Abalone farm can expand
WA's environmental watchdog has approved a huge expansion of a world-first abalone farming project off the South West.
The approval means 800,000 juvenile abalone will be seeded on a network of artificial reefs in Flinders Bay over the next year.
One kilogram of the seafood delicacy is worth more than two tonnes of iron ore on international markets, with demand set to rocket under the free trade agreement with China.
The Department of Environmental Regulation ticked off two new leases over 80ha of sea floor in the countdown to yesterday's opening of the $34.5 million Augusta boat harbour.
WA company Ocean Grown Abalone will build a processing plant at the marina and use marina facilities to help install about 5000 pieces of artificial reef each weighing 900kg.
As well as supplying top-end restaurants, it wants to take Chinese tourists out on boats to see the abalone "ranches" and the abundant fish life they attract in waters between 2km and 4km from the marina.
OGA chief executive Brad Adams said the new leases would allow the company to reach commercial-scale production of about 100 tonnes a year.
It took the company, which has 400,000 abalone on a 40ha lease, four years to get the approval to expand.
"No one else in the world has ever done abalone ranching on a commercial scale," Mr Adams said. "If we get this ranch going well, we could see the birth of the new industry of offshore abalone aquaculture in WA."
WA Fisheries Minister Ken Baston said the Government was determined to grow aquaculture in WA.
It has set up a 2000ha aquaculture zone at Cone Bay in the Kimberley, where there is pre-approval to produce up to 20,000 tonne of fish a year, and plans to have a similar-sized zone in the Abrolhos within 18 months.
Officials from Zhejiang, WA's sister state in China, which farms 1.8 million tonnes of seafood a year, recently met Government officials to discuss investment and co-operation in aquaculture.
Chinese tariffs of 14 per cent on abalone and lobster will end under the FTA, in what Mr Adams said was a five-star breakthrough for WA
Most WA abalone and rock lobster enters China through the unofficial "grey trade", which prevents it being certified for top-end restaurants.
WA abalone is about $140/kg wholesale in China.
