Fish farmer Frances Bender proud to protect wildlife

THE environment and business are inextricably linked for Frances Bender.

Pride of Australia nominee. Frances Bender has been nominated for the environment award in relation to her work with Huon Aquaculture.

WITH the pristine waters of the Huon as an office, the environment and business are inextricably linked for Frances Bender.

Co-owner of Huon Aquaculture, Australia’s biggest privately owned salmon farming business, Frances and the company always aim to make their operations more sustainable and to help conserve wildlife.

She and husband Peter founded the firm in 1988 at Hideaway Bay in the far South. They won the 2013 Australian Biosecurity (animal) Farmer of the Year award and were chosen by international food crusader Jamie Oliver to partner him in his Ministry of Food.

In 2001, Frances was also Tasmania’s Rural Woman of the Year.

Huon Aquaculture recently donated $25,000 for an eagle aviary at the Raptor and Wildlife Refuge at Kettering.

Last year, the company developed a grants program to help deliver new community projects.

The Helping Hand program offers grants of up to $3000 to community groups and organisations needing support for new ideas, programs or projects.

The company’s sustainability dashboard is a portal for the community to look at what they do that affects the environment and be able to track improvements.

“We love the environment we work in,” Frances said. “We have an abundance of wildlife in our working area. Not many offices have a pair of wedge tails, a pair of sea eagles, dolphins, whales, seals and, at one stage, a family of Tasmanian devils living under the office.”

Frances, 53, has been nominated in the Pride of Australia Medal’s environment category.

To nominate someone for a Pride of Australia Medal, click here. Nominations close at 5pm on July 29.