An Easy Catch for Western Kingfish
24 July 2008AUSTRALIA - A WA-based company is farming 50,000 yellowtail kingfish off the Jurien Bay coast, marking the rise of the State’s fledgling fish-farming industry in response to growing pressures on stocks in the wild.
According to The West, Western Kingfish executive director Andrew Mitton said WA’s expansive coastline and warm temperatures made it ideally placed to capitalise on fish farming, which has become a production method for salmon in Tasmania and a key source of fish in countries including China and Norway and in South America.
Mr Mitton said while WA had not had the supply shortages of wild fish that had hit other parts of the world, the situation was beginning to change with more restrictions on commercial fishing and rising costs to operate boats, in particular fuel.
Western Kingfish will start its commercial harvest early next year.
The first commercial catch will go into the domestic market, but as production expands the company will target export markets with a focus on the lucrative sashimi trade.
TheFishSite News Desk
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