Ornatas - an Australian aquaculture company - has proposed to build a land-based Tropical Rock Lobster farm in North Queensland which will create up to 1,000 jobs for the region.
“This puts North Queensland in prime position to create a $500 million tropical rock lobster industry within the next ten years and more importantly hire up to 1,000 people in the region,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
According to Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner, this new development is a sign of how strong the region’s aquaculture industry is.
“My goal is to make Queensland the aquaculture capital of the world, because that will create even more jobs in our regions.
“And now being home to the world’s first sustainable Tropical Rock Lobster land-based growout facility shows we’re well on our way to meeting this commitment,” Mr Furner said.
This project shows the State Government’s commitment to creating jobs for regional Queensland.
“We work with companies like Ornatas to make these investments possible and get on the front foot to facilitate strong, sustainable industries that mean jobs for Queenslanders.
“This facility and the jobs it provides will help meet this growing demand and take pressure of wild populations of lobster,” Member for Townsville Scott Stewart said.
A facility located at Toomulla Beach will initially be utilised to to produce the State’s iconic Moreton Bay Bugs.
“The plan is to produce about 150-tonnes of this delicacy over the next five years to sell to local restaurants and retailers.
“An initiative like this can only happen with the support of partners like the Queensland Government,” Ornatas CEO Scott Parkinson said.
The company is currently working with a number of partners to deliver a pilot hatchery in the state of Tasmania where the Tropical Rock Lobsters are going to be bred. The baby lobsters from the hatchery will then be transported to the Toomulla Beach facility where they will be grown to a size fit for market, which will then be harvested and sold to markets in Australia and Asia.
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Source: Queensland Government; North Queensland Register; Mirage News