Robert Swindlehurst                          

Robert Swindlehurst of Catalyst Aquaculture has 28 years of experience in the aquaculture industry.  He graduated with a BSc in Zoology, Ecology and Chemistry in 1980 and has worked in a number of different areas and roles since then.  He continues to have an active and ongoing interest in aquaculture including ongoing work for the AAQ Hatchery Accreditation program.  He has a particular interest in water quality and water management systems design and integration.

Previous work areas have included:

Aquaculture research for the New Zealand Government on oysters, abalone, mussels, scallops, snapper, rock lobster, microalgae and seaweeds.

He owned and ran an Oyster farm in Northern New Zealand for four years, producing Pacific oysters for local sale and export including whole, half shell and smoked product.

After moving to Australia in 1989 he was manager for a prawn and oyster hatchery in northern New South Wales before moving to join the newly opened Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Centre in December 1989.  At Bribie he was involved in many aspects of the development of the Centre including water supply, treatment , hatchery design and construction.  He worked with prawns, crabs, dolphin fish, mullet, whiting and Barramundi.  During this time he also worked as a consultant for the Department of Primary Industries on projects in Thailand (prawns) and in Laos (carp, tilapia, snakehead).

In 1996 he moved in to DPI Fisheries Head Office in Brisbane and became Manager of Aquaculture with input into research, policy and licensing.  Here he was involved with all aspects of freshwater and marine aquaculture including developments under the Integrated Planning Act and negotiations with the Environment Protection Agency, Department of Local Government and Planning and Department of Natural Resources (as they were then).  During this time he was part of the Queensland group consultations with Commonwealth agencies including GBRMPA and the Commonwealth EPA.

In 2002 he left the Department develop a wastewater treatment business and consultancies in waste and water management including aquaculture.  More recently he has been involved in the use of bacterial treatments for waste and odour management in composting, wastewater treatment and odour control across a range of industry sectors.