Griffith City Council unanimously approves Murray Cod Expansion on Lenehan Road

This facility will bring the service local, and see a boost of $12,480,000 for the region's economy once processing at the maximum capacity of 2000 kilograms of fish per day. 

The DA came before council due to three detailed submissions from landowners in the area, objecting on the basis of concerns such as odour, traffic impacts, disposal of waste and the suitability of the site given the residential housing nearby.

Murray Cod Australia’s managing director Matthew Ryan addressed council in relation to the concerns.

In relation to odour, he said the smoking would be in two cycles per day with each burning 300 grams of wood-chips, with the smoke held in the smoker and is released in a one off event each cycle.

“Most people’s house fires burn much more than 300 grams of wood-chips… we believe that is of a very small concern to the public,” Mr Ryan said.

The other issue on the nose for landowners was the prospect of biological waste. Mr Ryan said  “not a huge amount” – only about six per cent - of the fish was waste.

With agreements with a contractor on waste disposal, he says there will be “no large amount of biological waste either within the council or on the site.”

And as for traffic concerns, the site was previously used as an orange juice processing facility which had approval for heavy articulated trucks including b-doubles.

Mr Ryan outlined they would only be using heavy rigid trucks, therefore potentially reducing the heavy traffic on the road.

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He said overall, the building of this facility on the site would “grow the industry within the council.”

“We currently have seven contract growers and three of our own farms within the Griffith shire and this facility will service all of these growers,” Mr Ryan said.

With their visions for the Lenehan Road site keeping them going for the next five to seven years, Mr Ryan said after that further expansion will be on the cards.

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