Cannonvale TAFE Aquaculture Centre of Excellence to break ground on $1billion industry

A new Whitsunday TAFE centre will give students access to an aquaculture industry poised to be worth $1 billion. See the exclusive list of courses soon to be on offer.

Zoe Devenport

2 min read

November 1, 2022 - 5:00AM

Ilbilbie prawn farm to almost double in size

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Construction for a new $2 million TAFE centre in Cannonvale will begin in early November 2022.

TAFE’s Aquaculture Centre of Excellence expands the Whitsunday campus and offers students access to a burgeoning industry soon to be worth $1.34 billion by 2030.

Lowcock Builders, which recently finished construction on Bowen TAFE’s $3.4 million Agriculture Centre of Excellence, was awarded the contract.

A Department of Employment Small Business and Training spokeswoman said the proposed centre was part of the Palaszczuk government’s $100 million Equipping TAFE For Our Future program.

“Proposed work will include a scientific laboratory/wet lab area,” she said.

Concept render for external view of new Aquaculture Workshop. Photo: Contributed

“A smart centre were students can view, record and maintain test results undertaken.

“(As well as) a shed with bays and tanks allowing students to follow grow rates under different conditions.

“It also includes a workshop space for trade training activities such as marine technology and maintenance (and) associated trades in areas such as automotive, electrical, plumbing and mechanical.”

Concept render for interval view of new Aquaculture Workshop including aquaponic tanks and wet lab. Photo: Contributed

New courses (listed in full below) include certificates and diplomas in aquaculture, laboratory skills, sampling, harvest operations and more.

The spokeswoman said aquaculture was the fasted growing food industry globally and was largely based in regional Australia.

The Centre of Excellence’s location in the Whitsundays is directly related to Tassal Group’s major prawn farms in Proserpine and Ilbilbie.

From FY21-22, Tassal’s prawn volume in tonnage rose 70 per cent and revenue skyrocketed by 80.4 per cent.

The Tassal prawn farm at Proserpine.

Greater Whitsunday Alliance CEO Kylie Porter has said previously the region was particularly suited for prawn farming because of the North Queensland’s warm waters.

In 2019, Tassal bought a $28 million beef property in Bloomsbury slated for construction in 2023 into a major aquaculture facility.

Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert said that year the Bloomsbury development at Exmoor Station would be a “jobs bonanza for the region”.

Tassal is now considering acquisition by Cooke Aquaculture, which would put hundreds of Queensland jobs in the hands of the Canadian giant.

Whitsunday Cr Mike Brunker, Member for Mackay Julieanne Gilbert, Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner and Tassal representative Ben Daley at the company's Proserpine prawn farm.

Bowen is also slated for Pacific Bio’s $100 million aquaculture project that would product 2700 tonnes of North Queensland black tiger prawns annually.

Former Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Minister Anthony Lynham said when pledging the Cannonvale centre in 2020 that aquaculture businesses would follow the skills.

“We’ve already got Tassal, other facilities will come because they know the education is done here,” Dr Lynham said.