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Water Bioremediation

Pacific Reef Project

Pacific Reef Fisheries (PRF) operates a successful 70 hectare premium black tiger prawn farm situated on the edge of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef, near the township of Ayr in tropical North Queensland.

With total Black Tiger Prawn production expected to exceed 2,500 tonnes per year upon completion of a planned 259 hectare expansion at Guthalungra 40 kilometres north of Bowen, PRF is set to become the largest prawn grower in Australia.

As a user of the high quality seawater drawn from the Great Barrier Reef, PRF is committed to ensuring that all its prawn farming operations meet stringent environmental protection standards managing the levels of water nutrients.

PRF has been working with MBD Energy’s research and development team at James Cook University in Townsville to put in place an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective, long term solution for water bioremediation at its operations.

MBD has begun trials in the nutrient-rich PRF water for the commercial production of the edible seaweeds (macro algae) Aosa and Aonori, used mostly as flavoursome condiments in Japanese cuisine. By pioneering the bioremediation project at Pacific Reef, MBD is keen to deliver a bioremediation service to aquaculture industry and develop additional income from the sale of products.

The Pacific Reef Fisheries project has provided the first example of MBD Energy’s bioremediation of aquaculture waters using algae to produce commercial products. The company’s JCU based R&D team is now actively developing other major bioremediation projects with a focus on near-term commercialisation.