Seafood Champions

Australis Aquaculture - 2009 Seafood Champion

Australis Aquaculture operates one of the world’s largest and most environmentally friendly indoor fish farms, harvesting two million pounds of fresh barramundi per year. Marketed under the banner of The Better Fish® – “Better Tasting, Better For You, Better For Our Environment”– the company utilizes sustainable aquaculture technology, such as innovative water reuse systems and feeds, to improve the environmental performance of its farms. Australis is adamant about the high quality of both feed and fish, and works closely with several environmental groups to ensure consistency. The company supports its fishermen by paying better prices and advancing them feed and equipment, improving both their livelihoods and their communities.

Australis is credited with introducing barramundi—a species native to Australia—to North America on a large scale and has witnessed its growth in popularity among culinary experts and diners alike. More importantly, the company prides itself on its reputation as a leader within the sustainable aquaculture movement. Its unique indoor facility in Massachusetts re-creates barramundi’s natural estuarine habitat, ensuring the purity and healthfulness of the fish, and addresses many of the environmental challenges facing fish farming. Its farming practices make the use of hormones, antibiotics, or colorants unnecessary. Australis aims to make the aquaculture industry a truly sustainable alternative to the often-dwindling wild fisheries.

Water conservation, the use of sustainable feeds, and the recycling of fish manure for use as fertilizer are just some of the activities in which Australis engages to advance the cause of sustainability and protect the natural environment. Its barramundi is sustainably raised and recognized by chefs and environmental groups for its sustainability and high quality. Similarly, its basa and swai are sustainably raised and are fed a primarily vegetarian diet, which eases pressures on wild fisheries.

The company has committed to continue these award-winning practices as it expands to Southeast Asia to meet a growing demand for barramundi, basa, and swai. The barramundi it produces in this region is both line caught by local fishermen and sustainably raised. Despite its growth, Australis’s ultimate goal remains the same: “to provide the cleanest and most delicious seafood cultivated through an approach that is healthy, responsible, and environmentally sound.”

Seafood Choices Alliance: What benefits do your indoor aquaculture system offer compared to more traditional facilities?
Josh Goldman, Australis Founder & Managing Director: It is frequently cited that a salmon farm producing 1,000 tons of fish per year puts solids into the environment at a rate equivalent to a city of 50,000 people. Australis’ patented water re-use system results in almost no discharge, solids, or nutrients leaving our farm. Our facility, which is closing in on production of 1,000 tons per year, discharges just 0.1 MGD and an average of just 15-20 lbs of solids/day; equivalent to just three to four average US households. Another issue is that traditional fish farms can act as reservoirs that harbor and spread disease to wild fish populations and may also attract natural predators such as seals, which cause the farmed fish to escape. Our farming system totally isolates its fish stock from the surrounding environment.

How would you describe your philosophy on ocean conservation?
We are guided by a stewardship philosophy that recognizes that intrinsic value of marine ecosystems as a critical support system for all live on earth. In translating this philosophy into practice, we seek to ensure that our activities are conducted in a manner, which contributes to the human food supply without comprising ecological, economic, and social sustainability. Our strategy is founded in the idea that environmental, health, and social commitments also make the good economic sense.

What benefits do your indoor aquaculture system offer compared to more traditional facilities?
Our indoor farm in Massachusetts is one of the world’s largest and most ecologically-friendly recirculating aquaculture systems. The farm re-creates barramundi’s natural estuarine habitat, ensuring the purity and healthfulness of our fish. A combination of sophisticated environmental controls and natural feed means that our Barramundi are completely free of mercury, PCB’s and other contaminants which consumers are concerned about. We are able to eliminate escapes and interactions with native fish populations, and efficiently convert feed so that we are producing more than one unit of farmed barramundi for each unit of marine-derived ingredients in the feed. This is a breakthrough for farm of carnivorous fish.

What specific practices do you engage in to address environmental issues that are often associated with the fish farming industry?
Whether in the US or Vietnam, our farms and farming management systems are designed to address a broad range of the constraints to achieving sustainability in aquaculture. These include farm sitting, water treatment, nutrient release, escape, genetics, preventative health management and conservation of marine resources.

How does the way in which your company is run affect others in the seafood industry?
We are promoting sustainable seafood everyday -- providing our customers with detailed information so that become more informed in the decision making as buyers and consumers. We are concerned that the seafood industry will settle for lax standards, rather than addressing the pressing need to really change the game and commit to requires continues improvement and elevation of the what sustainable production means.

Does your commitment to sustainable aquaculture limit what you can offer?
Absolutely. We are very selective in what we do.

Have you noticed any recent trends in the seafood industry? What vision do you have for your product?
Chefs, retailers and consumers increasingly recognize that their purchase decisions impact the sustainability of seafood supply chain. Australis has developed products, which can improve the sustainability profile of a retailers offerings by taking the place of a product, which is harvested from a poorly managed fishery. In this way, it is our hope to reduce pressure on overtaxed fisheries while demonstrating the potential for sustainable aquaculture.

We believe Australis Barramundi will increasingly replace Chilean Sea Bass and other species that are being over fished, while providing the kind of top-shelf and sustainably-raised culinary experience that diners want. Overall, our goal is to make Australis Barramundi universally recognized by chefs and consumers as the standard bearer for healthy, delicious, and sustainably-farmed fish.

Why do you believe your products are so popular among consumers? Are they aware of your commitment tosustainable seafood? What has allowed you to enjoy so much success as a company?
Our Barramundi makes people say “wow” -- its mild, delicate and has enough flavor to be interesting, plus its very easy to work with since it has enough oil stay moist even when its cooked by non-professionals. In Australia, they call barramundi “the apprentice fish”, because it’s difficult to ruin. Many chefs and consumers find our product because they are looking to explore new culinary flavors and trends, but when they learn how it’s produced it generates a sense of connection and excitement.

What does being a Seafood Champion mean to you?
It’s an honor for the Australis team to be recognized with this prestigious award from Seafood Choices Alliance. We remain committed to pursuing responsible ways of producing seafood, and are passionate about finding solutions to help our increasingly resource-constrained world.

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