The company aims to produce and commence grow-out of 25,000 SBT juveniles at its land-based breeding facility at Arno Bay in the coming year.

“It is predicted that aquaculture will grow to supply more than 50 per cent of global seafood production within the next two to three years and bluefin tuna is poised to contribute strongly to filling the gap between supply and demand for healthy seafood,” Cleans Seas founder and director Hagen Stehr said.

Construction work is already underway this week at the local hatchery where new facilities are being built for the onshore breeding of southern bluefin tuna (SBT).

Five cranes were used to lift the roof of the new building into place last week with contractors working round the clock to have the new southern bluefin tuna hatchery finished by the middle of February, 2009.

The hatchery will need to be finished quickly so the facility has SBT fingerlings ready to shift to sea cages early next year.

The new hatchery, which is larger than the existing tuna facility, is one of two being built at the moment.

Clean Seas is also building a temporary facility in case the tuna broodstock produce fertilised eggs before the permanent hatchery is ready.

The new hatchery is a lot larger than the existing facility, and is being built in such a way that it can be added on to as the company grows.

Clean Seas needs to spawn its yellowtail kingfish at the same time so those eggs can be used to feed the tuna as they grow into fingerlings, before they are put into sea cages.

"We're coming up to a very busy but exciting time for the company," Hagen said. "It is crucial we get this right so Australia can continue to supply tuna to the rest of the world."

Following Clean Seas’ scientific breakthrough in the breeding of bluefin tuna last year, the company plans to divert resources that would have been used in kingfish production and mulloway farming to its tuna business.

This has involved lowering kingfish fingerling production from 1.25 million to 1 million fish to ensure the tuna division operates without capacity limitations.

A small number of surviving southern bluefin tuna that were bred by Clean Seas earlier this year have been shifted to an onshore dam at the Arno Bay facility and have grown substantially.