Everyone has the opportunity to succeed at something which is sometimes attributed to good luck, but successful entrepreneurs tend to create their own luck and MainStream Aquaculture is a prime example of this.
That is why Permastore is both pleased and proud when successful entrepreneurs choose its tanks as the best economic model for their storage solution.
MainStream’s success story began in 2001 when a doctor and plumber joined forces to find the perfect water source for their intended Barramundi aquaculture business. Having found the perfect water source in the form of a geothermally heated aquifer, they formed a fantastic team around them who have jointly stretched the traditional boundaries of farming and growing fish.
MainStream is a pioneer in the rapidly growing, land-based, Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS), aquaculture sector and, today, boasts the world’s largest warm water RAS aquaculture farm of its type. After years of breeding practice and experience gained from earlier RAS designs the management team invested in its Wyndham hatchery which was commissioned in 2017. They chose Permastore bolted, Glass-Fused-to-Steel (GFtS) tank technology in which to raise their, now famous, Barramundi.
Permastore’s bolted GFtS tanks serve primarily as the storage component of a broad range of commercial applications – nearly all of which are associated with conserving precious water supplies, recycling water or waste – typically linked to drinking water, food and energy production.
Leading the way in land-based aquaculture.
From its founding in 2001 to its current ownership of six Barramundi farms, serving 27 countries and managing a world-leading breeding program, MainStream has demonstrated continuous growth through sound engineering, operational management and scientific breeding expertise. The company attracted Federal funding in 2013 that help spur its continuous growth via a mixture of organic expansion. In a little over two decades, it has twice been awarded ‘Business of the Year’ within its own community and at a national level, within its own industry, via an award from the Australian National Seafoods Industry in 2019.
Feeding the world with minimal environmental impact and optimal economy
Land-based RAS fish farming offers considerable advantages over sea reared fish with respect to its environmental impact. This is especially the case if run at scale and with infrastructure located to optimise both inbound and outbound supply-chain economics.
While RAS farming may be more expensive to set up, its potential to outperform Freshwater/Marine models, in the long run, is clear.
The near-100% controllability of RAS systems makes it possible to optimise every element of the fish farming value-chain resulting in predictable yields, exceptional quality, demand scalability and near net-zero waste. For example, fish detritus and where applicable, processed waste, can be recycled for sale as fishmeal, fertilizer or fish oil, depending upon the vertical integration of a farm business.
The controllability of RAS makes it predictable – enabling talented management teams to more effectively plan, strategise and grow in the long term. Controllability correlates strongly with efficiency, cost reduction and risk mitigation. Freshwater and Marine aquaculture farms, on the other hand, are subject to unpredictable events and costs and will undoubtedly be subject to increasing scrutiny and regulation due to their ongoing potential to adversely impact local open-water ecosystems.
Creative management teams create clever solutions
MainStream’s passion for RAS fish farming is expressed by its success story which is underpinned by its management team’s expertise in engineering entrepreneurial solutions that deliver a long-term edge over many other high protein food sources whose environmental impacts will be more difficult to reduce and control over time. RAS has the potential to fully control the end-to-end product, production and consumption cycle resulting with very low water use, efficient energy consumption and land use, optimal feeding strategies, disease control and grading of harvests. MainStream are doing just these things and they are reinvesting their learning into continual improvements programs – including diversification into supplying premium live and chilled fish directly to retail markets via its ‘Infinity Blue’ brand and more recently, ‘Direct-to-the-Consumer.’
A containment technology that perfectly fits the brief
The elegance of MainStream’s 2017 Wyndham hatchery (see image) immediately portrays the purposeful biological and engineering know-how at play. Internally developed, the ‘Requirements Specification’ for the eight tanks that form the core of the plant has benefitted from over two decades of design and construction of RAS.
Requirements:
So, what led the team to select Permastore Glass-Fused-to-Steel (GFtS), bolted tanks over alternative options? The short answer is the combination of: speed of construction; the ratio in tank size to material strength; the tanks’ durability and operational life expectancy and their near-zero maintenance requirements.
| Tailored Design: | Permastore’s ability to prefabricate a solution to the client’s precise design requirements. |
| Speed of construction: | Each Permastore bolted tank took less than three days to install. |
| Tank Dimensions: | The large tank diameter to short-height specified by MainStream is ideally suited to Permastore’s bolted tank technology – especially when compared to alternative technologies. |
| Near-zero maintenance: | Permastore’s GFtS bolted tanks coats’ last 50 years and more without the need for a recoat. Recoating projects, required by other tank technologies involve considerable cost, many weeks of down time and loss of revenue. |
Conclusion:
MainStream clearly did its homework in identifying a quality technology solution that fulfilled its challenging ‘Requirements Specification.’ MainStream’s precise specification optimises productivity while delivering the most cost-effective lifetime, economic model in terms of low maintenance and hence near-zero downtime for the life of the product.
As of 2023, MainStream’s eight tanks are just 7 years into what we anticipate being at least 50 years of trouble-free operational life. Permastore is particularly proud when a demonstrably successful, technically-centred management team chooses its bolted Glass-Fused-to-Steel tank technology to fulfil a technically demanding brief.
You can read more about Mainstream’s innovative progress here:
www.mainstreamaquaculture.com/about-us/our-history/
Video of the Mainstream site can be found using the below links.
Mainstreams Promotional video, featuring our tanks here