Tassal, Australia's largest black tiger prawn producer, has embraced innovation to drive change for the Australian prawn industry and North Queensland.
Since 2018, Tassal has invested almost $194 million into their Proserpine aquaculture facilities.
This investment has meant adopting the latest in Smart Farm technology to integrate targeted, sustainable practices into water and animal management, which has boosted productivity.
Now, the fully integrated, land-based aquaculture and processing precinct is a thriving, sustainable industry for regional Queensland.
Tassal has expanded its production hectares significantly and has created more than 300 local jobs. Leveraging advanced technology, staff produced 6,000 tonnes of prawns in the past year alone.
Smart Farm capabilities to advance a safe, sustainable and productive prawn industry
Blue AgriTech is Tassal’s integrated Smart Farming platform. It combines expertise, innovation and infrastructure with a range of technologies for decision support and farm management.
The platform has allowed Tassal to make advancements in animal health and performance by monitoring the growing environment and dietary needs of its prawns 24/7, 365 days a year.
“Our Smart Farm system monitors and collects data across all of our farming operations around the clock,” said Kristian Mulholland, Technical and Performance Manager for prawn production.
“For example, it uses specially designed probes that give us live data about water quality. That information helps us make decisions about how we might manage water aeration, which we can do using nanobubble technology that injects tiny pure oxygen bubbles into the production ponds”.
Kristian and his team can also run the aeration system only when it’s needed, helping to reduce carbon emissions.
But the next level tech doesn’t stop there. It spans from automatic feeding systems driven by machine learning, through to drones that deter wildlife and gather data from a bird’s eye view of the farm.
All of which allows the team to implement sustainable and safe aquaculture practices while maximising production.
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Contact
Email DPIAgTech@dpi.qld.gov.au
Last updated: 12 Oct 2026