Round the World Ticket for Luxury Southern Rocklobsters

Media release – 13 December 2007

Round The World Ticket for Luxury Southern Rocklobsters

A NEW project by the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (Seafood CRC) is about to open new pathways in the United States, the Middle East and Europe for premium, “Clean Green” Southern Rocklobsters (SL).

An increase in the value of SR exports by $90m per annum will be achieved through market development as well as increasing survival rates and maintaining product quality during live lobster transport.

Roger Edwards, Executive Officer of Southern Rocklobster Limited (SRL) said, “Over 90% of SR product is exported live into the Asian region, with the majority sent to Hong Kong and China, however we recognise that we have the potential to secure ourselves as a super-premium fine dining product in other countries”.

SRL are committed to achieving this goal with significant effort already taking place in the USA with an extensive education and development program designed to facilitate relationships with USA chefs and reinforce the premium product quality message.

Dr Len Stephens, Managing Director of the Seafood CRC believes this project will have real industry impact. “What makes this project innovative is the fishers will retain ownership of the product through to its final sale, consequently bringing higher wholesale returns back to Australia for the fishers and processors to share”.

The Seafood CRC project is expected to contribute $45-50m per annum towards the $90m target. “Not bad for an investment of $1.78m over the next three years,” said Dr Stephens.

The Seafood CRC project will complement the progressive work all ready being undertaken by SRL on the development of an integrated supply chain to deliver product that guarantees consistent supply and quality through organised distribution networks. The whole approach of a “pot to plate” concept is sure to produce customer satisfaction and increase purchaser loyalty.

CRC’s are a federal government initiative that brings together leading research groups to provide real business solutions to industry partners. In this example, SR has partnered with the University of South Australia's School of Marketing Ehrenberg - Bass Institute for Marketing Science.

Dr Hervé Remaud from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science said, “We are looking forward to working with SRL again with which we have had a long working history since 1997. A team of dedicated students will work alongside SRL underlying various aspects of the market development program”.

SRL Ltd would like to acknowledge the support over the last 10 years from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Department of Primary Industries, Victoria in the development of the “SRL Clean, Green” program.

The Australian Seafood CRC is established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Programme. Other investors in the CRC are the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Seafood CRC company members, and supporting participants.

To comply with the Australian Fish Names Standard, Southern Rocklobster should be printed as written in this release.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

For more information on the project and to arrange an interview (and visuals), please contact:

Mr Matthew Muggleton (SRL Market Development Manager): 1300 853 880 or matthew@corval.com

For more information on the Australian Seafood CRC and other CRC projects, please contact:

Emily Downes (Communications Manager): 08 8201 7652 or emily.downes@seafoodcrc.com

Issued: Thu Dec 13 12:59:55 EST

Reference-id: SSANEWS0207

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