A new Australian-built
electronic shellfish grader promises to double
production at a Tasmanian marine farm and provide a
significant economic boost to the State's aquaculture
sector, the Parliamentary Secretary for
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Judith
Troeth announced today.
Launching the grading machine at a special field day
at Moulting Bay Pacific Oysters and Mussels marine
farm in St Helens, Senator Troeth said its purchase
was made possible with a grant from the Commonwealth's
Agriculture Advancing Australia (AAA) - Farm
Innovation Program.
"The new post-harvest
cleaning and grading machine is the first of its kind
in the world," Senator Troeth said.
"The machine grades and
packs shellfish such as oysters, scallops, mussels and
clams according to weight and size, helping to ensure
much greater product uniformity. Even more
impressively, it has the potential to double Moulting
Bay Pacific's production - from 153,000 dozen to
350,000 dozen by 2003-4.
"It can accurately
grade five shellfish a second - 1,800 dozen per hour -
and can do in a day what it would take manual grading
nearly five days to complete. This represents a new
industry benchmark in shellfish pack-house
efficiency."
Senator Troeth said the
project represents the culmination of three years
research and intensive testing of prototype machinery
by Moulting Bay and GP Graders. It epitomises the
innovation and hard work that Australian companies
need to exhibit if they are to remain successful in
the long-term.
"Moulting Bay Pacific
realised that, unless shellfish farmers boost their
competitiveness - by either reducing costs or
improving product quality - the shellfish industry's
long-term viability would be in jeopardy," the Senator
said.
Senator Troeth said
Moulting Bay Pacific is part of a growing aquaculture
industry worth $733 million a year to the Australian
economy. This represented 30 per cent of the gross
value of fisheries production in Australia in
2001-2002. Tasmania accounts for 17 per cent of the
value of Australian aquaculture production.
"Building on Tasmania's
natural environmental advantage for farming shellfish,
this new state-of-the-art grading technology will
fast-track this lucrative industry and deliver a more
marketable, premium grade product that meets the
standards and demands of consumers here and overseas,"
the Senator said.
"This project
demonstrates what industry and government can achieve
when they work in partnership and another example of
the successes achieved under the Commonwealth's
Agriculture Advancing Australia (AAA) - Farm
Innovation Program," the Senator said. |
