Huon Aquaculture in Hobart, Tasmania | Food and drinks company
Huon Aquaculture
Locality: Hobart, Tasmania
Phone: +61 3 6295 8111
Address: 961 Esperance Coast Rd 7000 Hobart, TAS, Australia
Website: http://www.huonaqua.com.au/
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25.01.2022 National Science Week day eight: For Huon’s Fish Health Assistant, Evan Leonard, an interest in marine and aquatic environments started at a young age. I loved fishing and diving so studying marine science was a way to get closer to these unique environments and better understand how the different marine organisms interact, Evan said. ... In his role, Evan is responsible for assessing the progression of Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) in Atlantic Salmon. AGD is a naturally occurring parasite that lives on the gill tissue of salmon and large numbers of these parasites can lead to the death of these fish if not treated. Evan said anything to do with fish is his passion, and after spending all day with fish at work, he goes home to look after his own fish! I believe managing fish stocks is crucial for the future of food availability while generally being more sustainable than land-based agriculture practices, Evan said. Well that's a wrap for Science Week! Thank you to all the staff members who participated - you are all stars! #scienceweek
24.01.2022 Nothing beats the smell of freshly cut grass! This morning we celebrated the cutting of the 2000th bale of organic silage at Huon's Forest Home hatchery farmland. This organic grass will be fed to Bruny Island Cheese Co. & Bruny Island Beer Co.'s rare-breed cows later this season, allowing them to maintain a quality and consistent milk yield throughout the season without having to rely on bought in grain or fodder. Forest Home’s farmland is irrigated using filtered and dis...infected wastewater from the hatchery. Frances Bender, Huon Aquaculture Co-Founder and Executive Director, said this is just one example of how we are strengthening the sustainability of our freshwater operations while forging positive relationships with our neighbouring farmers.
23.01.2022 Thank you to everyone who entered our little competition - we certainly enjoyed reading through all the entries!! And the winner is Downes Home with his caption: ... Aussie maintenance guidelines: If it moves but shouldn’t - use duct tape. If it doesn’t move but should - use WD40. If you can’t reach it - inflate a dinghy. Downes - we will be in touch shortly with your voucher!
23.01.2022 National Science Week day three: The wonderful Emmaline Kelly is a Technical Officer for our southern hatcheries. What does that role entail you ask? Well a ‘typical’ day for Emmaline involves water tests; weight counts or osmolality testing, doing routine checks at our hatcheries, fertilising (eggs), analysing eggs, monitoring fish health, setting up feeders, and vaccinating (just to name a few!). I really enjoy being involved in the whole process from fertilisation to wh...en we send the fish out to sea. I’m constantly learning something and love getting to see science in action, Emmaline said. Through working at Huon, Emmaline has learnt that aquaculture is in constant development. We use science to ensure our fish continually have the best treatments and quality of life possible, Emmaline said. #scienceweek
22.01.2022 National Science Week day six: Huon’s Quality Assurance Coordinator, Andrea Shotton’s love for science started in her childhood when she started helping her dad, an agronomist (agricultural scientist), set up farm trials. Andrea always found science easy to learn and loved how instantly she could see results with chemistry. This passion inspired Andrea to pursue a degree in Forensic Science. Before working at Huon, Andrea’s career has seen her work in a laboratory analysing... water samples, hold a role for the Defence Science and Technology (Food and Nutrition), where she gained knowledge of shelf life trials, sensory and packaging requirements for different food products. Amazing work, Andrea! #scienceweek
21.01.2022 Have you ever seen smolt do zoomies?! Well these excited teenagers at our Whale Point salmon nursery were full of beans just weeks off their transfer to sea. At Huon, we grow our fish to 300-400 grams on land before they are transferred to the ocean where they will grow to 4-6 kilos. Growing our salmon to a larger size on land for a part of their lifecycle improves the overall efficiency of our production cycle by reducing the time the salmon spend at sea (from 14 months, to between 9-10 months).
20.01.2022 It has been an emotional and toiling week for everyone involved with the whale rescue on Tassie's West Coast. The three pilot whales pictured here are currently en-route to freedom courtesy of our Strahan based crew, on board our vessel Spartan - you may note the mode of transport includes a mattress! Yep, one of our clever crew, Sam Gerrity, thought it might be less stressful on the rescued whales if they had a more supportive, restful surface to lie on during the relocation. We think we would all sleep on the floor tonight if it meant saving one of these beautiful mammals.
20.01.2022 It doesn’t get more Tassie than this: two iconic local companies working together to create a sustainable use for by-products! Yesterday saw the first large-scale spread of compost made using our salmon hatchery by-product across Cherries Tasmania Orchards’ cherry trees at Old Beach. Using our hatchery by-product has not only created a premium, nutrient-rich compost for Cherries Tasmania, but given Huon an environmentally sustainable option for hatchery waste-disposal. ... Read more about the partnership in the Mercury article below:
19.01.2022 Salmon farming in the 21st century means taking advantage of modern technologies such as GPS (Global Positioning Systems) to track certain on-water equipment. With the aim of improving practices, transparency and accountability, Huon uses GPS devices on a range of on-water equipment such as corner markers, grid cans, as well as certain vessels. At present, Huon has over 100 grid cans, 33 corner markers, 8 mambas and 12 vessels installed with GPS trackers. You can read more about our GPS tracking and other stories inside the latest edition of The Huon Story, now available via the link below:
18.01.2022 Indulge us as we take a moment to recognise the efforts of our on-water crews. Today is World Maritime Day; a chance to acknowledge the skills and experience of our Marine Ops teams as well as recognise the complexity of their jobs none more so than this week when our Strahan based crew have been supporting efforts to return stranded pilot whales to the sea. Most of us wouldn’t have any idea of how challenging this experience has been for everyone involved, as well as the ...Strahan community. Like our fellow fish farmers, we didn’t hesitate to offer assistance people, vessels, equipment, because it was the right, and only, thing to do in this sad situation. There’s no photo of anyone in particular, but instead one of the lovely township of Strahan; we want to send a virtual hug to all our Strahan based staff, their families and the local community.
17.01.2022 We have previously highlighted our participation in a joint IMAS/The Climate Foundation giant kelp restoration project; it’s now time for a proud parent update! From tiny 1mm spores, seven months on from the initial planting (on ropes adjacent to our salmon pens in Storm Bay) remote cameras have revealed the kelp is now several metres in height (yep, that's several metres growth in just seven months!!), much taller than kelp experimentally planted away from our salmons. C...learly Storm Bay is providing a thriving nursery for these babies! Huon’s Marine Environment Manager, Adam Smark, said the results were really encouraging and we hope to see continued strong growth for the trial. How exciting would it be to see the kelp break the surface again in Storm Bay! Read more about the project in the Forty South story linked below: https://www.fortysouth.com.au//restoring-the-giants-of-the
17.01.2022 Caption this photo: Best (clean!) caption wins a $50 voucher to our online store! For context: pictured is Huon’s Trav Ware using an inflatable dingy to work on the feed augers at our Whale Point nursery. Love the innovation! ... The winner will be announced this Friday, 11 September 2020.
17.01.2022 Look at that grass! This luscious plot of land is next to our Parramatta Creek processing facility located in beautiful Sassafras, in Tassie’s North West. We treat our wastewater at the facility to a standard that allows for its reuse on our attached farmland to grow Ryegrass pasture. Every couple of months when the nutrient-rich grass gets a bit high our neighbouring farmer kindly lends us his furry lawnmowers to get the grass down to a manageable length. Appreciation to Spectran Group for their ongoing support of our recycling efforts (and Josh Tomlin for his great photo!).
16.01.2022 If you've got a kid or two in your household who love the ocean, I'm sure they will tell you that today marks the beginning of SeaWeek Australia 2020! This year's theme follows the fifth Ocean Literacy principle: the sea supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. At Huon, we believe its imperative to respect the environment in which we operate, including its natural inhabitants. While this ethos ripples through all aspects of our operations, we also have a dedicated... wildlife team to manage and minimise our interactions with wildlife. Minimising our interactions with wildlife allows them to go on with what they do best: being wild! Working on the water, our marine operations crews witness the diversity of sea life on a daily basis - from fish to crustaceans, shellfish to seabirds, seaweed to coral, and of course, aquatic mammals such as seals, whales and dolphins. It's a truly special experience when a dolphin decides to come up to your boat and say hello, so a huge thanks to Huon's Luke Taylor for sharing this video with us. Luke captured this close encounter with a couple of playful Common Dolphins as they swam past their boat in Storm Bay recently. Wow!
16.01.2022 Now the dust has (almost) settled on our financial year results we have an opportunity to reflect on where we’ve come from (no grey hairs and Peter's fine looking moustache!) while also reinforcing our commitment to the future. Our FB followers may have read negative media that despite an increase in revenue, our company earnings were impacted due to COVID-19. We are not alone in taking such a hit, and in spite of these stories there are some positive background facts which ...Continue reading
15.01.2022 National Science Week day five: For Huon’s Fish Stock Manager, Jarrod Wells, having a farming background and a love for fishing led him to study biology and chemistry. This interest saw him secure a job with Huon as a feeder, and after further studies, a role on the fish health team. Jarrod’s role involves a diverse range of tasks; something that he loves about his role. ... The ultimate reason I enjoy my role at Huon is the way it varies; I’m involved with smolt transportation, fish performance, brood stock maintenance, vaccinations, and sea trials. My day can also require me to be at any of our production facilities, conducting a range of different measurements or processes. A lot of work is around field data collection, assessing results to make decisions for the next year class of fish, Jarrod said. When asked what field of science he’s fascinated in, Jarrod responded: Possibly genetics now; the Industry Selective Breeding Program (SBP) is returning amazing results and recent developments in technology are increasing the gains in specific traits to incredible levels. #scienceweek
14.01.2022 National Science Week day seven: Huon’s Danielle Zanetto has always had a passion and curiosity for the ocean and marine mammals, leading her to study Marine and Antarctic Science at university. The skills and knowledge she gained through her degree gave her the perfect foundation for a career in aquaculture. In her current role as Leading Hand at the Millybrook Hatchery, Danielle has learnt a range of technical skills related to fish husbandry, as well as the practicalitie...s of running a land-based fish hatchery such as equipment operation, maintenance and repairs. I’m still fascinated by marine science. The way the ocean drives our climate and the life that the oceans support will always fascinate me. However, working for Huon has definitely guided my interest more specifically toward aquaculture, Danielle said. #scienceweek
12.01.2022 Thank you to Steve and the students at the Huon Trade Training Centre for letting us pop in for a visit during their last week of studies for the year. 2020 has been an extremely challenging time for students and our hats go off to everyone who has pushed through to complete their training. Congratulations to year 12 aquaculture student Ryley Wilton on acquiring a position at Saltas (pictured); we wish him the best of luck in the workforce. Steve and the aquaculture students at the TTC impressively grow, harvest and smoke their own Atlantic Salmon, which they sell to the public. A small run of their highly sort after whole hot smoked Atlantic Salmon (700g fish) will be available in early December keep an eye for a sign outside the TTC (they won't last long!).
12.01.2022 Rhonda is by far the quietest team member at Parramatta Creek but she conveys some very important messages about food safety! To meet our food safety certification requirements, team members must follow prescribed steps on how to dress, put on and take off PPE. These steps are important in not only safeguarding food safety, but also to mitigate against foreign objects entering our products. ... In fact, we’ve just introduced the mother of all hair nets which is essentially a balaclava. This means that we can do away with beard netsa handy thing with Movember in full swing. While Rhonda was named after Ketut and Rhonda, it is undeniable that her love for PPE far surpasses her love for any man (sorry Ketut). This Food Safety Week, why not think about how you can channel Ronda and bring some good food hygiene practices into your home and workplace?
11.01.2022 A morning at the Huon IVF unit (hmm, we mean broodstock unit!): Once a year, for a period of 3 weeks, the love and labour from our Bagdad staff (with some help from staff from other Huon freshwater sites) pays off with the annual spawn of our Bagdad broodstock. The photos below show some of our largest selectively bred female salmon (from our 2016 year class) having their eggs milked for fertilisation. The milking process is painless as the females are first anaesthetised - t...ransferred from their tanks into a water bath containing a natural anaesthetic agent. While under anaesthetic, each female is individually hand-milked by a skilled technician and then returned to their tank. Following the milking, their eggs are collated in large buckets where they are mixed with cryopreserved milt (salmon sperm) of high genetic value. This process requires the involvement and expertise from an assortment of Huon staff including (but not limited to) Hatchery Technicians, a Quality Systems Specialist, Veterinarian, Senior Fish Health and Freshwater experts. On this particular day, approximately 400,000 fertilised eggs were milked from the record-breaking females who weighed between 14-16kg! The eggs were then transferred to Lonnavale Hatchery for the next stage of incubation and hatching. Picture 1: (from left to right) Huon’s Justin Sanguinetti, Emmet Gur, Jarrod Wells, Miles Rogers and Phil Adams at our Bagdad hatchery with some impressive broodstock! Picture 2: Emmet Gur and Phil Adams carefully milking broodstock at Bagdad hatchery.
10.01.2022 If you missed us on ABC Landline yesterday, the clip is now available on iView. Last week we hosted ABC Landline Margot Kelly at our Whale Point salmon nursery and a lease in the Huon and D’Entrecasteaux Channel; no question was off the table and no limits were placed on filming. We are proud to showcase our farming operations and will continue to answer any question put to us. A big thanks to Kylie and Mitch for showing Landline around Whale Point, Kate for a stunning lunch spread, Ben for being our skipper, and to Mark and Mat for dip-netting some spectacular Huon Salmon for the segment. And of course to Peter for his time and frankness about Huon’s outlook.
10.01.2022 Happy National Recycling Week! At Huon, we have a whole-of-fish philosophy, which is why we are continuously finding new ways to recycle, reduce, reuse and repurpose across all parts of our operations, but we are particularly proud of the innovations coming out of our freshwater sites. Here’s just a few examples of how we are doing this: Our Whale Point salmon nursery includes a state-of-the-art internal water treatment system which enables the facility to reuse 98 per cent ...of its water every single day; the remaining 2 per cent is reused within offshore operations (such as our wellboats) thereby achieving 100 per cent water reuse. A recent collaboration with Cherries Tasmania has also seen fish waste from Whale Point converted into high quality compost for cherry orchards. Our Forest Home hatchery by-product and irrigation water is not only an excellent example of by-products reuse, but also collaboration among farmers. 95 per cent of hatchery wastewater is recirculated and then separated from solids. This wastewater, once treated and disinfected, is irrigated onto the hatchery’s organically certified farmland, which is leased to Bruny Island Cheese. The solids from Forest Home also go to local farmers for spreading on their land (all with the appropriate permits of course). In addition, waste from our Parramatta Creek Processing facility has been used on farmland in Ross and as you can see from this image, the results speak for themselves!* *The longer, darker grass is where the waste has been spread.
09.01.2022 Our Compliance and Community Relations teams recently spent a few days in Strahan to undertake our regular shoreline/ocean clean-up, leaving Strahan even more beautiful than when they found it! The team were happy to report that the sun was bright, the sky was blue, and while their legs were tired, the Harbour was clean! "As always the locals warmly welcomed, fed and watered us well. We look forward to coming back at the end of January to attend the best community picnic e...ver!" they said. While it was heartening to see that the combined efforts of industry are leading to minimal farming waste in the region, it is unfortunate the same could not be said for the amount of road side litter in the area.
08.01.2022 National Science Week day four: Meet Tom Pinkiewicz, he’s a Data Engineer (Machine Learning) at Huon. As a young teen, Tom was interested in history of warfare. With computers becoming more common, he wanted to use that knowledge to make strategy games. This eventually led him to pursue computer science as a career. In his role at Data Engineer at Huon, Tom works with a multi-disciplinary team to ensure the functioning and efficiency of our computer-operated equipment and pr...ograms. Through his role he has learnt that solving technology problems in aquaculture requires people from different areas and disciplines While I try to provide my knowledge to others, I find it invaluable learning from them about their areas of expertise, Tom said. We asked him what he would say to someone who wants to get into science, to which he responded: Maths is the language of science, so don’t avoid it, learn it. Don’t just settle for what you learn at school there are so many resources available on the internet. I also think programming is good to know because you can use tools like Python to analyse your data. In my opinion, both of these skills help to wire your brain so you can become a good problem solver. #scienceweek
08.01.2022 Huon recently had the privilege of hosting the St Helens and Scamander Probus groups for a tour of our Millybrook Hatchery, located in the Esk River Valley near Mathinna. During their visit, the groups were fortunate to spot a local platypus and sea eagle just a taste of some of the beautiful wildlife in the area. A big thank you to the groups and Jo from Franklin Coaches for paying us a visit to learn more about Huon and Millybrook.... 3 FUN FACTS ABOUT MILLYBROOK: 1. While Millybrook is known as a hatchery, there is actually no hatchery present on-site. 2. The site was established to grow juvenile rainbow trout (sent from Huon’s northern hatcheries) until they reach approx. 500-600g, at which point they are transferred to Huon’s marine farm in Macquarie Harbour. 3. The site has been developed with a settlement dam, which is now home to a small population of platypus along with other local native wildlife.
05.01.2022 What’s going on in this picture??!! This is Huon’s Lyndon Cook modelling a gas mask while holding an ozone detector we use to test the levels of oxygen at our Forest Home hatchery. In the event, unsafe levels are detected, our staff wear gas masks and shut down our ozone generators until safe levels of oxygen return. Ozone gas is used in the manufacture of drinking water and food, as well as throughout hospital and wastewater disinfection around the world. It’s also used to ...purify the freshwater used at Forest Home. Ozone is basically 3 oxygen molecules (O3) (yes, we know it’s a bit more complicated), but it is much cleaner and safer to use than chlorine disinfection. Ozone is formed naturally during thunderstorms and is that clean/fresh smell that you get during and post storm events. We use an electrical ozone generator to form ozone from the air, we then pump this gas into the water which enhances the disinfection of water when combined with our other form of disinfection, ultra violet lighting. Ozone enables industry to maintain disinfection without the use of harsh chemicals and as it reverts to its oxygen form in a short period of time (10+ minutes) it is harmless to the environment. If a leak was to occur, like all gases ozone can build up in lower sections of a room and displace oxygen hence the need for a mask if the ozone detector records the presence of the gas. These fun facts have been bought to you by #WorkSafe month! #WorkSafeTas
04.01.2022 The sun was shining, people were smiling, and tails were wagging at Dogs Day Out and About at Simmons Park in Lindisfarne yesterday! Thank you to the Clarence City Council for hosting us and to everyone who came over to our Omega Treats stall to say hello and give their fur babies a taste of our delicious salmon pet treats! We are so proud to be offering this new range as part of Huon’s mission to harness innovation to become more sustainable. How you ask? The Omega Treats range turns excess smolt, fingerlings and salmon skins into premium, healthy pet treats through the process of freeze-drying. Freeze-drying makes food shelf-stable, leaving out the need for refrigeration or preservatives, meaning our treats contain only one ingredient: salmon!
03.01.2022 Spring is officially here which means that our bovine neighbours at, Bruny Island Cheese Co. & Bruny Island Beer Co. Glen Huon Farm, are busy calving and here’s the cute proof! Prior to giving birth, the mummas-to-be dine on organic pasture at our Forest Home hatchery. Our organic certified farmland is just across the river from the Glen Huon Farm and is irrigated from hatchery waste and you can see from the photos the result is nutritious, healthy feed producing happy cows. Achieving NASAA Organic certification for the Forest Home farmland didn’t happen overnightit took years of planning, changing some old habits and meeting the rigorous requirements of NASAA including audits and spot checks.
02.01.2022 With easing restrictions, Huon was thrilled to recently host Huon Valley Trade Training Centre (TTC) students studying their Certificate II in Aquaculture. For the students of the TTC, 2020 has been a challenging time to complete their studies. In addition to mandatory remote learning, the COVID-19 restrictions placed on industries such as aquaculture have prevented site visits and student placements, leaving students behind on their practical assessments. Huon's Education R...elations Adviser Ali Stebbing (pictured here with students) said the site visit offered students valuable industry exposure, as well as the opportunity to complete their practical assessment for the unit Pests and Predators. Following a presentation, students went to the Harvest Pod to conduct a wildlife survey for their practical assessment. During the survey, students identified wildlife occurrences common to aquaculture farms, such as seabirds and seals," Ali said. As Huon employs dedicated Wildlife Officers, this was a great opportunity for students to gain practical experience into another career pathway in aquaculture. Pictures: : Aquaculture students from the TTC with Huon Education Adviser Ali Stebbing and TTC Aquaculture Coordinator Steve Harrison.
02.01.2022 ATTENTION TASSIE PET OWNERS: Omega Treats are here! We are so excited to announce that Omega Treats are now available in Animal Tuckerbox and Hill Street Grocer stores around Tassie! The Omega Treats product line features 3 drool-worthy pet treat products that are 100% Tassie Huon Salmon and irresistible to even the fussiest of pets! For exciting (and quite often adorable) updates and competitions, be sure to check out our Omega Treats page!
01.01.2022 Did you know that devils love salmon? Yesterday we had the privilege of visiting our friends, Phoenix and Marley at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary to deliver a donation and give them an exclusive taste of our new salmon skin pet treats! As you can see here, they passed the taste test, making them officially delicious for cats, dogs and carnivorous natives! We are so close to launching the trial run of these treats in Tassie stores watch this space for updates. A big thank you to Emma for facilitating our time with the devils and the rest of the Bonorong team for having us.
01.01.2022 We believe in transparency, which is why we proactively disclose a wide range of information and data including seafloor surveys. The footage available via the link below was captured by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) across four lease sites in Storm Bay and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel at the 35-metre compliance point. All dive sites were selected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and provided to Huon before the survey. There is no legislation or statutory regu...lation (whether active, amended or repealed) that requires public disclosure of video footage captured during routine compliance surveys. If you have any questions about the footage or compliance surveys, please get in touch.
01.01.2022 There is no doubt that HR professionals are the quiet heroes of any workforce. Well today is their day, Human Resource Professional Day in fact, and a time to celebrate all things HR! HR Professional Day is all about thanking and appreciating the people who handle one of the most difficult and diverse aspects of any business, people! HR professionals understand legislation, ensure colleagues get paid, induct people into their roles, mentor and advise staff, and they also hav...e the very important task of planning the Christmas party here at Huon. A huge thank you to Huon’s HR team for their continuous energy and support to keep the cogs (and payroll) moving all year round. Pictured: Our fabulous Hobart-based HR team (from left to right): Alison (sitting down), Peta, Rachael, Alex, Barry and Briarna (sitting down).
