Clean Seas was established with a long-held goal of closing the lifecycle of Southern Bluefin Tuna.

However, the company already has a sound business in the captive breeding of kingfish and mulloway. Kingfish and mulloway were identified by the company as surrogate species for Southern Bluefin Tuna, with potential for lifecycle closure.

The Stehr Group - of which Clean Seas is a subsidiary - conducted grow-out trials of kingfish during the summers of 1998/1999 and 1999/2000. The trials were a success, convincing the Stehr Group of the potential kingfish had for intensive aquaculture production. Mulloway was chosen as a back-up species to kingfish and extensive trials were also undertaken with this species.

In 2006, Clean Seas took control of the Australian kingfish market with an agreement to purchase the business and assets of the SAAM Group of Companies, which operates a licensed finfish hatchery and 1,600 tonne grow-out facility north of Clean Seas' Arno Bay facility in South Australia's Spencer Gulf.

The acquisition is likely to result in:

• Total kingfish production in South Australia jumping from approximately 1,500 tonnes in 2005/06 to about 2,600 tonnes in 2006/07;
• Clean Seas production of kingfish jumping from 400 tonnes last financial year to 2000 tonnes in 2006/07 as a result of the agreement.

This has provided a significant windfall for the company and will see the production of kingfish jump by 500 per cent by the end of the 2006/07 financial year.

Clean Seas has also expanded its kingfish export operations into Eastern Europe, sending trial portions of Port Lincoln-farmed kingfish to white tablecloth restaurants across Moscow. This move is part of a major assault by the Australian aquaculture industry on the European market, which is seeking new sources of fish to compensate for declining wild seafood stocks in the northern hemisphere.

Our kingfish is already available in Italy, Holland, Germany, France, the UK and Switzerland, and we are expanding our production of farmed kingfish to take advantage of strong demand for the South Australian-grown fish in European markets.

In addition, Clean Seas has secured a new partnership with Danish aquaculture technology expert, Uni-Aqua, which has the potential to halve the grow-out phase of our products to further assist with the efficient propagation of kingfish and Southern Bluefin Tuna. The agreement could see specially-bred South Australian fish progress from fingerling to the finest restaurants of the world in just 10 months.

Clean Seas' mulloway propagation program has also been nothing short of a success story. Caught up in the fish and chip craze some 20 years ago - Australia's mulloway stocks came close to disappearing. Mulloway, also known as butterfish, is now on the international gourmet fish menu following the development of Australia's only commercial propagation program - undertaken by Clean Seas.

In what can only be described as the beginning of an exciting new phase for mulloway, we have one million-plus fish for harvesting over the next few years and we are already selling four to five tonnes a week in the domestic markets alone.