Latest news with #MurrayCodAustralia
The Age
09-05-2025
- General
- The Age
Salmon critics say fish farms should be on land. How it works for Murray cod
The ponds at one of several aquaculture sites near Griffith are rectangles of murky green water fringed with reeds in a flat landscape of orange clay. The pelicans perusing the perimeter and kites circling above see what the untrained human eye cannot – beneath a protective net, the water is teeming with Murray cod. The ponds are part of the operations of Murray Cod Australia, trading as Aquna Sustainable Murray Cod. Chief executive Ross Anderson explains the colour of the water is by design – it's because the staff promote the growth of beneficial native algae. Together with the water plants around the ponds' edges, the algae absorbs the nutrients from the fish poo and releases oxygen into the water by night. This results in less water usage and reduced need to mechanically oxygenate the water; an energy saving. Another benefit: the algae creates a living culture that consumes other byproducts of the fish, preventing the build-up of chemical compounds that change the flavour of the fish. 'It's quite counter-intuitive, but from this muddy, green looking water, you get a clean, white-tasting fish,' Anderson says. 'Whereas in an artificial system in a tank … from that crystal clear water, you'll often end up with a muddy-tasting fish.' While Anderson refrains from discussing the environmental woes facing the Tasmanian salmon industry, the contrasts are obvious. Farmed salmon are fed ground-up wild fish – putting pressure on other ecosystems such as Antarctica – and antibiotics. Aquna feeds its Murray cod sustainable fish feed made from crops such as lupin, chickpeas and soybean and offcuts from chicken, beef and lamb – and their water quality control means they don't need to use antibiotics. Salmon are farmed in open pens in the sea, releasing effluent into the water. In an unprecedented mortality event this summer, thousands of tonnes of dead salmon washed up on beaches in south-east Tasmania. Murray cod are farmed on land in ponds with no connection to natural waterways, using a relatively small amount of water from the Snowy Hydro scheme that later irrigates land including crops. Salmon is threatening the critically endangered Maugean skate in Macquarie Harbour in western Tasmania. Aquna is helping state governments restock the vulnerable native Murray cod in the Murray-Darling basin. The mass fish kill in Tasmania was caused by a bacterial outbreak against the backdrop of a marine heatwave, a problem that will probably recur as climate change worsens, unless the industry can adapt. Murray cod have evolved to withstand a wide range of temperatures and swings between drought and flood. Aquna co-founder Mathew Ryan says he was drawn to aquaculture because the world needs to increase protein production using fewer resources, and specifically Murray cod because he wanted to stay in the Riverina and provide local jobs. 'Aquaculture was something that always fascinated me because the amount of production that you can get from a hectare of land [used for aquaculture] or from a megalitre of water is quite phenomenal,' Ryan says. Murray cod is technically a perch but has an oily, white flesh like cod – I tried the Aquna product and found it had a delicate flavour and a satisfying meatiness. Some consumers are buying it instead of salmon, while in restaurants it competes with coral trout and Patagonian toothfish. The company now has multiple properties near Griffith, with hatchlings in indoor tanks, juveniles in nursery ponds, and bigger fish in grow-out ponds. Anderson explains the fish have to be kept with others of the same size otherwise the bigger fish will eat or injure the smaller fish. At the grow-out site with ponds dug out of the local clay soil, Ryan estimates 100-200 megalitres of water a year will produce 1000 tonnes of fish. By contrast, it takes 3800-4400 megalitres of water to produce 1000 tonnes of almonds, not including the shells, based on figures from the Almond Board of Australia and analysed by this masthead. The company leans heavily into the sustainability of its operation in its pitch to consumers, marketing its product as fish 'for foodies who care where their fish comes from'. It does have the backing of the Australian Marine Conservation Society's GoodFish guide, which endorses farmed Murray cod from NSW and Victoria as well as farmed barramundi (but not wild caught) from all over Australia. As the salmon industry grapples with social licence not just in Tasmania but around the world, many critics are calling for the fish to be farmed on land. Industry group Salmon Tasmania has rejects this as fanciful, saying it would require too much land, water and energy and be five to 10 times more expensive. Independent aquaculture experts confirm there are significant logistical challenges. 'There is no single company with a major salmon farming initiative on land that is profitable, so it is, as yet, an undeveloped concept,' says Professor Tim Dempster, an expert in marine biology and aquaculture at Deakin University. That's not the case for other species. Land-based aquaculture is the dominant form of fish farming globally, practised for centuries, especially in Asia. But is it more sustainable? The main knock-on effect of farming salmon in the sea in Tasmania is the effluent that pollutes the marine environment. Dempster says New Zealand only avoids this problem because the industry is much smaller and more spread out. In the salmon-producing countries of the northern hemisphere, such as Canada, Norway and Scotland, the main environmental concern is lice from farmed fish infecting wild salmon and reducing stocks, Dempster says. Canada has decided to remove open-net salmon farming from British Columbia by June 2029 and told the industry it must transition to land-based systems. Dempster doubts this will happen – he says the industry will probably move elsewhere. Norway is experimenting with farming salmon onshore, but it is not a model for Tasmania because it is releasing the untreated seawater back out into the fjords, with the goal to direct the water to places where lice are least likely to infest wild fish. There is also a fully self-contained approach – a 'recirculating aquaculture system' where the water is treated and reused. Atlantic Sapphire has spent $US1 billion ($1.55 billion) since 2011 pursuing this in Florida and is still bleeding money. Farming salmon on land removes some environmental harms, but it is vastly more carbon intensive – both to build the tanks, and maintain the cool, clear water with high oxygen levels that salmon require. Dempster says a salmon pen in the ocean in Tasmania might contain 50,000 cubic litres of water and produce 500 tonnes of fish. Salmon production in the state is 75,000 tonnes a year, according to Salmon Tasmania, so the volumes of water are vast. Dempster says there are about 200 species globally that are farmed on land – mostly freshwater fish that can cope with lower water quality and higher temperatures, and don't require wild fish in their diet. (Marine fish need a source of Omega 3). In Australia, there are several native fish that are suitable. Besides Murray cod there is the perennial pub favourite barramundi, which is both wild caught and farmed in tanks, ponds or occasionally the ocean, throughout Australia and Asia. Dempster says the environmental impacts are small. Loading Globally, most land-based aquaculture around the world is done in tanks, and some of it is not environmentally sustainable at all. 'In some countries, say in China, where they are farming a lot of carp, they pour a lot of fertiliser in to fertilise those water bodies because the carp [eat plankton], and that then leads to that a lot of those nutrients exiting into the environment,' Dempster says. 'It depends on the species, the location and the farming system as to how good that system is for the environment.'
Sydney Morning Herald
09-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Salmon critics say fish farms should be on land. How it works for Murray cod
The ponds at one of several aquaculture sites near Griffith are rectangles of murky green water fringed with reeds in a flat landscape of orange clay. The pelicans perusing the perimeter and kites circling above see what the untrained human eye cannot – beneath a protective net, the water is teeming with Murray cod. The ponds are part of the operations of Murray Cod Australia, trading as Aquna Sustainable Murray Cod. Chief executive Ross Anderson explains the colour of the water is by design – it's because the staff promote the growth of beneficial native algae. Together with the water plants around the ponds' edges, the algae absorbs the nutrients from the fish poo and releases oxygen into the water by night. This results in less water usage and reduced need to mechanically oxygenate the water; an energy saving. Another benefit: the algae creates a living culture that consumes other byproducts of the fish, preventing the build-up of chemical compounds that change the flavour of the fish. 'It's quite counter-intuitive, but from this muddy, green looking water, you get a clean, white-tasting fish,' Anderson says. 'Whereas in an artificial system in a tank … from that crystal clear water, you'll often end up with a muddy-tasting fish.' While Anderson refrains from discussing the environmental woes facing the Tasmanian salmon industry, the contrasts are obvious. Farmed salmon are fed ground-up wild fish – putting pressure on other ecosystems such as Antarctica – and antibiotics. Aquna feeds its Murray cod sustainable fish feed made from crops such as lupin, chickpeas and soybean and offcuts from chicken, beef and lamb – and their water quality control means they don't need to use antibiotics. Salmon are farmed in open pens in the sea, releasing effluent into the water. In an unprecedented mortality event this summer, thousands of tonnes of dead salmon washed up on beaches in south-east Tasmania. Murray cod are farmed on land in ponds with no connection to natural waterways, using a relatively small amount of water from the Snowy Hydro scheme that later irrigates land including crops. Salmon is threatening the critically endangered Maugean skate in Macquarie Harbour in western Tasmania. Aquna is helping state governments restock the vulnerable native Murray cod in the Murray-Darling basin. The mass fish kill in Tasmania was caused by a bacterial outbreak against the backdrop of a marine heatwave, a problem that will probably recur as climate change worsens, unless the industry can adapt. Murray cod have evolved to withstand a wide range of temperatures and swings between drought and flood. Aquna co-founder Mathew Ryan says he was drawn to aquaculture because the world needs to increase protein production using fewer resources, and specifically Murray cod because he wanted to stay in the Riverina and provide local jobs. 'Aquaculture was something that always fascinated me because the amount of production that you can get from a hectare of land [used for aquaculture] or from a megalitre of water is quite phenomenal,' Ryan says. Murray cod is technically a perch but has an oily, white flesh like cod – I tried the Aquna product and found it had a delicate flavour and a satisfying meatiness. Some consumers are buying it instead of salmon, while in restaurants it competes with coral trout and Patagonian toothfish. The company now has multiple properties near Griffith, with hatchlings in indoor tanks, juveniles in nursery ponds, and bigger fish in grow-out ponds. Anderson explains the fish have to be kept with others of the same size otherwise the bigger fish will eat or injure the smaller fish. At the grow-out site with ponds dug out of the local clay soil, Ryan estimates 100-200 megalitres of water a year will produce 1000 tonnes of fish. By contrast, it takes 3800-4400 megalitres of water to produce 1000 tonnes of almonds, not including the shells, based on figures from the Almond Board of Australia and analysed by this masthead. The company leans heavily into the sustainability of its operation in its pitch to consumers, marketing its product as fish 'for foodies who care where their fish comes from'. It does have the backing of the Australian Marine Conservation Society's GoodFish guide, which endorses farmed Murray cod from NSW and Victoria as well as farmed barramundi (but not wild caught) from all over Australia. As the salmon industry grapples with social licence not just in Tasmania but around the world, many critics are calling for the fish to be farmed on land. Industry group Salmon Tasmania has rejects this as fanciful, saying it would require too much land, water and energy and be five to 10 times more expensive. Independent aquaculture experts confirm there are significant logistical challenges. 'There is no single company with a major salmon farming initiative on land that is profitable, so it is, as yet, an undeveloped concept,' says Professor Tim Dempster, an expert in marine biology and aquaculture at Deakin University. That's not the case for other species. Land-based aquaculture is the dominant form of fish farming globally, practised for centuries, especially in Asia. But is it more sustainable? The main knock-on effect of farming salmon in the sea in Tasmania is the effluent that pollutes the marine environment. Dempster says New Zealand only avoids this problem because the industry is much smaller and more spread out. In the salmon-producing countries of the northern hemisphere, such as Canada, Norway and Scotland, the main environmental concern is lice from farmed fish infecting wild salmon and reducing stocks, Dempster says. Canada has decided to remove open-net salmon farming from British Columbia by June 2029 and told the industry it must transition to land-based systems. Dempster doubts this will happen – he says the industry will probably move elsewhere. Norway is experimenting with farming salmon onshore, but it is not a model for Tasmania because it is releasing the untreated seawater back out into the fjords, with the goal to direct the water to places where lice are least likely to infest wild fish. There is also a fully self-contained approach – a 'recirculating aquaculture system' where the water is treated and reused. Atlantic Sapphire has spent $US1 billion ($1.55 billion) since 2011 pursuing this in Florida and is still bleeding money. Farming salmon on land removes some environmental harms, but it is vastly more carbon intensive – both to build the tanks, and maintain the cool, clear water with high oxygen levels that salmon require. Dempster says a salmon pen in the ocean in Tasmania might contain 50,000 cubic litres of water and produce 500 tonnes of fish. Salmon production in the state is 75,000 tonnes a year, according to Salmon Tasmania, so the volumes of water are vast. Dempster says there are about 200 species globally that are farmed on land – mostly freshwater fish that can cope with lower water quality and higher temperatures, and don't require wild fish in their diet. (Marine fish need a source of Omega 3). In Australia, there are several native fish that are suitable. Besides Murray cod there is the perennial pub favourite barramundi, which is both wild caught and farmed in tanks, ponds or occasionally the ocean, throughout Australia and Asia. Dempster says the environmental impacts are small. Loading Globally, most land-based aquaculture around the world is done in tanks, and some of it is not environmentally sustainable at all. 'In some countries, say in China, where they are farming a lot of carp, they pour a lot of fertiliser in to fertilise those water bodies because the carp [eat plankton], and that then leads to that a lot of those nutrients exiting into the environment,' Dempster says. 'It depends on the species, the location and the farming system as to how good that system is for the environment.'
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Murray Cod Australia (ASX:MCA) shareholders have endured a 49% loss from investing in the stock three years ago
Many investors define successful investing as beating the market average over the long term. But in any portfolio, there are likely to be some stocks that fall short of that benchmark. We regret to report that long term Murray Cod Australia Limited (ASX:MCA) shareholders have had that experience, with the share price dropping 52% in three years, versus a market decline of about 10.0%. Even worse, it's down 19% in about a month, which isn't fun at all. So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress. Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. Because Murray Cod Australia made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually desire strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth. In the last three years Murray Cod Australia saw its revenue shrink by 6.1% per year. That is not a good result. With revenue in decline, and profit but a dream, we can understand why the share price has been declining at 15% per year. Of course, it's the future that will determine whether today's price is a good one. We don't generally like to own companies that lose money and can't grow revenues. But any company is worth looking at when it makes a maiden profit. You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Murray Cod Australia's earnings, revenue and cash flow. We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Murray Cod Australia's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. We note that Murray Cod Australia's TSR, at -49% is higher than its share price return of -52%. When you consider it hasn't been paying a dividend, this data suggests shareholders have benefitted from a spin-off, or had the opportunity to acquire attractively priced shares in a discounted capital raising. Murray Cod Australia shareholders are down 10% for the year, but the market itself is up 0.4%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 2% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Murray Cod Australia better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Murray Cod Australia (including 3 which are concerning) . Murray Cod Australia is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find lesser know companies this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Australian exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sign in to access your portfolio
