Background Profile
Douglas Dilger
Managing Director & Chief Operations Manager
Douglas (Doug) Dilger is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the Queensland Aquaculture Industry with a reputation supported by requisite skills and a wealth of practical experience in fish spawning and grow-outs together with domestic & international marketing operations conducted over several decades.
Doug’s extensive background has seen him acknowledged as one of Australia’s largest fingerling producers having designed, constructed and commissioned over twenty five aquaculture farms and hatcheries within Queensland.
His clients have included the Queensland Government’s Department of Primary Industries, multiple public restocking groups, commercial grow-out facilities, rural dam stockists and buyers from a number of Asian countries including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan & Japan.
Doug’s passion for the sustainability of both the industry and the environment has seen him heavily involved in the restocking of native fish species to Australian river and lake systems.
His expertise has resulted in an invitation to serve on a number of Government and Industry Committees including a Ministerial Advisory Committee to draft the guidelines for the Aquaculture Industry in Queensland, as an attendee to two Trade Delegations hosted by the Department of Primary Industries which was tasked with identifying and securing trade opportunities with Asia and also as an Aquaculture Adviser to the Guangzhou Provincial Government in China.
He has also acted as an Aquaculture Consultant to the private sector in various roles which have included positions such as Project Manager and Valuation Consultant for financial institutions, KPMG, Heron Todd White, etc and as a consultant for some of the largest closed (reticulated) systems in Australia and overseas. He was also contracted to project-manage the construction and implementation of a Fish Hatchery for the Cooloola-Sunshine Coast Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE).
Over the past 30 years Doug’s specific interest has focused on the breeding and grow-out of a variety of species including Golden Perch, Silver Perch, Jade Perch, Barramundi, Sooty Grunter, Sleepy Cod, Saratoga, Catfish, Australian Bass, Red Claw, Bream, Whiting, Flathead, Coral Trout, Mangrove Jack, Groper, etc. including many kinds of Aquarium fish.
Throughout his career Doug has gained a wealth of knowledge which has enabled him to maintain the health of his fish, identify abnormal behavior and implement efficient quarantine processes and treatments to ensure that every fish to leave his hatcheries has been purged and examined to guarantee its health and quality.
His experience has also enabled him to customize feed recipes to reduce the fat content in many species resulting in a higher meat yield and improved texture and flavor.
Douglas has also developed-
- techniques to develop the mass production of Silver Perch and Jade Perch in Aquaculture, all of which has been adopted by the Aquaculture Industry throughout Australia
- a successful system to Transport Live Fish to Markets in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne
- a system to successfully transport large volumes all of live fish, prawns and eels for long periods of time to the overseas Live Fish Markets
- a system to purge fish prior to transport to market which enables water to be filtered to produce a high-quality fish for market. This system is now adopted by most growers in Australia
- and designed and constructed his own Aquaculture Feed Mill with the capacity to produce 6,000 tonnes p/a of customised high-quality fish feed for use within his own facilities and for the commercial market
- designed and constructed 25 Aquaculture farms of varying sizes for third parties
In summary, Douglas Dilger is one of the most experienced and respected pioneers of the Australian aquaculture industry with a vast knowledge of freshwater and marine species breeding techniques and marketing skills of both fingerlings and grow-out stock to the domestic and international markets.
