Food Hubs and Aquaculture
Aquaculture The Shires of Esperance, Ravensthorpe and Dundas fall into the South Coast Bioregion, which is recognised internationally as a high-quality, clean marine environment, with minimal pollutants and strong biosecurity integrity. The protection of the aquatic environment through monitoring, aquatic animal health programs and zoning requirements ensures high standards and offers certainty to investors. The region is well positioned to further develop and expand marine and land-based aquaculture production to host and efficiently produce a range of seafood. Several suitable locations within this region have been identified by DPIRD as suitable for sustainable, low-impact commercial shellfish aquaculture. aquaculture industry growth and development. This provides a ready export gateway to overseas markets and allows for full produce traceability. The key project in the region is: • Wylie Bay Abalone, a joint venture abalone ranching project located in Wylie Bay, Esperance operated by Ocean Grown Abalone and Ocean King Fishing, which has announced plans to produce 600 tonnes of abalone a year. 34 This will include a large-scale, land- based abalone hatchery and grow-out facility that will help to deliver future expansion of abalone production or other aquaculture opportunities for the Esperance region. Esperance and the south-east coast have an established marine operations capability, including personnel, expertise, services, and infrastructure, able to support sustainable
The emerging honeybee industry in Dundas is a good example of an artisan scale niche market that can benefit from a cooperative approach to sharing costs and resources. The opportunity to grow this sector for the Shire would allow an increased contribution to the economy while improving pollination services for agriculture and horticulture.
Food Hubs Goldfields-Esperance is a growing region of local value-added food and beverage products. The opportunity to pull these small producers together under a common user facility model could potentially assist with streamlined production. These facilities can be privately, cooperatively, or publicly funded or a combination of public seed funding and other matching investments. The business model is focussed on developing the right mix of infrastructure for regional food producers and leasing it on a user pays basis. They are typically established by producers that come together to develop a cooperative model of sharing or purchasing
https://thefishsite.com/articles/australians-team-up-for-600-tonne-abalone-venture
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