Clean Seas Seafood Ltd is an Australian seafood production company specialising in the sea-cage aquaculture of Yellowtail kingfish. It was established by The Stehr Group in the year 2000, and became the first Australian company in the sector to be listed on the ASX. The company was established by "tuna baron" Hagen Stehr, whose son Marcus remains one of the company's directors. Its ambition to control and commercialise the lifecycle of the Southern bluefin tuna has not been realised.
Facilities
Clean Seas has shore and sea-based fish farming facilities at Arno Bay, aquaculture leases in Fitzgerald Bay and a processing facility at Royal Park in Adelaide.
History
Clean Seas was formed by The Stehr Group in 2000. Clean Seas Tuna Ltd was floated on the ASX in 2005 with the ambition of controlling the lifecycle of the Southern bluefin tuna. As of 2018 it is yet to accomplish this. In 2008, Stehr told the ABC that he had expansion plans for the company. He said "We got the marina close proximity to Adelaide, and it is a natural progression for our company to move that side... We either move to Wallaroo or direct to Adelaide." He also expressed his concerns about a proposal from mining company Centrex Metals to export iron ore from Port Lincoln. Centrex Metals' iron ore mining and export plans did not eventuate. Hagen Stehr, the founder of Clean Seas, stepped down from his position as Chairman of Clean Seas Tuna in 2009. At the time, he said that the company was transitioning from a research and development company to commercialisation. The company reported a $12 million loss in 2009. In September 2010, the SydneyMorning Herald reported that Clean Seas staff killed 80 tonnes of stock as a result of human error while "bathing" the fish in hydrogen peroxide. The company reported a first-half loss of $14 million that year, and a loss of over $15 million for the year to June 30. In November 2010, Stehr told The Advertiser that he took responsibility for the over-production of kingfish which adversely impacted the company's finances. At that time, the company's Chairman was John Ellice-Flint, and its Managing Director was Clifford Ashby. In 2011, Clean Seas reported a $9.3 million loss for the latter half of 2010. In mid 2012, Clean Seas was seeking an investment partner to help the company to expand and reach new markets. Later that year, the company's share price was near its all-time low value of two cents per share, following a series of fish health and mortality problems. Clean Seas workforce was halved to lower operating costs. In February 2013, Stehr remained optimistic about Clean Seas prospects for closing the life-cycle of the Southern bluefin tuna. The company suspended its Southern bluefin tuna propagation research as a cost-cutting measure after it revealed it had made a $34 million statutory loss for the last half of 2012. In 2014, Clean Seas Yellowtail kingfish operations were accredited as "sustainable" by Friend of the Sea. In 2015, Clean Seas was investigating the prospect of establishing fish farms for Yellowtail kingfish and Yellowfin tuna near the Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia and Yellowtail kingfish at Wallaroo in South Australia. At that time, the company's objective was to be able to grow and sell 3,000 tonnes of Hiramasa per year. In 2016, Clean Sea Tuna Ltd became Clean Seas Seafood Ltd, with the company refocusing entirely on Yellowtail kingfish. In 2017, it rebranded its product Spencer Gulf Hiramasa Kingfish and established new facilities at Royal Park, South Australia. As of September 2017, Hagen Stehr remains the company's largest shareholder, which he holds through the entity Australian Tuna Fisheries. In 2018, Clean Seas' directors were confident about the prospects for their Hiramasa business, and planned to resume farming in Fitzgerald Bay, near Whyalla in August of that year. In November 2018, Clean Seas signed a distribution agreement with Chinese seafood distributor, Hunchun Haiyun Trading Co Ltd. In 2019, Clean Seas was recognised by Business SA as South Australia's Exporter of the Year. It sold approximately 2,700 tonnes of kingfish that year, with around 45 per cent of that exported. Europe was the largest export market at that time. Clean Seas works with high profile chefs and restaurants in the marketing of their product, including chefs Giovanni Pilu, Shaun Presland, Donovan Cook, Frank Shek and Nicky Reimer and restaurants such as Bennelong and China Doll in Sydney, The Atlantic in Melbourne, Zuma in London and Nobu in Milan. In 2020, Clean Seas entered a partnership with Norwegian company Hofseth with the objective of selling frozen kingfish into the US market. As of April 2020, Clean Seas has not resumed kingfish farming in Fitzgerald Bay in South Australia.
