Southern Bluefin Tuna

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister inform the chamber about the MSC certification awarded to our state's iconic southern bluefin tuna industry?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:50): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in this important part of our economy. It was an absolute pleasure to attend the event a few weeks ago for our state's Australian southern bluefin tuna purse seine fishery as they celebrated their achievement of attaining the prestigious Marine Stewardship Council certification. It is well known that South Australia is highly regarded for its premium aquaculture and wild-catch species, and sitting comfortably alongside southern rock lobster in terms of world recognition is our iconic southern bluefin tuna industry.

From the pioneers in Port Lincoln who brought foresight and innovation to the way they caught, ranched and developed a massive market around the world to the sector of today that has carried on in that tradition, southern bluefin tuna is a South Australian success story. South Australia already has an incredible reputation for quality and sustainability through our rigorous fisheries management. In attaining Marine Stewardship Council certification and the famous blue tick, southern bluefin tuna have added further confidence for customers and prospective markets that their product is sustainable and from healthy wild fish populations assessed against world-recognised MSC standards.

South Australia's tuna sector mainly uses the purse seine fishing method, where a net encloses on schooled fish that are then towed to Port Lincoln—as opposed to being landed on boats—where they are grown out in floating sea cages and fed their typical diet of sardines provided in large part by our state's sardine fishery, which is another example of an incredible South Australian and Port Lincoln success story. In South Australia, farms that are approved to operate for the farming of southern bluefin tuna are located within the Lincoln aquaculture zone, which is identified by the state's Lower Eyre Peninsula aquaculture zone policy, which in 2023 was improved to allow for the growth of our state's aquaculture industry in those highly sought-after waters.

Currently, there are seven aquaculture licences for farming the tuna in that zone, collectively occupying over 1,522 hectares of state waters. Farmed SBT makes up our state's largest aquaculture export, with Japan typically the largest market and Korea, China and our own domestic market growing quickly. Southern bluefin tuna joins other South Australian fisheries in attaining the prestigious MSC certification, including Spencer Gulf King Prawns, Goolwa Pipi and the sardine fishery. Clean Seas Seafood has attained the aquaculture equivalent, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification, for its yellowtail kingfish operation.

Southern bluefish tuna contributes an enormous amount to our state in terms of jobs and economic activity, with 330 direct and 593 flow-on FTE positions, and accounts for 45 per cent of the state's gross value of aquaculture production, which was $120 million of the total $264.4 million in 2022-23. In attaining MSC certification, the southern bluefish tuna sector further highlights their commitment to sustainability and to best practice, which underpins their stunning success as an industry.

The event at West Lakes was a great evening and a worthy celebration of an incredible achievement. It was great to hear on the night from my federal colleague Senator Karen Grogan about the federal Labor government's keen understanding of the importance of the southern bluefin tuna sector to our state and the importance of our fishing sectors as a whole. While we are talking about federal colleagues, I take a moment to congratulate Minister Collins on her reappointment and look forward to continuing to work with her in her role as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I was also pleased that I was joined by the Hon. Connie Bonaros on the night as well for what was an incredible evening.

Once again, congratulations to all involved in this achievement as well as the CEO of the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association, Dan Casement, who has filled what I absolutely agree are huge shoes left behind from industry legend Brian Jeffriess, who I note even in retirement is still playing a key role in our state's fisheries in a number of ways.