Dr Valentin Thépot
Aquaculture Manager, Groote Aqua Aboriginal Corporation
Dr Valentin Thépot is the Aquaculture manager for Groote Aqua Aboriginal Corporation on Groote Eylandt. Val is originally from Brittany (France) but has been in Australia (QLD) since 2008. He completed his undergraduate studies in Townsville (BSc at James Cook University) and post-graduate studies on the Sunshine Coast (PhD at the University of the Sunshine Coast). He worked in the aquaculture industry for the past 15 years, during which he bred barramundi and raised fingerlings to be shipped to farms in Australia and across the globe. He also took part of a cutting-edge project using microalgae to uptake CO2 from coal-fired power station, after which he grew a freshwater microalgae to produce a high value antioxidant. During his PhD, he has been growing and using different seaweed species as functional ingredients in the diet of farmed fish (rabbitfish and Atlantic salmon) to improve their growth rates and resistance to disease and to reduce our reliance on antibiotics and other veterinary drugs to treat fish.
Val and his team are passionate about aquaculture and working on country with a range of marine organisms. They have built a multispecies aquaculture facility at Little Paradise on Groote Eylandt, where, since last July, they have been growing/breeding blacklip oysters, growing high-value seaweed species, maturing sandfish (sea cucumber) and rabbitfish to soon start breeding them. The approach taken to seafood production on Groote is one that is in tune with the environment and traditional owners’ values. Integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) allows Groote Aqua to grow more species/products for the same input (feed, water, power) while reducing its environmental impact. Groote Aqua’s mission is to ultimately create a sustainable blue economy to transition away from 60 years of mining, however, while economic sustainability takes precedence, Groote Aqua steadfastly recognise the equal importance of social well-being, human health, and environmental harmony.
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