Finding love in the country: Single abalone farmer looking for love

First aired on ABC 19 March 2018. Click here to read the full article.   Living in a shack on an abalone farm can be an isolating experience, but it’s often the reality when you work in a primary industry. Luke Thorpe is 28, he lives in a shack at Narrawong Bay in south-west Victoria. Most of […]

A young boy, the ocean and a dream

First published in the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman February 2018. Click here to read the full article.   In the small East Gippsland town of Mallacoota, Tim Rudge was one of many young boys who dreamt of being an abalone diver. While fishing was appealing to Tim, the idea of growing something and doing something […]

Boost for spat nursery

First published in the Port Lincoln Times 29 January 2018. Click here to read the full article.   A new $750,000 state-of-the-art oyster nursery at Yumbah Hatchery at Point Boston will help supply the state’s oyster growers with a reliable source of spat. The expansion last week received a $250,000 boost from the state government’s Regional Development Fund when Premier Jay […]

Tasmanian and South Australian oyster producers work together

First published in The Examiner 27 February 2018. Click here to read the full article. When Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome hit Tasmania in 2016 oyster growers and markets throughout Australia were devastated. The industry suffered great losses, but oyster producers also realised how reliant they were on spat produced in Tasmania. East Coast producer Cameron of Tasmania formed a […]