The Waikerie Project involves the establishment of a multi species intensive indoor Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) facility in the Riverland SA. The project will make use of saline water from the vast local underground aquifer, which is currently considered an environmental problem.
Trials carried out by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) at their research facility at Waikerie, have shown that marine finfish can survive and grow in this saline water.
The water will be recirculated through a state of the art water treatment system, incorporating technology which has already been proven internationally. The facility will be the first commercial low to zero discharge intensive inland indoor RAS in Australia to use saline ground water to grow marine finfish.
The waste created by the farmed fish will also be used on site to grow Asparagopsis seaweed, which when fed to cattle, can reduce greenhouse the gas emissions from cow burps by as much as 90 per cent. The novel tank design and unique features of the OZRAS system being used at the Waikerie Project, will also ensure the project has far lower power usage that traditional indoor aquaculture.
A-Culture has gathered a strong group of scientific, design and seafood industry contacts both nationally and internationally with whom it will continue to engage to ensure the ongoing successful development of all the component parts of the Waikerie Project