait-aquaculture-research-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776496\/","title":{"rendered":"Kingfish flown to Tasmania for Bass Strait aquaculture research trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Placed in oxygenated bags then packed into insulated boxes, 15,000 juvenile kingfish have made the 3,000-kilometre journey from Fremantle to Hobart.<\/p>\n

The arrival of the tiny fish, known as fingerlings, marks the next stage of aquaculture trial underway in Bass Strait, 12 kilometres off the coast of Burnie.<\/p>\n

\"Packages<\/p>\n

The packages travelled in two specialist air-freight shipments, packed in oxygenated bags sealed inside insulated polyboxes. (Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre)<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

Blue Economy CRC says the cargo arrived safely. (Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre)<\/p>\n

Researcher and kingfish impact lead for the company running the trial, Blue Economy CRC (Cooperative Research Centre), Maxi Canepa, said the journey was “an interesting exercise”.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t have mortalities. They are fantastic. They looked very healthy on arrival,” he said.<\/p>\n

“These fish grow really fast. That’s why it’s a very nice species for aquaculture.”<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

The kingfish will grow to be around four kilograms when mature. (Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre)<\/p>\n

The fingerlings will grow on land at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Taroona for three months until they weigh between 100 and 150 grams.<\/p>\n

The not-so-tiny fish will then be transported to the trial site, where they will be acclimatised to the water and released into a sea pen where they are expected to grow to 4 kilograms before being harvested.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

The kingfish will be held in tanks at the University of Tasmania’s IMAS aquaculture research facility at Taroona for about three months. (Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre)<\/p>\n

Dr Canepa said it would be the first time kingfish are farmed offshore in Australia.<\/p>\n

“It’s a site that is going to offer some challenges but also opportunities,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Atlantic<\/p>\n

Blue Economy CRC says the fish pen infrastructure “stood up to the high-energy conditions of Bass Strait”. (Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre)<\/p>\n

How will fish fare in ‘wild’ Bass Strait?<\/p>\n

The three-year research trial, dubbed the Blue Economy Zone (BEZ), is the country’s first aquaculture trial in Commonwealth waters, led by independent not-for-profit Blue Economy CRC.<\/p>\n

The company is part of the federal government’s CRC program, which supports industry-led collaborations between industry, researchers and the community.<\/p>\n

The project aims to trial the viability of multi-species offshore aquaculture in Commonwealth waters.<\/p>\n

In 2028 the site will be decommissioned; and any commercial operation will then be a question for aquaculture companies and will require government approvals.<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/p>\n

Blue Economy CRC says the kingfish “are gradually acclimatised to the waters before being released into the research sea pen” in Bass Strait. (Supplied: Blue Economy CRC)<\/p>\n

Three months after pens were established in 2025, 15,000 Atlantic salmon were introduced. Last week, the fish were harvested.<\/p>\n

Blue Economy CRC chief executive Angela Williamson says the salmon “performed really well” in the notoriously rough waters of Bass Strait.<\/p>\n

“They grew above the predicted modelled weight. Unlike within the state waters, they did not need to be bathed. We did experience regular mortalities across that time period,” she said.<\/p>\n

“All our information was put on our website on a dashboard. We know transparency is a really important component of this trial and (the public) understanding and trusting the process,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Williamson said infrastructure had also held up against the “wild and windy” conditions.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had to really make sure that our mooring grid, our nets and our floating equipment meet those standards, not just of government, but also of keeping the fish safe, keeping people who are operating safe, and ensuring that marine debris is eliminated as much as possible.”<\/p>\n

According to the project’s dashboard, the BEZ has recorded 13 pieces of marine debris and eight “wildlife interactions”.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

The kingfish will be transferred into large tanks aboard a vessel for the 12.5-kilometre journey into Bass Strait. (Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre)<\/p>\n

Opposition to trial in north-west<\/p>\n

A public meeting hosted by Blue Economy CRC was held when the project at the start of the trial last year, with attendees opposed to the trial expressing concerns about environmental impacts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Crowd<\/p>\n

Opponents attended a public forum on the fish farming trial in May, 2025. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

Tasmanian independent Braddon MP Craig Garland is staunchly opposed to the trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We never wanted any salmon or any finfish aquaculture in our waterways,” he said.<\/p>\n

“One in five people are coming here for the tourism experience. They’re not coming to see a flow-through hatch with algae growing downstream. They’re not coming to see 20,000 ton of dead fish rotting and floating around the place.”<\/p>\n

Spike in dolphin deaths prompts questioning<\/a><\/p>\n

Tasmanian regulators question major salmon farm operator Huon Aquaculture about the effectiveness of its “predator” nets after a spate of dolphin deaths.<\/p>\n

From January to April 2025, a bacterial disease known as Piscirickettsia salmonis caused the mass deaths of salmon in pens in south-east Tasmanian waters.<\/p>\n

Data reported to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) showed almost 15,000 tonnes of dead salmon during that period went to waste facilities.<\/p>\n

Ms Williamson said there are a “variety of perspectives” on aquaculture across coastal communities.<\/p>\n

“I think the debate about aquaculture more broadly across Australia is a strong debate,” she said.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, what we’re looking to do is learn from all of those and provide for a regulatory environment, a policy environment that makes sense for Commonwealth waters, which are further offshore.”<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

The company says the research is “about what greater sovereign seafood production could look like and the role our oceans can play in Australia’s food and nutrition security”. (Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre)<\/p>\n

Trial infrastructure to be decommissioned in 2028How many salmon farms are there in Tasmania \u2014 and who owns them?<\/a><\/p>\n

Those black, circular things floating in the water off the Tasmanian coastline? They are salmon farms. Here is how many there are \u2014 and who owns them.<\/p>\n

After the kingfish are harvested in May 2028, the site will be decommissioned and the research findings will inform future governance of aquaculture in government waters.<\/p>\n

Harvested salmon, kingfish and seaweed products are allowed to be sold under the project’s permit arrangement, with profits fed back into the CRC program to offset research costs.<\/p>\n

“There’ll be a wealth of information and knowledge available for industry and government to make decisions on what’s next and whether that is unlocking Commonwealth waters right around Australia, what that looks like, how that will be done,” Ms Williamson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Placed in oxygenated bags then packed into insulated boxes, 15,000 juvenile kingfish have made the 3,000-kilometre journey from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[202075,256001,34958,256000,1397,255998,547,8272,255999,90,32021,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-776496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-aquaculture","tag-bass-strait","tag-blue-economy","tag-blue-economy-crc","tag-environment","tag-kingfish","tag-research","tag-salmon","tag-salmon-farm","tag-science","tag-tasmania","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}