The saying, 'fit for a king' denotes a product of impeccable quality. It's not often it literally means a king will try it. But in this case, caviar and kings go hand in hand. For anyone not previously familiar with the sustainable Murray River Cod produced by Aquna , in the NSW Riverina region, it certainly came under a spotlight during King Charles and Queen Camilla's recent visit to Australia.
Aquna CEO Ross Anderson describes the native fish as having a creamy white flesh and an unusually high fat content. "It's pretty rare in the world to find a freshwater fish with very high levels of intramuscular fat," he explains. Some of the world's top chefs like Heston Blumenthal are fans, but the fish is just as enjoyable cooked on the barbeque with some lemon, pepper and salt.
"We tend to call it the Wagyu of fish."
Taste aside, what's turning heads is how the fish is farmed. Commercial fishing of wild, native Murray Cod is banned due to overfishing in the late 1800s to early 1930s. Aquna instead uses innovative open ponds. Those ponds are home to the perfect balance of specific algae, which keep the water healthy. The alternative would be indoor tank-based systems, which Ross argues have a large environmental footprint due to cooling, heating and filtration. He says the recirculated water permeates the flesh of the fish. "Have you ever bought a cheap barramundi somewhere that had a muddy sort of mushy flavour? It's terrible. What we do is, put our fish in a native pond and try to mimic nature," he explains. To look at the Aquna ponds, they are a muddy green colour, produced by a living culture in the water that consumes all the fish by-products.
"From green, muddy coloured water - you get this clean, white, pristine flesh."
The farm even caught the eye King Charles and Queen Camilla who met Ross at a community barbeque in Western Sydney, during their tour of Australia. The Royal couple showed an interest in the company's sustainability measures and even requested some samples be sent back to Buckingham Palace. "They took with them some Aquna Gold caviar, which we're proud to say is the rarest caviar in the world."
"We produce our fish in a self-contained pond, in the floodplains where they originally came from. So, we're a long way from the native waterways."
Aquna is also proud of the fact that no waste ever leaves the property. The nutrient dense water from the ponds is used to irrigate crops and pastures on adjoining fields. "The water is in fact used twice," Ross proudly shares. They also have a restocking program where more than 200 000 fingerlings were released into the Murray-Darling Basin in 2019. But over the years, the company estimates they've added more than 1 million baby fish into the river system.
"We believe we improve the environment rather than detract."
Ross believes many of us would be surprised to learn that of the fish farmed around the world, 85% of it is farmed in land-based systems. "It's by far the most long-lived and sustainable model. It's been happening in Asia for thousands of years." Ross feels the farmed fish industry does suffer the misconception of being lower quality. "I think a lot of that stems from the fact that about 75% of the barramundi consumed in Australia comes from Southeast Asia. That's all farmed. It comes at a cheap price to match the quality."
"Our fish is not cheap because it's farmed in Australia to the highest standards. From the time it's hatched until the day it hits your dinner plate, we can tell you what it's been fed, what's been in the water and how it's been treated."
The next step in the journey is to build up stock after a challenging COVID shutdown and focus on a breeding program with the CSIRO which will focus on the company's very own strain of Murray Cod - the Aquna.
For those of us who won't be attending Buckingham Palace for a taste test with the Royals, you can check out the Aquna website for a list of stockists, which does include major supermarkets in selected suburbs.
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