Siyazama Aquaculture, an aquaculture farm in Hamburg, recently reaped its first harvest of over 260 dusky kabeljou (kob as it is commonly referred to).
Siyazama Aquaculture, an aquaculture farm in Hamburg, recently reaped its first harvest of over 260 dusky kabeljou (kob as it is commonly referred to).
The Hamburg kob pilot project – which employs 21 people from the local community – is part of part of Operation Phakisa: Ocean’s Economy, a Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) initiative aimed at uplifting communities through aquaculture-based enterprise development.
This first batch of fish has been growing since February and the farm (around 60 km from East London) has the capacity to produce 20 tons of kob per year.
The harvesting was done in collaboration with Oceanwise (Pty) Ltd, a leader in the farming of dusky kob in South Africa, based in the East London Industrial Development Zone.
The department decided to focus on kob farming in order to share the risks associated with it as it is fairly new in South Africa.
The harvesting process started with workers collecting the dusky kob into nets, which were then transferred into a container filled with slurry solution made out of ice and water.
The produce was freshly packed on ice into polystyrene boxes with around a total of 14 fish per box and transported to the Oceanwise fish processing facility.
At the facility, the fish were weighed, gilled and gutted then repackaged for retailers. The produce was sold to Cape Town Fish Market’s V&A Waterfront branch, Southern Cross Seafood Deli and Wild Peacock Food Emporium in Stellenbosch.
Liam Ryan, Managing Director of Oceanwise commented that the enthusiasm from the community was encouraging and that the fish were of great quality and had grown quickly and well.
The farm team were proud of their achievements. “It was really good being part of the entire process, the quality of the dusky kob was good as we used floating feed.
I look forward to the next harvest,” said Thembinkosi Halana, Team Supervisor of the Hamburg project.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries invites aspiring and new aquaculture project owners to register their projects to become part of Operation Phakisa: Unlocking the Economic Potential of South Africa’s Oceans.
Projects may be submitted any time. However, evaluations for inclusion will be conducted on a quarterly basis.
For more information on the evaluation criteria and application requirements, refer to the Aquaculture lab report and the New Projects folder available on the Operation Phakisa website: www.operationphakisa.gov.za/operations/oel/aquaculture/ All applications and enquiries can be forwarded to: Aquaculturephakisa@daff.gov.za
