The team behind the Huon Aquaculture Group has every reason to be proud with their Managing Director Peter Bender recently receiving an Entrepreneur of the Year Award for his innovation while building a successful vertically integrated salmon company.

Situated amid the pristine waters of Tasmania's south-east coast, the Huon Aquaculture Group exclusively relies on Yamaha outboards to power their 41 work boats that operate around the clock for 365 days a year.

Peter Bender's work in developing a fully integrated salmon company was acknowledged by the Australian division of the global business powerhouse Ernst & Young. Taking out the title in the Retail, Consumer & Industrial Products category, Peter Bender has come a long way since purchasing the business from the rest of his family in 1994. He now oversees a fully integrated business including hatcheries, marine farms, fabrication, processing, value adding and sales & marketing divisions.

The on-water facilities of the Huon Aquaculture Group are located at the mouth of the Huon River in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and comprise seven sea farms that produce around 10,000 tonnes of fish per year. There are 59 Yamaha outboards in service with their Works Manager Robin Fahey enjoying the benefits of owning clean, quiet and reliable 4-stroke engines.

Success of Huon Aquaculture depends on the pristine, unpolluted waters of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Yamaha 4-strokes were selected because of their clean operation and minimal emissions to both atmosphere and water.

"The key to Huon Aquaculture's success is our pristine waters and rivers that we use to grow our salmon," said Robin.

"We now have 41 Yamaha powered boats in our operation and since we switched from using 2-strokes outboards to Yamaha 4-strokes, our fuel bill has halved."

"The reliability of our Yamaha 4-strokes has been much better and we have had minimal downtime amid an operation that runs 24 hours a day, for 365 days a year. Approximately 80% of outboards clock up over 4000 hours over two years with some engines doing up to 3000 hours per year."

Huon Aquaculture operates their Yamaha 4-stroke engines under a commercial lease agreement through Yamaha Motor Australia. Each outboard is meticulously maintained through local authorised Yamaha dealer Baily Marine using genuine parts and Yamalube oils with new engines replaced on a 24 month rotation.

By heavily investing in Research and Development, Peter Bender has fuelled a range of innovative measures to assist in the phenomenal growth of his business at a rate of 28% per annum for the last four years. Along with developing a state of the art hatchery with the latest water recycling technology, the Huon Aquaculture Group has engineered an automated feeding system with an underwater sensing unit to minimise waste. They also pioneered underwater lighting to promote fish growth plus developed a new method to treat a range of parasitic pests.

Yamaha is proud to play a role in helping a local Australian business that is gaining international recognition for their quality of product and market leading innovation. By manufacturing clean, reliable, smooth and powerful 4-stroke engines, Yamaha continues to be Australia's best selling brand of outboard engine.

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