Australis Stocks Vietnamese Farms with 230,000 Fish

The initial batches are being stocked in tanks and nursery ponds and will be transferred to sea cages in about 90 days.

They are expected to produce about 150 tonnes of product in between 10 to 12 months.

The company said it will be stocking additional batches of fingerlings at regular intervals, building up to stocks of 1 million fish with nine to 12 months bringing the stocking densities up to approximately US levels.

"Within just a few weeks of Australis being granted approvals to operate in Viet Nam, we have commenced operations and stocked commercially significant numbers of fish," said John Goldman, Australis' managing director.

"This rapid start up was possible because we have had a professional aquaculture management team in Viet Nam for the past 10 months.

"It is a testament to the capabilities of our team and the strong foundation they have built that they have commenced operations quickly and definitively."

Australis received approval from the Vietnamese government to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in Vietnam that will develop integrated barramundi production and sourcing operations.

Australis expects its operation to build up to a capacity of 10,000 tonnes of barramundi per year over several years.

"The initiative to establish a large-scale production base in Viet Nam is a major element in the company's strategy to diversify its base of supply in support of its expanding sales and distribution activities.

"The Viet Nam operation complements the company's US production hub outside Boston and its proprietary third party sourcing network, which commenced in 2007.

This broad and diversified supply strategy will enable the company to rapidly increase availability of fresh and frozen barramundi to its expanding sales channels," said Mr Goldman.