Aquaculture stalwart recognised for pioneering work

Mr Moore, an executive director of Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) "for significant service to the aquaculture sector".

The 68-year-old said he was stunned when told of his nomination and "excited beyond words".

As well as being "humble and proud", Mr Moore thought it was "pretty bloody special" he had been nominated and recognised for his work by his peers.

As well as paying tribute to his wife, Tracy, for her support, Mr Moore acknowledged the mentorship of two men in the industry, Ervin Vidor and Noel Herbst (dec).

Soon after starting in the industry in 1988, Mr Moore said he travelled extensively throughout south east Asia to learn what not to do in relation to aquaculture.

"We have such a great industry in Australia and we've such a different attitude to the environment, to the people, to the socio-economics of a region and we've developed this (industry), basically myself and the others that were around, and there's not many left who were back in '88," he said.

"A lot have either sold, retired or passed away so I'm one of the remaining few that have been around for that long to help get the Australian industry to where it is today - and the global reputation we have is second to none. Seriously, we've got the best prawns in the world."

Prior to becoming a prawn farmer, Mr Moore was a chicken farming manager with Inghams Enterprises for 12 years.

"I was headhunted by Seafarms (while working in Tamworth at the age of 32), who wanted to build a prawn farm in Cardwell - back in '87 I was approached," he said.

"I was a senior manager with Inghams, I wasn't really looking to move, but saw the challenge and thought this was an amazing opportunity. I'll say now 'it was the best decision in my life', but at the time I was thinking to myself 'what have I done' because when we first started it was very, very difficult."

Mr Moore said business principles of prawn farming and chicken farming were absolutely identical.

"The model is identical and this is why they approached me. They wanted someone who had been around in the chicken industry for a while and knew the game and was young enough to make the change," he said.

Mr Moore said the hardest thing about getting the prawn aquaculture industry up and running was getting a reliable supply of juveniles for the ponds.

As part of his time in the industry, Mr Moore was president of the Australian Prawn Farmers Association for six years, vice-president for nine years and is now a life member.

Prior to being appointed executive director of Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture in 2017, he was the company's general manager for 10 years from 2007.

He was general manager of Seafarms for 20 years; a founding member of the Seafood CRC, and now has his own consultancy, Searunner Solutions.