About us – The Company One

World leading aquaculture technology delivering sustainable premium products

The Company One is a private company that operates a state-of-the-art tropical finfish breeding facility in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

The breeding facility is capable of commercially breeding a range of grouper species with a current focus on production of fingerlings of 3 species from the Grouper family: (i) Queensland Groper (Giant Grouper), (ii) Blue Speckled Grouper and (iii) Coral Trout.

The facility’s controlled environment contains unique systems and processes that allow the adult broodstock fish to spawn naturally, every month producing over 300 million fertilised eggs per annum. These are nurtured through a delicate hatchery process to produce healthy fingerlings (baby fish) that are free of common pathogens and diseases.

Our fingerlings are supplied to aquaculture facilities in Australia to on-grow the grouper to a market size. Fingerlings are also exported to our sister companies in Hong Kong (Aquaculture Technologies Asia) and Taiwan (Epic) and other facilities in SE Asia and beyond.

Our team

Dr Richard Knuckey

General Manager

In 1999 Dr Richard Knuckey joined an ambitious project to diversify aquaculture and protect the coral reefs. The unique proposal found favour within the Queensland Government who awarded funding and launched the tropical finfish project. Over the next 18 years, the team would go on to achieve their goal of pioneering innovative aquaculture techniques and create a world-class tropical finfish hatchery.

In 2016 The Company One purchased the Intellectual Property from Finfish Enterprise and is now the only breeder of Giant Grouper in Australia and one of only a handful in the world. With exclusive approval to collect a limited number of wild broodstock, The Company One holds Australia’s first and only aquaculture permit allowing commercial captive breeding and grow-out production of market-size Giant Grouper. In addition, The Company One raises two other species in the Grouper family: Speckled blue grouper and Coral Trout.

Ryan Rossi

Hatchery Manager

Adam Reynolds

Broodstock Manager

Lewis Caunce

Nursery Export Manager

Tycarra Bianchin

Live Feeds Manager

Aquaculture

Sustainability

Industry partners

Research

Research Partners

Resource: University of the Sunshine Coast

Study finds surprising sex change secrets of giant grouper

Study finds surprising sex change secrets of giant grouper | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia (usc.edu.au)

Resource: Issuu

Grouper fingerling production in Australia: Challenges and achievements

Groupers form the basis of a billion-dollar Live Reef Food Fish trade. This trade relies on supply of a diversity of species and remains dependent on grouper and other species sourced from reef systems across SE Asia, the Pacific and Indian Oceans and Australia.

Resource: ARC Research Hub

ARC Research Hub for Supercharging Tropical Aquaculture – JCU Australia

Supercharging Tropical Aquaculture through modern genetics and selective breeding along with investigating microbiomes within the larval tanks.

Resource: Science Direct

Longitudinal field survey during deployment of an emergency autogenous vaccine against Betanodavirus in farmed giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus): Multiple factors contribute to outbreak and survival

Betanodavirus or nervous necrosis virus (NNV) continues to pose a formidable threat to aquaculture worldwide, with a widening host range and outbreaks incurring significant mortalities in both hatchery and grow-out phases.

Resource: Wiley Online Library

A transcriptomic investigation of appetite-regulation and digestive processes in giant grouper Epinephelus lanceolatus during early larval development

The giant grouper Epinephelus lanceolatus is an ecologically vulnerable species with high market demand. However, efforts to improve larval husbandry are hindered by a lack of knowledge surrounding larval developmental physiology.

Resource: FRDC

The evaluation of two species, Cobia and Giant Grouper, as alternative species to farm in the WSSV affected areas of South East Queensland.

There is a need to investigate alternative commercial aquaculture opportunities for prawn farms exposed to the risk of WSSV. A study tour of other Cobia and Giant Grouper farming countries is required to investigate possible alternative farming techniques for these two species.

In the media

Resource: ABC

Coral trout hatchery in Cairns brings fish bred in captivity to the menu

A new candidate for commercial aquaculture has emerged with a Cairns hatchery creating history by successfully breeding and rearing highly prized coral trout.

Resource: Cairns Post

Far North’s history-making coral trout feat

A Cairns aquaculture firm has created history by breeding and raising coral trout to a market size for the first time in Australia — an achievement that should open entirely new markets and jobs for the Far North.

Resource: International Aquafeed

World Aquaculture Singapore – Interview with Richard Knuckey

Dr Richard Knuckey Managing Director of the Company One from Australia talks to Roger Gilbert, publisher of International Aquafeed magazine, at the World Aquaculture Society’s Congress and Exposition held in Singapore in December 2022.

Frequently asked questions

How do you manage year-round production?

The Company ONE’s Broodstock tanks are equipped with independently controlled temperature and lighting systems. We maintain multiple breeding populations for each species which enables us to cycle the fish throughout the seasons. This means we have broodstock populations spawning out of ‘normal’ season, providing year-round production, while giving the other populations a well-deserved rest.

Are Giant Grouper listed as a protected species?

Giant Groupers are protected in Australia. Years of overfishing throughout the world has reduced the breeding population forcing the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to list the species as vulnerable. Every few years, under a Queensland Fisheries Permit, The Company ONE collects a limited number of wild specimens from North Queensland waters and carefully transports them back to the breeding facility in Cairns where they are introduced as broodstock. The giant grouper fingerlings produced from these brood fish at The Company ONE are not listed as protected, therefore making them eligible for people to culture.

Where do you transport your fingerlings to?

Currently our logistics team routinely transports our fingerlings to both domestic and international buyers. These places include China, Taiwan, Tokyo, Singapore, and Indonesia. Predominately our fingerlings are transported via air freight using Australian-certified packaging to ensure that our fingerlings arrive in optimal condition.

Are your fingerlings Specific Pathogen Free (SPF)?

The Company ONE maintains the highest level of health using specialised nutrition throughout their growth cycle along with implementing high-level biosecurity procedures. These practices are transferred into our fingerlings with reports of faster growth rates, fish being more solid and robust with stronger colouration. Our strict biosecurity protocols result in Specific Pathogen Free fingerlings that are certified free of parasites and the devastating viral diseases of Nodavirus (VNN) and Iridovirus (GIV).

Where can I buy The Company ONE’s grouper fingerlings from?

For orders or inquiries into our Giant grouper, Speckled Blue grouper or Coral Trout fingerlings, please go to our contact us page and enter a submission.