Biggest prawn farm plan ‘on track’
PLANS to build the world’s largest prawn farm are on target, the head of the company behind the project said.
Project Sea Dragon is a (Australian) $1.5 billion development by the Seafarms Group, one of Australia’s largest aquaculture companies.
Phased over the next seven years, it will be built on a site the size of 25,000 football pitches, on the far north coast of the Northern Territory in an area called Legune Station.
The Northern Territory Pastoral Land Board has issued it a non-pastoral use permit, which enables the first stage to begin.
Chris Mitchell, executive director of Seafarms, said recent developments had put the project firmly on track.
He told News Corp Australia: ‘Project Sea Dragon is a staged $1.5 billion development to create 10,000 hectares of ponds capable of producing 100,000 tonnes of high quality Australian black tiger prawns each year, and we are extremely happy with its progress.
‘When fully developed, the project will employ more than 1,500 people and generate annual export revenues in the order of three billion Australian dollars (US $2.13 billion).’
He added: ‘Project Sea Dragon will be the first major aquaculture development in Australia of a global scale. Both international and domestic support for the project continues to grow.’
Seafarms is working in partnership with the Japanese marine products company Nissui, which also owns a large fish processing site near Grimsby.
Although Australia is a major producer of seafood, at 230,000 tonnes a year, the country consumes at least 340,000 tonnes annually, making it a major importer. However, some of the output from Project Sea Dragon will go to export.