For investors, funders and partners
Two pilot farms in the water. The beginnings of regenerative seafarming in Tasmania.
Before you decide whether to back this with time or money, it helps to see the full picture — where the farms are, what grows there and what we are actually achieving. Here it is in a snapshot.
Where we are
Two pilot farms in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel.
Both are in the water now, operating under existing licence holders in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, Tasmania. Everything else planned begins with these two sites.
1 Birchs Bay · 2 Great Bay — both in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, southern Tasmania. Coastline from OpenStreetMap data (© OpenStreetMap contributors); farm positions are indicative, not survey coordinates.
Birchs Bay
Western shore, D’Entrecasteaux Channel
- Mussels in the water
- Seaweed in planning
- Oysters & scallops to follow
Great Bay
North Bruny Island
- Oysters in the water
- Seaweed in planning
Both sites operate under existing licence holders while our own lease and permit applications progress. Six further research sites are planned across the Channel.
What a farm actually is
Four species, one line, no feed and no chemicals.
This is integrated multi-trophic aquaculture. Each species sits at a different depth and a different point in the food web, and each one takes something out of the water that the others put in. Nothing is fed. No artificial inputs. Just Mother Nature at work.
Illustrative cross-section of a single longline. Seaweed grows the full length of the surface line; mussel droppers and suspended scallop lanterns alternate beneath it; oysters grow in cages suspended off the bottom, above a reef that recovers underneath. Not to scale.
Seaweed
Draws down nitrogen and carbon, and grows a saleable crop while it does it.
Mussels
Filter feeders. They clean the water column and need nothing added to grow.
Oysters
Grown in cages suspended off the bottom. A second filter species, and the most established market of the four.
Scallops
Grown in suspended lanterns, restoring a species the Channel has largely lost.
The end game
Prove the method on two sites. Help others duplicate the model.
We are not trying to become the largest seafarming operator in Tasmania. We are creating a working model that other coastal communities can then pick-up and run with. The pilot farms are being used to prove commercial viability.
Now — two years
Prove the model
Two pilot farms build toward full production across all four species. We document every operational decision as we go — costs, suppliers, failures, yields — because that record becomes the toolkit for duplication up and down the coast.
Years three to five
Seed the network
Community groups, co-operatives, family farms and transitioning fishers start their own farms using our method. We aim to support ten to fifteen independently-run farms, and to buy, market and sell what they grow so they do not each have to build a sales channel.
Beyond
Give the method away
The open-source IMTA Toolkit, held by the foundation, goes to any coastal community in Australia that wants it. We have already had unsolicited enquiries from Thailand, Vietnam and Cape Verde.
Directional targets as at August 2026, drawn from our internal eighteen-month plan and scaling strategy. These are intentions, not forecasts, and we revise them as evidence from the pilot farms accumulates. We are happy to walk any serious funder through the detail and the assumptions behind it.
Being straight with you
What are the challenges to success?
Nothing in life is guaranteed. Here is a list of hurdles we may encounter that would be of interest to any potential investor.
The pilots have to produce
Both sites need to expand and reach full production and come online within a few years to prove commercial viability. For this we need permit extensions beyond the initial agreement terms which is not insurmountable.
Other communities have to actually want this
The network only exists if other groups choose to build farms. This is our least certain assumption, so we are testing it early by raising public awareness through a targeted social media campaign. Engagement has been very encouraging so far.
Environmental credit markets have to mature
There is currently no accredited Australian methodology for measuring the environmental benefit of this kind of farming. We are working with research partners like the CSIRO toward one. If it does not arrive, the environmental return is still real — it is just harder to pay for.
The foundation has to reach operating scale
Seafarming Australia needs deductible gift recipient endorsement, a program manager, and a steady grant pipeline. Without it there is no institutional home for the methodology and no way to seed the network. This is where philanthropic support goes furthest right now.
Getting involved
Some people give money. Some give a Tuesday.
Both matter, and at this stage the second is often worth more. We are early enough that a good introduction, a piece of expertise or a day on the water changes what is possible.
Back it with funding
Philanthropic support to the foundation funds the methodology work, community engagement and the toolkit — the parts that grants and revenue do not reach. Ethical investment into the operating company is also open to mission-aligned parties.
We have a policy of ‘radical transparency’. Ask us and we will share the strategic brief and financials directly.
Ways to support usBack it with time
We are looking for research partners in monitoring and yield validation, cold-chain and processing partners across the Channel, restaurants and retailers, and people with governance, brand or regulatory experience to compliment our existing advisory board.
And if you are a community group, co-op or fisher thinking about your own farm — that is the conversation we most want to be having.
Start a conversationCome and look at it.
The fastest way to understand this is to stand on the water at Birchs Bay and see the lines come up. If you are seriously considering backing the work, we will take you out.
Seafarming Australia (in establishment) | Operating company: Bruny Island Seafarms Pty Ltd
