"There's not too many investors that'll wait 10 years to receive an approval that maybe largely unworkable," chief operations officer Dallas Donovan explained.
"The (Queensland Competition Authority) report and assessment is welcome... hopefully at the end of it we'll see some balance come back into the regulatory environment and it's when you've got that balance and certainty that you can help industries grow and reach their potential."
Prawn farming in Australia now produces approximately 4,000 tonnes annually, (note Indonesia just north of Australia produces over 300,000 tonnes), with a farm gate value estimated to be about $70 million.
Yet despite favourable economic conditions, huge global demand for protein and Australia's reputation for producing 'clean, green' seafood, Australian aquaculture is lagging. In fact, not a single prawn farm has been approved in the past two decades.
Meanwhile, Australian Prawn Farmers' Association president Matt West says the review by the Queensland Competition Authority is responding to long-held concern the largest sector of the Australian aquaculture industry is not realising its economic potential.
Mr. West points to a $60 million prawn farm development at Bowen which, after 12 years, is yet to get off the ground as an example of the 'costly and drawn out' approvals process. The owner is currently in dispute with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) over what it considers are unfair demands of an additional $2 million to be paid for offset remedial work.
Mr. West says it's become apparent the regulatory environment is stifling investment and confidence by setting the bar higher for aquaculture than any other industry or development and cites the recent federal approval of the offshore dumping of up to three million cubic metres of dredge spoil associated with the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal appears incongruent with the reluctance of bureaucracy to approve individual prawn farms.
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