Ben Bowerman – Student Placement

–Ben is on his way to a career in aquaculture –

For Ben Bowerman, Huon’s first work placement student post-COVID, a passion for all things aquaculture led him to further his studies in the hopes of securing employment in the field.

After finishing college, Ben went on to study a Bachelor of Marine Science majoring in Fisheries Management at the Australian Maritime College in Launceston. Fast forward a few years, and after a 12-month stint living in South Australia, Ben graduated with a Master of Science (Aquaculture) from Flinders University in June 2021. Ben conducted his placement at Huon over a five-week period, spending one week out of Hideaway Bay with the Feed Trials team, and four weeks in Freshwater Operations breaking up his time between Lonnavale, Forest Home and Whale Point. “During my week at Hideaway Bay I assisted the Feed Trials Assistants with their daily tasks,” said Ben. A typical day in Ben’s placement at the hatcheries involved morning and afternoon checks for either the fry, parr or the smolt tanks. “These checks included hunger and waste checks, general observations, and mortality counts,” he said. After the routine checks Ben would assist with whatever jobs were needed for that particular day, including transports, smolt assessments with the health technicians, egg picking and general maintenance such as biofilter cleans.

When asked about the favourite part of his placement, Ben said he was just happy to gain the practical experience and get a taste for what it would be like working in the field day-to-day.

–“I went into my placement with no practical experience, and I was unsure of what a typical day entailed,” said Ben. “I wanted to be sure that I could see myself enjoying a career in this industry.” –

Ben said he loved living in Tassie, in particular the Channel where he grew up, and hoped to secure a job specialising in freshwater operations following his degree.

–“I am hoping to get a job as a Hatchery Technician as soon as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed my small taste of hatchery work and want to continue to develop my knowledge in this area, particularly in recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS), as I think this will be a big part of the future of aquaculture,” said Ben.