Stuart High School - Aquaculture Experience: Ron joins the students to find out all about aquaculture on the West Coast region of South Australia

The fishing industry on Eyre Peninsula continues to evolve. From the back breaking grind of poling for wild tuna back in the 50s and 60s to pens of wild fish stock hauled in little more than walking pace from beyond the Great Australian Bight. In pens beyond Boston Bay, they are fattened up for sale to markets overseas.

And in more recent times Clean Seas Aquaculture has moved to propagate tuna on land. Scan the waters of Spencer Gulf and you'll come across aquaculture pens owned by a range of companies keen to expand what is already a $250 million industry.

At the top of the Gulf, the students are trying their hand in a much smaller, but no less interesting venture and it's all happening in a shed at the back blocks of Stuart High School at Whyalla.

We called into the school's Aquaculture Centre at feeding time when students were feeding a tank full of Barramundi. Over about a year, the fish are grown to about 1.5 kilos. They grow barramundi and Murray Cod.

PH levels are regularly checked and recorded on both the white board and the computer. To say the kids take a hands-on approach is an understatement. Come the right time in the life cycle of the barramundi and this place becomes a fish processing plant and the kids aren't squeamish when it comes to getting the job done. When the barra are at saleable size, they're netted in one of the biggest days of the year on the Stuart High School Aquaculture calendar. Later they're scaled and filleted and then smoked in the little smoking box outside.

The school's aquaculture program has been up and running for four years - with a number of students finding jobs with their bigger professional counterparts out in Fitzgerald Bay. For the Stuart High kids, one of our great native fighting fish, the barramundi, was found to be a good fit for a small-scale operation like this. The barra are a long way from home but with the water temperature kept at an constant 27 degrees, the students try to replicate conditions in their natural habitat.

The local residents near the school are well aware of just how good smoked Barramundi can be. Each year word gets out that the kids have another batch in the freezer and the paying customers are on their way – doing their bit to partly fund an aquaculture course which is creating jobs for the students of Eyre Peninsula. They'll gladly show you around the complex and sell you a fillet or two. It's part of the Peninsula's Seafood and Aquaculture Trail.

Stuart High School Aquaculture Centre
Bastyan Crescent
Whyalla Stuart
Contact Whyalla Visitor Centre on 8645 7900
Open during school hours

Published 22nd November 2009