Daintree Saltwater Barramundi rises to challenges

National Barramundi Day

Bryan Littlely

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Daintree Saltwater Barramundi farmer Mark Hober shows off the quality of his produce. Picture: Daintree Saltwater Barramundi
Mark Hober with a ripping barra. Picture: Daintree Saltwater Barramundi

Daintree Saltwater Barramundi continues to put its first class sustainably produced barra on the table for local restaurants and in some of the finest dining institutions around the country, even if they’ve recently had to swim against the flow courtesy of last year’s Cyclone Jasper flooding event which threatened to devastate the operations.

Ahead of National Barramundi Day - Friday, October 18 - Director and farmer Mark Hober, says while the 2023 floods proved a huge challenge for the Daintree farm, production is almost back to normal, and the quality of the multi-award winning barra is as good as ever.

“We’re a niche farm that grows a high quality product which is always improving on the back of a stack of research and development that goes into our husbandry practices and the quality of our fish food,’’ Mr Hober said.

“Being able to source water directly from the Daintree out of the oldest rainforest in the world and with the tidal waters we have… with those resources to be able to tap into, we can and do produce the best barra you can get.

“Sustainability is the key and since 2015 with the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association’s undertaking to meet criteria which continuously works towards a sustainable product, we work hard to reduce waste while maximising outputs and maintaining a sustainable environment.’’

Showcased in the local market on the restaurant tables in Port Douglas and always at the top of its class at the Sydney Royal Fine Foods Show, Daintree Saltwater Barramundi’s quality is unquestionable.

But flooding resulting from Tropical Cyclone Jasper on December 13 last year threatened all that Mr Hober and his team had built, flooding ponds, threatening their home and destroying critical infrastructure for farming.

“We lost a lot of product down the river,’’ Mr Hober said.

“Some ended up in settlement ponds in neighbouring properties and we were able to bring some back. Machinery was a huge focus, along with power supply as lots of power banks had been inundated with water.

“We limped through… there were fish mixed up in the ponds and we cleaned up the mess in the shed and our officer and started harvesting fish after being out of production for around 10 weeks.”

Restocking with 100,000 fish and fingerlings at the start of the year, they are now plate sized and Daintree Saltwater Barramundi are back in action.

“We’re not in full production yet but we are at about 75 per cent,’’ Mr Hober said.

“We did not receive any government funding… it has all been off our own back.

“We’ve been to the local Members to put our case forward and it is very disappointing because we are a local primary producer spending lots of money in our region.”

Adding to their frustration is the fact they had worked hard to get the tourism side of their business, Hook A Barra, up and running quickly to promote the region.

“That side of the business was relatively unscathed. It did shut down for a couple of weeks and it is about 20 per cent down on last year’s takings.

“The Range Road was closed and Cape Tribulation has suffered with tourists not travelling there… they are not going past our entrance.’’

The impacts and testing times of the flooding, though, have not dampened Mr Hober’s enthusiasm for his home grown barra.

“I love the stuff… I eat it at least once a week, whether that’s from our spectacular barra Kitchen or cooking it myself at home,’’ he said.

Restaurants across the country will celebrate Australia Barramundi on Friday, October 18, for National Barramundi Day.

The growing ponds at Daintree Saltwater Barramundi. Picture: Daintree Saltwater Barramundi

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