Mighty Storm bound for Tassie waters

HUON Aquaculture has acquired a game-changing new fishing vessel.

Ronja Storm will operate in Tasmania as the world’s largest wellboat at the forefront of environmental and technological innovation.

Huon Aquaculture CEO Peter Bender said the advanced boat would not reduce employment, but would deliver a range of benefits to the company, including reduced fuel consumption, and noise and exhaust emissions.

“She enables expansion in offshore, more challenging farming environments, (and) enables strengthened animal welfare and biosecurity practices,” he said.

The wellboat contains a large freshwater well in its hull that salmon are sucked into for transportation. The on-board desalination plant produces up to 700,000 litres of freshwater hourly, with the freshwater bathing process removing single-celled amoeba from fish gills to eliminate risks such as asphyxiation upon consumption.

Mr Bender said the large boat will operate primarily off Storm Bay, the vessel’s namesake, with the ideal capabilities for handling rougher seas. “At 116 metres long and 23 metres wide, she has a total water storage volume of over 13,000 cubic metres and can hold 800 tonnes of fish at a time,” he said.

Huon Aquaculture, which currently employs 727 full-time equivalent staff, will be the first company to use a wellboat with a fitted offshore power management system, designed by Norwegian company Havyard Ship Design.