There are a number of career opportunities within HUON’s various areas of operation.
Hatchery staff are engaged in all aspects of fish husbandry. This includes managing brood stock and breeding programs, fertilisation of eggs and growth of fry through to transfer of smolt to sea. Hatchery staff are responsible for all aspects of the hatchery operation, including health and hygiene, maintenance and development programs. Hatchery staff have a range of qualifications, including aquaculture and related science based qualifications.
Farm staff are engaged in a wide variety of activities including general marine operations, bathing and diving. Most staff engaged in farm activities hold coxswains restricted tickets. Skippers involved in moving and towing fish pens are qualified at the Master 5 level. Divers hold commercial diving qualifications in accordance with Australian Standard AS/NZS 2299.1. All staff receive on-the-job training and many staff also undertake Certificate 3 training in Aquaculture. This course provides a nationally recognised aquaculture qualification. Other job specific training is also provided. Staff with good qualifications and experience, and who have a capacity to lead others, generally progress quickly to the Leading Hand level.
Feed staff ensure that all fish receive appropriate amounts of feed to ensure that they grow well. HUON utilises an automatic feed system that monitors the feed requirements of each pen of fish on a 24 hour per day basis. Feed staff monitor this system and problem-solve faults. They work a rostered arrangement to ensure that there are always qualified staff available to supervise feeding.
Processing staff are engaged in a number of activities within HUON’s two processing plants. Processing activities include gutting and cleaning fish, packing, filleting and dispatching, whilst value adding activities include hot and cold smoking, preparation and packaging of products and dispatch. Many of these activities are automated, so processing staff need to be skilled machine operators as well as able to perform these functions manually if required. Processing staff also play a vital role in quality control activities. Many processing staff hold certificate qualifications related to their processing roles, and skilled staff with capacity to lead others may perform leading hand roles.
Engineering and maintenance staff play a vital role within the business. These staff are trade qualified and work on a wide variety of equipment. Equipment includes boats and ancillary equipment (winches, cranes, hydraulics, electrics, etc), harvest equipment and processing equipment. Because of the nature of the marine environment, our maintenance and engineering staff spend a lot of time ensuring that plant and equipment is safe to use. Trade qualified engineering and maintenance staff may be involved in design and development of one-off equipment solutions and may be required to travel to different sites to install and maintain equipment.
Professional positions are many and varied within HUON’s business. Professional positions exist within the hatchery, farm and processing environments (for example, statistical analysis positions, aquaculture and veterinary positions) and within the support elements of the business (for example, human resources, accounting, IT and marketing positions).