A local aquaculture farm in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, falling under government’s Operation Phakisa: Ocean’s Economy initiative, conducted its second harvest from its first batch of dusky kob, or kabeljou, this week, taking the total number of fish harvested to 422, with a further 537 fish still available for harvest.

The Hamburg kob pilot project, about 60 km from East London, was driven by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and employed 21 people from the community.

The first batch of fish was introduced into the 2 ha farm system in February.

The first harvest consisted of about 260 dusky kob fish, totalling 277 kg, with an average individual weight of 1.1 kg a fish. The second harvest on Monday comprised 162 fish, with an average weight of 1.2 kg. The Hamburg project had the capacity to produce 20 t/y of dusky kob.

The harvesting was done in collaboration with Oceanwise, which was experienced in the farming of dusky kob in South Africa and based in the East London industrial development zone.

Oceanwise MD Liam Ryan commented that the enthusiasm from the community was encouraging and that the fish were of great quality as they experienced good growth and food conversion. He mentioned that the fish were growing at an average of 3.4 g/d and were farmed over 201 days.

The harvesting process started with workers collecting the dusky kob in nets, which were then transferred into a container filled with slurry solution made out of ice and water. The produce was freshly packed on ice into polystyrene boxes, with around 14 fish to a box, and transported to the Oceanwise fish processing facility.

At the facility, the fish were weighed, gilled and gutted then repackaged for retailers. The produce was sold to Cape Town Fish Market’s V&A Waterfront branch, Southern Cross Seafood Deli and Wild Peacock Food Emporium, in Stellenbosch.

“It was really good being part of the entire process - the quality of the dusky kob was good as we used floating feed; I look forward to the next harvest,” said Hamburg project team supervisor Thembinkosi Halana.

The farm, one of 24 aquaculture projects under Operation Phakisa: Ocean’s Economy in South Africa, held two more batches in its system, totalling 7 122 dusky kob.

The department had identified several aquaculture projects that aimed to empower coastal communities through the transfer of technology, skills development and job creation.

The DAFF said it had decided to take the lead, with industry, on kob farming to share the risks associated with developing this fairly new type of farming in South Africa and invited aspiring and new aquaculture project owners to register their projects to become part of Operation Phakisa. Projects could be submitted at any time; however, evaluations for inclusion would be conducted on a quarterly basis.