Australis secures 16 marine leases in Vietnam's An Giang province, licensed annual capacity for barramundi rises to 30,000 tonnes

Australis Aquaculture announced on 23 October 2026 that provincial authorities in Vietnam have granted the company 16 marine leases for a new marine farming hub in An Giang Province in southern Vietnam. The sites carry a licensed annual output of up to 30,000 tonnes, more than doubling Australis's total licensed capacity. Stocking of the hub's first farm is underway, and the first harvest from the new sites is expected in mid-2027.

The 16 farm sites are covered by 30-year leases issued by the An Giang Provincial People's Committee. Australis said it will continue processing across multiple plants and has secured an option on an additional processing facility in An Giang Province to support the expansion.

Australis also announced that Blue Loop, its new fully integrated processing plant in Khanh Hoa Province, has entered commercial operation with an initial annual processing capacity of 12,000 tonnes. The plant began production in September 2026 and is a 20-minute drive south of the company's onshore base at Van Phong Bay. Equipment includes automated portioning to customer weight specifications, nitrogen tunnel freezing, and breading, battering and tray-packing lines, with yields on the processing line continuously monitored; trimmings and by-products are converted into pet products and fish hydrolysate for aquafeed — the origin of the Blue Loop name.

"Recent groundfish forum data tells the story: wild whitefish supply has stopped growing, but buyer demand has not," Australis founder and CEO Josh Goldman said in a press release. "We have operated in Vietnam for nearly 20 years, progressively building a fully integrated production system. The tropics allow us to farm a highly heat-tolerant species at scale, at a time when ocean warming is adversely affecting many wild and farmed products. The new An Giang farm sites and Blue Loop are how we expand supply so buyers can plan around a whitefish source that is not at the mercy of quotas."

"Custom processing immediately after harvest allows Australis to deliver the highest-quality barramundi in raw and value-added forms to meet the needs of today's consumers," said Australis President Jason Paine.

The announcement comes against the backdrop of the 33rd Groundfish Forum in Nice, France, where delegates heard that global wild whitefish landings are projected at 6.6 million tonnes in 2027, essentially flat with 2026, with increases in Atlantic cod, haddock and hake offsetting only a 90,000-tonne decline in Alaska pollock. An October IntraFish report, citing Rabobank senior analyst Gorjan Nikolik, named barramundi as a leading candidate to fill the whitefish gap left by years of declining cod supply.

According to FAO data, global barramundi supply now exceeds 200,000 tonnes, with output expanding sharply over the past two decades. Most barramundi is consumed locally, with only limited volumes in export markets. Australis says the species has grown rapidly in North America over the past three years and is gaining recognition among European retailers seeking whitefish alternatives.

Founded in 2004, Australis uses a tropical marine aquaculture model that draws on established salmon farming technology and experience. According to the company, this model avoids many of the costs and risks of land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) or open-ocean systems. Barramundi farmed in the ocean can reach a harvest weight of 3 to 4 kg within 18 months, offering the size, eating quality and processing flexibility the whitefish market requires, with year-round supply.