Hope Vale venture to produce freshwater prawns

From National Indigenous Times

A 100 per cent Indigenous-owned and operated foundation has received a $500,000 grant to scale up a native giant freshwater prawn project in Far North Queensland.

Key points:

• Hope Vale Foundation is 100 per cent Indigenous-owned and operated
• The Foundation has received a $500,000 grant through the Coles Nurture Fund
• The grant will facilitate a move from a successful hatchery trial to building the Foundation’s own hatchery and grow-out ponds on its 19-hectare research and development farm

Hope Vale Foundation(near Cooktown) was among four Queensland producers to share in $2 million through the latest round of the Coles Nurture Fund.

Foundation General Manager Rachelle McIvor said the grant would help the Indigenous-owned and run not-for-profit move from a successful hatchery trial to building its own hatchery and grow-out ponds on its 19-hectare research and development farm near Cooktown, creating new jobs and helping bring an Australian-grown native protein to wider markets.

“We’ve already proven this can work, with our hatchery trial producing around 200,000 juvenile prawns when we were expecting about 20,000 and now this funding helps us take the next big step,” she said.

“Cherabin is something our community knows and loves, but many Australians haven’t had the chance to experience it yet. It’s a beautiful native freshwater prawn and we think it has a really exciting future as an Australian-grown native protein.

“This project is about much more than prawns. It’s about creating meaningful jobs that suit our community, building skills and opening up future opportunities for local people to be part of the supply chain. Because the pond water can also be reused to irrigate crops on the farm, it gives us a connected system that links aquaculture and agriculture on the same property.”

Coles Group Chief Commercial and Sustainability Officer Anna Croft said the Round 14 Queensland recipients reflected the ingenuity, ambition and practical problem-solving of local producers.

“We’re proud to support four Queensland small and medium-sized businesses with $2 million in grants to help bring their ideas to life,” she said.

“Each recipient is tackling a real challenge in their business or industry, whether that’s reducing waste, improving efficiency, creating new opportunities for regional communities or developing more sustainable ways to produce food.”

The Queensland recipients are among eight small and medium-sized businesses across Australia awarded grants of up to $500,000.

Since 2015, the Coles Nurture Fund has awarded more than $43 million to 127 Australian businesses, providing grants of up to $500,000 for projects that support sustainability, efficiency and growth. The latest round marked the largest amount awarded to Queensland producers in a single round of the program, with total support for Queensland businesses growing to $9.7 million.

Australian small and medium-sized businesses are encouraged to apply for the 15th round of the Coles Nurture Fund when applications open in January 2027.