‘Ornatas Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned Tasmanian company, was established in 2018 expressly to create the world’s first tropical rock lobster (Panulirus ornatus) and Moreton Bay bug (Thenus australiensis) industry for Australian and international markets. Over the next ten years, over AU$55 million will be invested in the development of this new hi-tech aquaculture industry co-located in Tasmania and Queensland. Ornatas will use groundbreaking science developed by the University of Tasmania (UTAS) – Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) to recreate the complex oceanic environment that allows high-density culture of the planktonic larval phase of spiny lobsters. The technology is truly the holy grail of aquaculture and does what so many have tried and failed at before – commercial production of tropical rock lobster (TRL) and Moreton Bay bug (MBB) to a marketable size. Ornatas is in the first year of its ten-year growth plan and by 2030 is targeting a total production of 1,100 tons of TRL and 150 tons of MBB’