Medusae grew exponentially and reached a maximum mean diameter of over 150mm in two months

Jellyfish outbreak reduces Huon profits in the first half

AUSTRALIA
Saturday, February 23, 2019, 03:10 (GMT + 9)

Huon Aquaculture shares sunk last Friday, after the company announced that a jellyfish outbreak ruined its salmon harvest and reduced its profits in the first semester of the current fiscal year (July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019).

A "bloom" of moon jellyfish took place in the Huon River and D'Entrecasteaux Channel last November and December, with led to the death of fosh the company was farming.

Huon River and D'Entrecasteaux Channel (Tasmania)

Huon explained that the  biological  impact  as  a  result  of  this  episode  comes  from  fish mortalities and lost growth.  "Some of those fish affected by the bloom are now suffering from gill necrosis,  a secondary impact from the jellyfish encounter. This has the potential for some residual impact on the survival rates  of  those  fish  which  will  persist  until  the  water  temperature  cools  to   15  °C,  at  which  time  gill health will recover," the company explained.

ECOLOGY OF MOON JELLYFISH AURELIA SP. IN SOUTHERN TASMANIA IN RELATION TO ATLANTIC SALMON FARMING. Thesis submitted by Simon T. Willcox, B.Sc. Hons 

At this time,  the economic impact of the jellyfish bloom es estimated to be between AUD 8 million and AUD 10 million.

The Tasmanian company reported a decrease of 4.5 pecent net profit to AUD 26.35 million for the six months to December 31, and the revenue decreased 20 per cent to AUD 139.3 million on lower harvest volumes and increased production costs, mitigated by strong prices for salmon

Operating NPAT (net income after taxes) decreased by 53 percent as result of the reduction in volumes and a 23 percent increase in production costs / kg.

Peter Bender, Huon chief executive, said that apart from dealing with the jellyfish problem, summer bushfires across the state's south-east proved a logistical hurdle, though there was no disruption to the harvest schedule and no loss of assets or damage to infrastructure.

"Huon Aquaculture's disappointing financial performance in the current half highlights the challenges we face every day when working with nature," said Bender.

Bender said staff worked "around the clock" to keep the jellyfish away from the salmon during the outbreak, with staff manually towing sea pens through the water.

"As the biomass is rebuilt over 2019 we expect to see a return to production volumes in FY2020 of at least 25,000 tonnes," Mr Bender said.

Huon said it currently had fish in production that will support a 30,000 tonne salmon production in FY2021.

Meanwhile, the company continues to move forward with its diversification strategy towards other high demand species through the establishment of sites for the rearing of yellowtail kingfish both on the east coast and on the west coast of Australia.

(1 AUD = USD 0.71117)

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