Cherabin aquaculture production as an enabler for Indigenous business development

Despite its enormous potential, aquaculture activity in Australia’s north west has been slow to develop. This project invigorated the aquaculture opportunities across the north. Led by industry, the project was a collaboration between North Regional TAFE’s Broome Aquaculture Centre (BAC) and the Emama Nguda Aboriginal Corporation. Together, they developed an Indigenous freshwater prawn (Cherabin – Macrobrachium rosenbergii) business while building an Aboriginal workforce equipped with transferable skills. By applying recent advances in international research, the project introduced a novel approach to aquaculture business development, incorporating new technology within an integrated model tailored to the RDAC community. The research focused on establishing aquaculture techniques for larval production, transport, and growout of Cherabin, with the goal of achieving consistent production of market-ready-animals. Hatchery production activities were undertaken in Broome, with growout operations to follow at the Mud Springs site in Kununurra, Western Australia. The project aimed to build local capacity and integrate with regional businesses to capitalise on the unique value proposition of the Kimberley native Cherabin as a local bush food.

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