$5000 To Buy Into Lucrative Tuna Projectff

For the first time ever, average residents with a spare $5000 will be able to buy shares in an industry that has brought so much wealth to the region.

Fish farmer and now prospective tuna breeder Hagen Stehr is urging the average Eyre Peninsula resident to become part of his operation by buying shares in the family company that is about to be listed on the Australian stock exchange.

In what Mr. Stehr described as a first for the State and fishing industry, Clean Seas Tuna is about to be listed through an initial public offering that should raise at least $18 million for the company to invest in both the farming of mulloway and kingfish as well as the stated goal of breeding or propagating southern bluefin tuna. Mr. Stehr said there were only a couple of other fishing-related companies listed on the Australian stock exchange and the offer was a way for the average resident to share in the potential wealth that was yet to come from fish farming and tuna breeding.

”I would prefer it if people from Eyre Peninsula have a stake in the business,” he said. “Here is a way normal people can invest in aquaculture and no longer will all the power be in the hands of a few. This is a major step for aquaculture in South Australia and Australia - but it is just the beginning.”

Prospective punters would need a minimum of $5000 to invest.

Mr. Stehr was more than pleased with the early progress as large corporate investors had already indicated enough interest that the $18 million goal would easily be reached and the 50-cent price of the shares would rise quickly.

The Clean Seas share offer comes on the heels of the announcement that the company was to receive a $4.15 million grant through the Government's Ausindustry program to help develop tuna propagation over the next three years. Clean Seas assets and operations include the 400-hectare hatchery at Arno Bay and associated mulloway and kingfish farms, while on the tuna side, the company has 150 mature southern bluefin tuna as broodstock.

The Stehr family will be 67 per cent majority shareholders in the company and have 45 years experience catching tuna and 14 years experience farming tuna.

The Stehr Group in 2004-2005 produced more than 650 tons of farmed tuna (compared to the total farmed production of 9200 tons) as well as more than 600 tons and 200 tons of aquaculture-bred kingfish and mulloway respectively.

Mr. Stehr who will be chairman of the company said with the ongoing concern about bird-flu, fish was seen as a clean and green alternative to poultry and worldwide demand for fish such as kingfish and mulloway would only continue to climb. He said he was more determined than ever to close the lifecycle of tuna potentially allowing thousands of more tons to be farmed each year. “It’s not a matter of if, but only a matter of when,” Mr. Stehr said.

Source: Written by Stan Gorton