Spring Creek Farm Facts

A highly skilled team of marine biologists and scientists passionate about our product. People work for us because they love fish, they love the environment and they believe in what we are doing to grow happy, healthy fish in a sustainable way.

Our barramundi are grown in ponds where a variety of methods and very specific techniques are applied to water management to ensure the quality of our fish. The farm draws water from deep sand filtered bores and uses this water to keep the system at a constant level and we utilise a network of wetland systems and natural biological processes of microalgae to remediate and condition our water for re-use. This is a unique system in pond-based barramundi aquaculture and makes our farm highly sustainable. Utilising microalgae to remove biproducts of the fish’s biological processes, good water means great tasting fish, naturally.

Spring Creek has multiple ponds in each size grade being conditioned for harvest, this ensures that we have multiple options for harvest and harvest location is always based on the highest quality product. Undertaking extensive pre-harvest water conditioning ensures that our fish are free from taints and any off flavors. Ponds designated for harvest are removed from the re-circulation water of the farm and placed on pure, fresh water from our deep, clean bores. The fish are left in these ponds for 3-4 weeks or until flavor is optimal as determined by a panel of skilled tasters. The key is to minimise stress on the fish and then once harvested reduce the fish cold to its core as quickly as possible. To achieve this, we have developed harvest methods that don’t overcrowd the fish prior to harvest. Once harvested, the fish are immediately plunged into an ice slurry. These ice slurries are made to an optimal ice to water ratio, salt is then added which further reduces the temperature of the ice slurry. The slurries are not overcrowded and are monitored, and temperature checked for hours following harvest to ensure the fish are chilling rapidly with additional ice added as required. The result of this process is a premium quality fillet that has an exceptional shelf life.

Prior to harvest our fish must past stringent taste testing by a panel of experienced tasters, with records of the panels comments recorded and only the best quality product selected for harvest. Flesh quality comes down to good harvest techniques and post-harvest care. The end-product is a mild flavoured fish, ready for chefs to impart their own unique twist and flavors. This is just one of the reasons we have been crowned Grand Champion in Class and Gold Medal status at the Sydney Fine Food Awards by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW.