News from Tassal & the communties we proudly call home EDITION 05
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Better Together:
Community Grant recipients in our regional operating areas
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The Great Eastern Clean-Up Event
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Our People Achievements
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Principal Partnership
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FEATURE:
Tassal takes on Movember
What's happening with the Hobart Hurricanes
A day in the life salmon farming
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Open to AU res 18+. Ends: 11:59PM AEDST 10/2/19. Retain receipt/s. Limit 1 instant prize per person (excl. SA). NSW LTPS/18/29096 ACT TP18/02078 SA T18/1891.
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A Message from Mark
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Better Together
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Positive start to the year
Community Grants program
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A day in the life...
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Going into bat for communities
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Let’s go Troppo!
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Wooden Boat Festival 2019
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Eco-Aquaculture
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Well, well, well...
CURRENT is a publication produced for Tassal employees and our stakeholders.
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Meet Our People:
If you have information or feedback you’d like to share, please email current@tassal.com.au
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Community Open Days
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The Great Eastern Clean Up
Salmon farming
Tidying up our community
Strahan Equipment Found
Bushfire Appeal Fundraiser
A five year journey
Helping protect birdlife
An update from our prawn farms
Shoreline maps
Our People Achievements
A seafood showcase
Tassal takes on Movember
Principal Partnership
Government gets behind our aspirations
Tassal & Hobart Hurricanes An update on our well boat
Huonville Processing
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A message from Mark It has been a great start to 2019 for our Tassal team and I would like to recognise the hard work of all our people, our suppliers and contractors who support our business and to the communities where we operate for a number of great partnerships, which have been initiated in recent months. Our thoughts were with all those affected by the recent bushfires and we continue to do what we can to offer our support and raise funds to assist those impacted. We have achieved some great results across all areas of our business, including furthering our environmental programs, technology and innovation investments and community partnerships. At the heart of our business is a can do safely approach, and I believe it is through these sustainable initiatives we continue to achieve responsible growth to ensure fresh Tasmanian salmon from Tassal remains a leading healthy protein of choice for Australians.
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This year we have seen a significant increase in salmon growth and sales, which through our record tonnage results means we are able to keep up with demand, delivering solid financial results. In turn, this ensures we continue to be a profitable company and with the vast majority of our employees living in regional Tasmania, and now Queensland with our prawn farm operations, it ensures a significant input into these communities. As we know, salmon continues to gain a larger portion of the Australian dinner plate, as consumers want a healthier, sustainable source of nutrition. To keep up with the demand, we recognise it’s important to balance responsible growth with world leading innovation and sustainable investments.
For Tassal, this has meant: • • • • •
The roll out of our centralised feed centre, driving better fish performance, operational and environmental results; Continued build of our well boat, due to arrive later this year; Continued roll out of our eco-aquaculture program, now with federal government support and collaboration with IMAS and CSIRO; Improved seafood distribution operations from our Lidcombe Operations; and Our diversification into prawn farming and the commencement of our $34 million development program at Proserpine in Queensland.
These results also come at a time when the Tasmanian Government has just released its review of the Salmon Growth Plan, publicly acknowledging progress to date against strong targets to double our industry to $2 billion a year by 2030. This is significant and demonstrates with responsible growth, comes important social and economic gains for Tasmania through the provision of further jobs. For Tassal, this will come from new farming areas as we prepare to move into higher energy waters, such as west of Wedge Island and explore other options. The transition to west of Wedge Island will be done carefully and progressively, in line with informed environmental modelling and testing of infrastructure in these waters, which have intensive swells.
As an industry we are also progressing an important biosecurity program, which will deliver better operational, fish welfare and environmental outcomes for our industry once finalised.
“Hand in hand with growth we also continue to progress responsible environmental programs, with marine debris a critical area for our investment and improvement as we implement our Towards Zero program.” We are also pleased to continue our collaboration with WWF-Australia on a number of projects, which underpin improvement, as well as the work we do with locally based environmental, conservation and indigenous social enterprise groups. I hope you enjoy this edition of Current.
- Mark Ryan
Tassal Managing Director & CEO Current
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Better Together Throughout late 2018, we invited community-minded individuals, initiatives and organisations to apply for a Better Together: Community Grant. Just in time for Christmas, we were thrilled to announce the recipients from each region we operate within.
Western Region Recipients in our western zone:
Leigh Styles
Zeehan Primary School
Strahan Christmas Family Night
Beach to Bay
Queenstown Anglers Club
Lobster Ponds Haven
Mount Lyell Strahan Picnic
Tasman Peninsula Region Recipients in our Tasman Penisula region: True Trails Community Programs
South East United Football Club
Tasman Peninsula Feast 2019
Tasman Bowls Club
Honey Bears Childcare
Tasman District School
Premaydena Cricket Club
Southern Jumping series
Nubeena Cricket Club
Koonya Garlic Festival
Wildcare Roaring Beach
Port Arthur Sports Club
Wildlife Rescue
Tasman Council
Mount Lyell Strahan Picnic Committee Member
“Tassal has supported the Mount Lyell Strahan Picnic for a number of years. At a time when many families on the West Coast are doing it tough, it is great to put on an event which is entirely free of charge for families. As a small committee we are often stretched in terms of time and resources – so thank you Tassal for helping our committee deliver our 121st annual Picnic. One little boy remarked “this has been the best day of my life!” This reminded us why we do it. “
South East Boxing Club
Kim Griggs South East United Football Club Secretary
“South East United Football Club is delighted to be named as a recipient of a Tassal Better Together Community Grant for 2019/20. This vital funding provides our club with the opportunity to improve our training equipment and facilities, helping to bring our services to the level expected by our members and local community. As providers of the only youth football program, servicing a broad region from Cambridge to Swansea and down to the Tasman Peninsula, it is so important we are able to provide players with comparable development opportunities to the bigger and more affluent academies in and around the city.”
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Community Grants Southern Region
Marty Doyle
Recipients in our southern zone:
Huon Valley Little Athletics
Franklin Bowls Club
Franklin Australia Day
Dover Distict School
Huonville Cricket Club
Seafest Easter Saturday 2019
Dragon Boat Paddle event
Huonville High School
Huon Valley Golf Club
Geeveston Christmas Pageant
Dover District School
Geeveston Community Centre
Huon Valley netball club
Port Esperance Sailing Club
Huon art awards
Huon Valley Council
Huon Show
Peter Harvey
“Tassal recently supported four junior athletes from the Huon Valley to attend the School Sports Australia Athletics Championships, as part of the Tasmanian team. All athletes enjoyed the experience immensely, with the Championships assisting to build the athletes’ development in a range of areas. This would not have been possible without the ongoing support by Tassal of junior athletics in the Huon Valley.”
Kingston Community Mission
“Kingston Community Mission is a community based organisation, passionate about helping families and children achieve their full potential through access to good quality, nutritious food options which support lifelong health. The Better Together grant will assist us in providing food vouchers for disadvantaged families in Kingborough, in association with Kingston Neighbourhood House.”
Channel Region Recipients in our channel zone: Channel Junior Football Club
Kettering Cricket Club
Kingborough Tigers Football
Kingborough District Cricket
Kingston/Huon Rural Youth
Channels Dart Club
Kettering Yacht Club
Kingston Beach Australia Day
Kingborough Bowls Club
Bruny Bowls Club
Margate Primary School
Kingston Boxing Club
City Mission Lights
Derwent Canoe Club
Summerleas Cricket Club
Eastern Region Recipients in our eastern zone: Triabunna Fire Brigade
Swansea Bowls Club
Triabunna District School
Swansea Cricket Club
Spring Bay Childcare Centre
Lions Club Spring Bay
Orford bowls club
Triabunna District School Current
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Making raps beeswax w
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Eastern Clean Up
We were very proud to team together with the seafood industry, council and community to tackle marine debris through the very first Great Eastern Clean-Up. This was a month-long initiative run throughout October, which invited groups to help collect debris in the Glamorgan Spring Bay municipality. Glamorgan Spring Bay Council Sustainability Officer, Cynthia Maxwell-Smith, told Current the clean-up was a success. “Local industries, community organisations, government agencies, schools and individuals, all worked together to clean up beaches, reserves and roadsides,” she said. “Even though the volume of domestic litter collected was quite shocking, it was also heartening to see what could be achieved when we all work together.” From 38 sites between Buckland and Bicheno, a total 89.09m3 of rubbish was collected, sorted and displayed in large cylinders made
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of Tassal K-Grid netting to present to the public. Of this, 89% was attributed to domestic rubbish, 5% to commercial fishing and 6% to the seafood and aquaculture industry. Volunteers spent two days sorting through the rubbish collected, which was transported to Tassal’s Paddy’s Point site. An assortment of aluminium cans, plastic bottles, soft plastics, hard plastics, metals and other miscellaneous objects were sorted, counted and recorded. After the extraordinary efforts from the volunteers to collect, sort and record the debris, the rubbish was then displayed during the first week of November at the Great
“We were really excited to be involved in the clean-up and after party. It is always good to help out communities where we operate and raise awareness around the issue of debris.”
Depha Miedecke Tassal Senior Manager Community Engagement
Breakdown of sources
6%
Attributed to seafood & aquaculture industries
5%
Attributed to commercial fishing
89%
Attributed to domestic rubbish
Eastern Clean-Up – After Party hosted by Tassal, Glamorgan Spring Bay Council and the East Coaster Resort. Held at the East Coaster Resort in Triabunna, the Great Eastern CleanUp – After Party hosted lots of fun activities including a jumping castle, face-painting, DIY beeswax wraps, Parks & Wildlife activities, Seafish activities, the Hobart Hurricanes -Tassal classic catch unit and a visit from ‘Julie’ the Salmon Truck! As part of the clean-up, the East Coaster Resort also hosted the Marina DeBris art exhibition Trashion throughout the months of October and November. The exhibition featured costumes made from waste debris found during the artist’s visits to public beaches. “The use of debris in her artwork
presents the audience with a confronting, yet interesting image,” Depha told Current. “It was an interesting and creative way to raise awareness of the issue.” Throughout 2019, Tassal will continue its Towards Zero strategy to marine debris – some of the goals we achieved in managing debris last year include: • Developing both internal and external working groups; • Collaborating with industry to tackle debris in Macquarie Harbour by performing regular clean-ups and utilising helicopters to search; and • Working with our fellow industry members on the development of a Debris Tracker App, which will be launched in the first half of this year.
urricane Captain H est made a gu t the a e appearanc ! y rt after pa Current
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Mysterious Strahan
Equipment Found
In late November, the Tassal-Petuna joint venture team in Strahan undertook some impressive detective work, after mysterious equipment washed ashore at Ocean Beach. Macquarie Harbour WHS Compliance Coordinator, Steven Thompson, took on the case, his curiosity acting as the catalyst to find out what the equipment was and where it came from. “Our Senior Zone Manager, Don McIntyre, contacted me with photos of the equipment to see if I knew what it was,” Steve told Current. “Luckily, there was a website listed on the logger, which led me to find the supplier.” This break in the case led Steve to Metocean Services International in Tasmania, which was able to reach out to its Canadian and New Zealand counterparts to find the logger’s origins.
by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) based in the UK, to log environmental data. “I was surprised by not only how quickly the owner was tracked down, but also how far the equipment had travelled and for how long it had been out there,” Steve said. The Deep Ocean Lander was deployed with the intention of measuring sea level by means of precision pressure sensors and monitor conductivity and temperature using a specialised oceanography CTD sensor.
Steve said Metocean Services International contacted him the next day with the news the logger’s rightful owner had been located and it had, indeed, been on a journey!
Once the NOC team discovered the lander had lost its way, an unsuccessful rescue in 2013 to recover the equipment was attempted. The NOC team based in Liverpool, UK, was pleased and surprised to hear the lander had survived an almost five-year adventure on the sea.
In 2011, the deep ocean lander was deployed in the Drake Passage, just south of Argentina
Our team has since facilitated the equipment’s return to the Oceanography Centre overseas.
The equipment was washed ashore Ocean Beach, Strahan
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Helping to protect our
Birdlife During the past 12 months, Tassal has implemented a Towards Zero approach to marine debris, implementing proactive processes to prevent equipment leaving leases and being able to track and retrieve it if it does. As part of our strategy in decreasing debris, Tassal conducts regular clean-ups to eliminate any legacy debris within our operating areas. As part of this approach, we contract pakana Land Services; an indigenous not-for-profit social enterprise to conduct weekly shoreline debris cleanups around our operating areas. To date, pakana has completed a total of 2,511 hours of collection. The teams at our marine farming zones have also began conducting more regular clean-ups as part of our Towards Zero approach, making the issue of debris a continuous focus on sites. Depha Miedecke, Senior Manager – Community Engagement told Current as more clean-ups occur, we also have to be mindful of bird breeding patterns, to ensure we are not impacting wildlife.
“We have been able to work with Birdlife Tasmania to determine what the limits are in relation to breeding season,” she said. In collaboration with Birdlife Tasmania, we created a traffic-light system for clean-ups around Bruny Island, D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Storm Bay, Nubeena and Okehampton regions. Using a grid system, the maps show which areas cannot be disrupted between October to March inclusive and which need to be cautiously proceeded. To view all maps, visit tassalgroup.com.au/marine-debris-bird-maps/
We are currently working on a Seabird Identification Guide in collaboration with Birdlife Tasmania make sure to keep an eye out for it! 12
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Image © Eric J Woehler.
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Our People
achievements
Last November, eight of our Tassal teams came together to take on our Movember MO-ney walk. Every dollar raised represented one kilometre “walked” from our southernmost site at Dover, to our northernmost site at Mission Beach with a target of $3650. This target was smashed within the first fortnight of November, with Tassal’s Fish Planning team and our Lidcombe team frontrunning with over $1000 of pledges each.
Team
Mo-bros in the Valley
During the month, our People & Culture team ran a series of “Great Tassal Bake-Offs” at our Huonville Processing, Margate Processing and Hobart head office. Enthusiastic bakers came forward with moustache-themed goods, with prizes given out for creativity, tastiness and size. By the end of the month, the team had accumulated over $1000 worth of donations! The team at our Nubeena site held a fundraising breakfast, bright and early to make sure all the crew got a chance to participate. With juice and egg & bacon rolls up for grabs for a gold coin donation, the team was able to raise some serious funds! Tassal Finance veteran, Neil Mathews, was persuaded by the rest of the department to shave his 10 year old ‘mo’ at the end of the month, collecting donations along the way. Our December monthly safety meeting at Hobart saw the grand reveal of Neil’s bare upper lip, along with the exciting news he’d raised $650!
This November, we are encouraging teams to grow-a-mo, register across our sites and raise money fo men’s health via - Movember; a charity which raises awareness for men’s health and wellbeing.
What is Movember...
For Movember at Tassal, every dollar raised will translate to one kilometre - with our aim to virtually raise enough ‘kilometre-dollars’ to “walk” from our southernmost - Dover, to our northernmost site Mission Beach.
This is a $3,650 target, which Tassal will match dollar-for-dollar! We will be holding challenges along the way, including: the team with the most-mos; team with the craziest mos; team with the longest mos.
What you waiting for? Movember is are a charity which raises funds and awareness towards men’s mental and physical Get a team together at your site and send your registeration details (including full names of everyone health.involved) DuringtoNovember, individuals and movember@tassal.com.au. Remember - you will have to nominate a captain for your organisations are encouraged team and send their details along in to your registration! grow-a-mo! st Make sure to register by October 31 2018!
Team
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People & Culture
As a whole, our team did an awesome job raising funds towards Movember and demonstrated what we are all about at Tassal! In the end, our Tassal challenge raised $11,400 – smashing our initial goal almost three-fold! Check out what some participants had to say about the experience and why they got involved: “My reason to be involved in Movember was to raise awareness for men’s mental health. All men need to know if you need help, it is okay to ask for it because the devastation suicide leaves behind is truly tragic.” Derek Waters
Lidcombe Team
“I grew up in the generation where the norm was for men to ‘tough it out’, keep their feelings to themselves and struggle in silence. It’s clear the question is now “at what cost” does this mindset come with, not only to the individual but also to their families and loved ones.”
Team
Mo-beena MOPs!
Leigh Franklin
MOPs Planning Team
“Margate processing took on the Movember challenge to raise awareness for Men’s cancer, as we lost one of our own last year, Paul “Shaggs” Davey. His passing affected a lot of people and we had 40+ people join in and grow fantastic MO’s.” Chris Stockfield
Margate Processing Team Current
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Principal PrincipalPartnership Partnership
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Blundstone Arena came alive with holiday cheer at the TassalHurricanes family Christmas carols held after the Hobart Hurricanes defeated the Melbourne Stars at the December 24th game.
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Our Tassal staff loved sending their kids and grandkids to a Hurricanes holiday cricket camp!
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an update from Tassal and the Hobart Hurricanes
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Players from the Hobart Hurricanes’ WBBL team took a break from their training before Christmas to visit our Salamanca Salmon Shop, getting a VIP cooking demonstration from guest chef, Peter Handy, from the Tasmanian Hospitality Association.
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The Hobart Hurricanes put up a good fight in the blockbuster semi-final match against the Melbourne Stars at Blundstone Arena on Febraury 14th but in the end unfortunately didn’t make it to the big final.
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A day in the life... Salmon Farming
It’s a busy life being a salmon farmer - from maintaining a farm to workplace health and safety and monitoring the environment - there’s always something to do! Although operations vary depending on what’s happening at the farm, this is what you could expect an average day to look like...
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Toolbox Meeting
A day on the farm always start with a Toolbox Meeting. In the morning, all team members get together to discuss the operations for the day, workplace health & safety, marine debris and fish health and performance. For a farm to operate, it’s critical all members of the team are placing safety first and know what operations will unfold throughout the day.
Full Lease Inspection
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Once the Toolbox Meeting has concluded, the team will do a full lease inspection. This means taking a vessel out to the perimeter of each lease and ensure all equipment is accounted for, inspected and safe to use. During these inspection, the team will also undertake an algal sample using a plankton trall. This data is relayed back to Tassal’s remote feed centre in Hobart to ensure feed technicians know what environmental conditions they will be operating within.
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Divers
Divers are an important part of running a farm - they’re able to go in and around ours pens and let the rest of the team know what’s happening below the surface! Divers play a pivoital part in day-to-day operations and will conduct regular stock inspections to make sure our fish are healthy and happy, while also assisting the works crew with bathing operations.
Net Cleaning
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Through our divers and high definition pen cameras, operated from our remote feed centre, the team can determine which pens require cleaning. It’s important for our nets to always stay clean, as this ensures maximum water and dissolved oxygen to flow through to our stock and keep our fish happy.
Pen Quality & Wildlife Maintenance
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The team checks daily to ensure net integrity to protect our people, our wildlife and our fish. These inspections not only include our K-Grid netting used underwater to keep stock in, but also our bird netting above the surface. Excluding and protecting wildlife from negative interactions is imperative.
Fish Performance and Health Checks
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Taking a sample of stock from each pen, the team will conduct gill health checks. This is to determine if anyfish have been impacted by Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) and whether a fresh water bathe is required to release the amoeba from their gills. Weight checks are also conducted, to ensure the fish are in a healthy weight class in correlation to their stage of life cycle.
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Bathing
When a pen is being treated for AGD, using a net the team will gather all the fish to one edge of the cage. From here, the fish are pumped through the bathing barge and into a lined pen filled with fresh water, which will release the amoeba from their gills. Amoeba are naturally occurring in the marine environment.
Some of the team will either be sent out on vessels to check for any debris in the ocean, or asked to scour the shorelines for rubbish. Any debris found is collected, sorted, reported and disposed of appropriately.
Members of the maintenance team will check any vessels or equipment at the site to determine whether everything is safe or if it may require servicing or replacing.
Data Recording
Once operations are finished for the day, the team goes back to the land base to log all data recorded. This includes dive results, feed data, environmental data (dissolved oxygen levels, water temperatures and salinity levels), pen quality, marine debris, fish health & performance and any hazard or incident reports. Current
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Expert fundraisers, Freya (left) and Vicky (right) show off their half-time donation collection.
Tassal staff volunteered to help count donations while the match took place.
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Going into bat
for bushfire affected communities Tassal, in collaboration with the Hobart Hurricanes’ Foundation was able to raise over $50,000 worth of funds towards the Vinnies Tasmania Bushfire Appeal in February, helping those affected by the Southern Tasmanian fires. During the blockbuster BBL match against the Melbourne Renegades on February 7th , Tassal, Blundstone and the Tasmanian Government all pledged $1000 for each 6 hit throughout the game. True to form, our Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Renegades out did themselves, smashing ten 6’s throughout the match and raising some serious funds towards the cause. Tassal staff also volunteered to collect donations from patrons during the match, with the collection tins tallying over $3,500! “The fires have impacted many of our staff and the communities they call home,” said Tassal Head of Engagement, Barbara McGregor. “We have been working closely with community groups, however, we recognise there will be a need for funds to support those whose lives and properties have been affected by this tragedy.” Our very own Salmo got involved in the cause, making his way around the arena after the first innings to collect donations for the appeal. Cricket Tasmania CEO, Nick Cummins, was pleased the Hurricanes could help raise funds for those impacted by the fires.
“We’re very happy to partner with Tassal on this initiative through our Hurricanes’ Foundation, as we know the devastating effect the fires have had across the state and many members of the Tasmanian Cricket Community have been impacted,” he said. Tasmania’s Department of Premier and Cabinet tasked St Vincent De Paul to lead the Bushfire Appeal, CEO Lara Alexander welcomed the fundraising efforts by Tassal and the Hurricanes and encouraged other businesses to get on board. “We are very grateful to Tassal, Cricket Tasmania and the Hurricanes for getting on the front foot to help affected Tasmanians in their hour of need,” Lara said. “We are currently in the process of completing the criteria around the distribution of the bushfire funds to the people who have been directly impacted by this recent disaster; “Our members have been on the ground working in the affected communities and will now help with the assessment process. Assessing the needs will be on a case by case basis to ensure bushfire funds will have a maximum effect to recipients and support them in rebuilding their lives.” A number of businesses generously joined in the initiative including Veolia, SeaRoad, Vos Constructions and Air BnB Tasmania. Current
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Let’s go Troppo for Tropic Co
In late September 2018, we were excited to officially announce a $31.9 million acquisition of the Fortune Group – one of the largest footprint farming bases in Australia. The completed acquisition means we now own three prawn farms located in Yamba, New South Wales; and in Queensland at Proserpine and Mission Beach. Since then, we have been able enjoy our prawns over the holiday season and have officially launched our new brand; Tropic Co. the Aussie Prawn. Sold in Tasmania directly from our Salamanca Salmon shop, everyone has been going troppo for Tassal Tropic Co prawns! Tassal National Business Manager, David Forrest, said Christmas saw record-breaking sales at the Salamanca Store, which included many prawns! “The combination of sales, staff and wholesale orders kept our team very busy over December,” David told Current. “We saw people repeatedly coming back for more, that’s how good the prawns were!” Our staff were all pleasantly surprised at our annual Tassal Christmas dinner to get an exclusive taste-test of our prawns at every table with positive feedback all round. We are now very proud to be growing two sustainable and
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delicious seafoods – Tassal Tasmanian salmon and Tropic Co prawns! However, a lot of hard work has gone into the business since the acquisition, with a lot more to be done. The first harvest of Tropic Co prawns took place at our Mission Beach farm, located approximately two hours’ drive south of Cairns. Since acquiring the farm, our focus has been on complementing the experienced prawn team recruited at the time of the acquisition with local employees, some with industry experience, as well as members of our Tasmanian team across farming, processing, quality and safety departments. The Mission Beach team didn’t back away from the challenge of establishing systems for feeding, determining the best way to harvest given the farm condition and
ensuring the processing facility met all food safety standards. Now Mission Beach harvest is completed the team will focus on developments to the farm, implementing innovations and modernised technology. 1850 kilometres south of Mission Beach, things have also been busy at our Yamba farm. Significant civil works were undertaken once we acquired the farm to repair the ponds and ensure the site was in the right condition for stocking. At the same time we started harvesting at Mission Beach, our newly recruited Yamba team was putting stock into the ponds to start the growth cycle for the prawns. John Moloney, Senior Manager – Prawn Operations told Current the prawns are currently around 8gms each and feeding well. “Whilst we are in the early days of the production cycle, we would anticipate these prawns will be harvested at between 25 and 27 grams, which meets the sweet-spot for tiger prawns in the market,” John said. Things are also starting to gear up for our Proserpine farm. Being our largest farm, plans are to stock 192 hectares in 2019 compared to approximately 70 hectares at the two other farms combined. A significant development
program is set to get underway at the farm, which includes an upgrade to the hatchery and a new processing facility. This work is being contracted to local businesses where possible, with Tassal bringing skills in design, engineering and project management to support works. It is expected 30 jobs will be created through the construction process and once operational, the site will employ over 100 people with recruitment for this having already commenced. As part of the planning process for the Proserpine farm development, the prawn management team recently toured some of Tassal’s sites including the Rookwood hatchery and Huonville processing facility “It was certainly impressive in scale,” Courtney Remilton, Prawn and Hatchery Performance Manager said. “It is clear there are significant similarities in the hatchery area, it’s just the size of footprint which changes in line with the different size of species!” The effort to bring Tassal’s Tropic Co prawns to the market and the consumer will continue with the team motivated by the challenge. So when you get a chance – Twist, Peel, Enjoy – Tropic Co, the Aussie Prawn! Current
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Tasmanian Seafood Showcase AT THE AUSTRALAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL 2019
This year, Tassal was proud to partner with Petuna and Huon Aquaculture to represent the Tasmanian salmon industry at the Wooden Boat Festival. Situated in the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council (TSIC) seafood marquee alongside IMAS, oysters and abalone, the Tasmanian salmon team was thrilled to have a stall to promote the industry and give patrons exclusive cooking demonstrations! Under the umbrella of the Tasmanian Salmon Growers Association (TSGA) all three Tasmanian companies came together to showcase our industry with other Tasmanian seafood providers. Patrons were welcomed to talk to the friendly staff about the aquaculture industry and what salmon farming is all about! With lots of recipes, fact sheets and information brochures it was great to see everyone positively respond to our stall. The team also brought along iPads and virtual reality headsets to show festival-goers videos from our partnership with Primary Industry Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA).
The videos, which explore the stages of salmon growth from hatchery to harvest were a huge hit, with lots of kids and teenagers keen to take a look! Over the course of the weekend, Tassal held two cooking demonstrations at the festival hosted by guest chef Eloise Emmett. With helpers from our Engagement team, Eloise gave an awesome cooking demonstration on how to make oven-baked salmon, salmon salad and seafood chowder.
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During the demonstration, Tassal Senior Manager - Community Engagement, Depha Miedecke and Head of Engagement, Barbara McGregor gave a presentation to the audience about the process of salmon farming and what the aquaculture industry means to Tasmania. Current
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The
Salmon Truck Find us at the
Sunday April 14th The Esplanade New Norfolk
Follow the truck on Facebook to see where the team will be next!
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Eco re u t l u c a u Aq FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GET BEHIND
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Following a successful 18 month trial period of culturing seaweeds adjacent to our Okehampton Bay farms, Tassal was thrilled with the Federal Government’s announcement to provide support to our Eco-Aquaculture program, allowing further collaboration with partners such as Spring Bay Seafoods, IMAS and Deakin University to expand research and development of the project. Tassal’s Eco-Aquaculture program has been performing beyond expectations, with the first harvest of kelp species Macrocystis pyrifera (commonly known as Giant Kelp) commencing in early September last year. During this period, Tassal has significantly invested in the program and with the Federal Government’s support, a total investment of $5.5 million will enable the project to be further developed. Tassal Head of Environment, Sean Riley, said the program would include the development of a sustainable Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) model, which will support commercial seaweed production. “Further investment in the program will allow us to research greater into defining seaweed culture proposition, growing techniques and capacity to commercially produce,” Sean told Current. “The project will also be an excellent opportunity for salmon, shellfish and seaweed producers to collaborate to deliver economic, environmental and social benefits.” Tassal is the lead partner in the IMTA program and has been researching and advocating for innovative ways to develop new seafood and marine products and markets, which has dual benefit of also being able to provide environmental benefits. “IMTA utilities by-products, including salmon nutrients, from one aquaculture species to another as inputs, such as feed or fertiliser,” Sean said. Tassal Eco-Aquaculture researcher, Dr Craig Sanderson, said the program was especially significant due to the species being listed as threatened. “Giant Kelp has been listed nationally of some concern, so growing it next to the salmon cages may also deliver potential environmental benefits and assist the species re-establish,” he said.
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We are very pleased to welcome to our fleet, Aqua Spa, which is due to arrive in Tasmania this September to service Tassal farms. Featuring globally leading technology and innovation, Aqua Spa will be used throughout Tasmanian marine operations. Built by DESS Aquaculture Shipping in Altinova, Turkey, the Aqua Spa reaches 84.4m in length and has the capacity to hold a full 168 pen full of fish within the vessel. Coined in the 17th century, the term ‘well boat’ refers to a unique fishing vessel with the capacity to house and transport live fish. Relative to aquaculture, the well boat will have the capacity to transport, harvest and bathe fish. Tassal Head of Aquaculture, Mark Asman, said the current
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methods of bathing an entire 168 pen of fish are time consuming. “We need to bathe our fish in fresh water to combat Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD),” Mark told Current. “In the wild, salmon affected by AGD are able to swim into brackish water to dislodge the amoeba from their gills, whereas we need to bathe fish to treat the issue.” Not only will the Aqua Spa improve efficiencies to bathing operations, she also features an in-built reverse osmosis system to desalinate sea water.
Well, well, well... an update on our
Aqua Spa gress
ro Painting in p
On Board Tassal Head of Engineering and Risk, Justin O’Connor, said having the reverse osmosis system on board the Aqua Spa will relieve operational dependency on fresh water supplies from other sources. “The well boat will have the capacity to re-use any desalinated water up to four times for bathing purposes,” he said.
Front view of our Aqua Spa Current
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Meet Our People
Huonville Processing
Situated south of Hobart in the beautiful Huon Valley, our Huonville Processing facility employs around 200 people. Salmon processed in the factory supplies both our Tassal and Superior Gold cold smoked products, which means rather than the product being cooked with heat, the woodchips flavour the flesh with the rich aroma of earthy woods. With a batting average of approximately 6.5 tonnes of product a day, the Huonville team is a well-oiled machine when it comes to stepping up to the pitch!
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SLICING
There can’t be any sticky wickets in the Slicing section of the factory, as precision is key!
The team has to ensure accurate cutting for correct thickness of the slices, as well as constantly checking temperature and inspecting fillets for quality.
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SMOKED
The team needs to ensure the fillet has been clean bowled after it goes through the trimming and pin-boning machine, to guarantee the quality of the product. This means, no excess parts of the fish or bones should be in the fillet. Next is curing - a delicate art, which always needs to be hit for a six according to recipe, ingredients and curing time. Depending on the recipe, salmon can undergo a curing process for between nine – 14 hours!
despatch
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After a good innings on the factory floor, the Despatch team needs to label, X-ray, pack and despatch all the products safely.
The team can’t get bowled out as boxes are packed on to pallets and then stored in a refrigerated storeroom, ready for when the truck arrives.
cleaning
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n Salm o Tass ie
Similarly to a wicket keeper, they’re constantly cleaning up everyone else’s mess!
Tassie Salmon
The cleaning crew always has to go downtown to make sure the factory is spotless at the end of the day!
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Community
Open Days
Throughout 2019, Tassal will be holding Community Open Days in our operating regions. These days are an opportunity for the community to come together to ask any questions they may have and experience a tour of our operations. Community Open Days will be hosted by Tassal, with experts from Skretting and Marine Solutions coming along to provide information to the community. There will also be lots of children’s activities held on the day such as face painting, jumping castles and a free barbeque.
For more information, visit www.tassalgroup.com.au or visit our Facebook page - Tassal - Our Community