Austral Fisheries acquire Moreton Bay Seafoods
Western Australia-based seafood business Austral Fisheries has announced its acquisition of one of Australia’s most enduring seafood businesses, Brisbane-based Moreton Bay Seafoods.
The acquisition will support plans to use the group’s expanded capabilities to increase overall processing volumes, providing opportunities for permanent employment and enhanced job stability for the Brisbane facility’s 30 -strong workforce. It will also enable Austral Fisheries to expand trading with East Coast suppliers and improve Austral’s ability to facilitate import and export of a wider range of products due to the strategic location of the facility.
With growing demand from consumers for Aussie-caught and Australian-processed seafood, the acquisition will support an expansion of Austral’s retail range of Karumba Banana Prawn and Skull Island Tiger Prawn brands.
Austral Fisheries CEO David Carter said the investment recognises the strategic importance that provenance-branded seafood has to the company’s future.
“Having a dedicated capacity for processing seafood allows us to better meet consumer needs and ensure greater control over quality and consistency. As such, we are delighted to be able to add the skills, experience, and capability of the Moreton Bay Seafoods business to our established strength as a producer, which will allow us to get more of our high quality, Australian caught and processed products to more people,“ David said.
Austral Fisheries is one of Australia’s largest vertically integrated commercial fishing companies, with operations ranging from Patagonian toothfish in the Southern Ocean, to prawns and tropical snapper species in the Northern Prawn and Timor Reef Fisheries.