Cleanseas - Sustainable Seafood

Cleanseas was established with a long-held goal of closing the lifecycle of Southern Bluefin Tuna.

However, the company already has a sound business in the captive breeding of Kingfish and Mulloway. The species initially identified by the Stehr Group as surrogate species for SBT and having potential for lifecycle closure were Kingfish and Mulloway. Both species are currently used in sashimi.

• Kingfish’s potential for lifecycle closure and commercialisation was supported in that:
• It is a large pelagic fish, presenting many of the challenges and potential solutions to breeding SBT;
• It has the capacity to achieve a weight of up to 4kg within 18 months of transfer to sea cages;
• Mulloway was selected as a backup species to Kingfish for a number of reasons including:
• It is also a large white fleshed fish, endemic to the temperate coastline of Australia;
• Mulloway was a well accepted and understood species within Australia;

The Stehr Group conducted grow-out trials of kingfish during the summers of 1998/1999 and 1999/2000. The trials were a success, convincing the Stehr Group of the potential Kingfish had for intensive aquaculture production. Mulloway was chosen as a back-up species to Kingfish and extensive trials were also undertaken with this species.

In 2006, Cleanseas took control of the Australian Kingfish market with an agreement to purchase the business and assets of the SAAM Group of Companies, which operates a licensed finfish hatchery and 1,600 tonne grow-out facility north of Cleanseas' Arno Bay facility in South Australia's Spencer Gulf.

The acquisition has resulted in:

Total Kingfish production in South Australia increasing from approximately 1,500 tonnes in 2005/06 to about 3,370 tonnes in 2007/08;

Cleanseas has also expanded its Kingfish export operations into Eastern Europe, sending trial portions of Port Lincoln-farmed Kingfish to white tablecloth restaurants across Moscow. This move is part of a major assault by the Australian aquaculture industry on the European market, which is seeking new sources of fish to compensate for declining wild seafood stocks in the northern hemisphere.

Our Kingfish is already available in Italy, Holland, Germany, France, the UK and Switzerland, and we are expanding our production of farmed kingfish to take advantage of strong demand for the South Australian-grown fish in European markets.

In addition, Cleanseas has secured a new partnership with Danish aquaculture technology expert, Uni-Aqua, which has the potential to halve the grow-out phase of our products to further assist with the efficient propagation of Kingfish and Southern Bluefin Tuna. The agreement could see specially-bred South Australian fish progress from fingerling to the finest restaurants of the world in just 10 months.

Cleanseas' mulloway propagation program has also been nothing short of a success story. Caught up in the fish and chip craze some 20 years ago - Australia's Mulloway stocks came close to disappearing. Mulloway, also known as butterfish, is now on the international gourmet fish menu following the development of Australia's only commercial propagation program - undertaken by Clean Seas.

In what can only be described as the beginning of an exciting new phase for Mulloway, we have one million-plus fish for harvesting over the next few years and we are already selling four to five tonnes a week in the domestic markets alone.

The success we are experiencing through the propagation of Kingfish and Mulloway leaves us in no doubt about the potential for Southern Bluefin Tuna.