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.