The Aquaculture Development Council is establishing a portfolio of projects and initiatives to grow the Western Australian aquaculture industry.
As part of this process, it has initiated development projects to assess the feasibility of and initiate large-scale marine finfish aquaculture in the State’s coastal waters.
To assess economic feasibility, an understanding of target market sizes, prices and price sensitivity are important; consequently, as part of the development process, the ADC commissioned a staged market study to provide the requisite market intelligence inputs.
Present and future Western Australian producers can target numerous possible marine finfish species and potential countries. Stage 1 of the market study prioritised identified species and countries (called species/market combinations).
Stage 2 of the market study then undertook an in-depth investigation of market sizes prices for the prioritised species/market combinations.
Prioritised species were yellowtail kingfish, mulloway and mahi mahi; prioritised markets were Australia, USA, Japan, UK and France.
An extension of the market study provided additional information on selected marine fish in the Western Australian market.
When they are required, Stage 3 market studies are planned to undertake further in-depth analyses of specific markets and species.