Huon Aquaculture CEO Henry Batista to exit business after less than three years at the helm

Henry Batista, the young CEO of one of Tasmania’s big three salmon companies, will leave the business this week to take on a plum role in Europe.

Henry Batista, the departing CEO of Huon Aquaculture. Photograph by Arsineh Houspian.

The young CEO of Huon Aquaculture, Henry Batista, will exit the business this week after more than two years in the role.

Mr Batista’s family founded the multinational meat processing company JBS, which owns Huon.

He made the decision to leave the business in December, with the announcement made to staff in January.

Huon Aquaculture CEO Henry Batista.

Mr Batista will take on a new executive role with Pilgrim’s Europe, a major chicken producer majority-owned by JBS. Charles von der Heyde, the former president of Pilgrim’s Mexico, will replace him as CEO of Huon.

The transition comes as Huon grapples with a disease outbreak affecting the state’s three aquaculture companies.

Huon Aquaculture general manager of stakeholder and government relations Hannah Gray said Mr Batista had “created a really solid foundation for the organisation” since commencing as CEO in 2022 and had “made a fantastic contribution to the operations and the culture of our team”.

“I think that Charles is going to be a great addition to that team,” she said.

“We’ve got a really experienced executive team supported by literally some of the best [people] in the global industry. And so we’re really excited to have Charles take on the role.”

Huon Aquaculture CEO Henry Batista.

Mr Batista’s father Wesley and uncle Joesley were embroiled in a corruption scandal involving the bribing of politicians in Brazil through their family company J&F in 2017. The company agreed to pay a US$3.2bn fine as part of a plea deal securing the brothers’ immunity.

The pair were acquitted of insider trading charges in 2023 and have returned to the JBS board of directors.

JBS Australia operates separately from the Brazilian side of the business and Henry Batista is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The disease outbreak impacting the Tasmanian salmon industry has been attributed to an endemic bacterium known as Piscirickettsia salmonis (P. salmonis).

It has led to a mass mortality event, with salmon businesses dumping 5500 tonnes of dead fish at waste facilities in February alone.

Public health authorities have moved to reassure the community that fatty fish material washing up on beaches in Southern Tasmania is not harmful to human health.

Mr von der Heyde will commence in the Huon CEO role as the company deals with the fallout of shocking footage showing employees sealing live salmon in tubs together with dead fish in the midst of the mortality event.

Hannah Gray, general manager of stakeholder and government relations at Huon Aquaculture

The company says a full investigation into the incident has been launched.

The RSPCA has suspended its certification of Huon products and is conducting its own formal investigation into the incident.

Ms Gray said the footage, released by the Bob Brown Foundation (BBF), was “extremely difficult to watch”.

“We strongly believe it’s not reflective of the high standards of animal welfare that we have in place across our operations. In addition to launching our own investigation, we notified the RSPCA and we’re participating fully in the RSPCA investigation,” she said.

Ms Gray said Huon had been “transparent” about its own response to the disease outbreak “from the very beginning” and that it was not the result of farming practices.

“The industry is doing everything it can in partnership with authorities to get on top of the situation as quickly as possible,” she said.

BBF Antarctic and marine campaigner Alistair Allan has characterised the outbreak as “the direct result of excessive nitrogen pollution, overstocking of pens …[and] a … failure to regulate”.