| Tipping
the scales in Victor Harbor – the world’s biggest
supplier of printed fish tags …
It really is one of those “Who'd have thought?” moments.
Behind the anonymous facade of the Hallprint office
on Crozier Road, a dozen women cheerfully work to
the sound of local radio. You'd be forgiven for thinking
they were seamstresses, minutely scrutinizing their
tasks – but in fact they're manufacturing fish tags.
“At the moment the girls are working on plastic-tipped dart tags,”
says Hallprint CEO, David Hall. “We’re meeting an
order for 100,000.”
The tags are small plastic darts trailing coloured
tubes; this particular batch has been ordered by the
Indian Ocean Tuna Commission in the Seychelles, whose
name and details has been finely printed along the
tubes.
“Today, we produce some 30 different types of marker.
Around 70% of our tags are for use by government or
private research organizations, 20% are for commercial
and recreational fishing organisations, and 10% go
to aquaculture. But the growth in the business has
been outstanding.”
Indeed it has, with Hallprint now supplying 50% of
the world’s market.
The company – started in the mid-1970s by David Hall’s
parents – was originally dedicated to printing wine
labels. In the early 80s, David, who was working as
a marine biologist, asked his father Michael to help
produce a reliable and properly-printed tag for his
fisheries research. Hallprint applied itself to the
problem and developed a number of innovations, including
the technique of fine-printing onto plastic tubes
1mm in diameter.
It soon became clear there was a market for them,
and by 1987 the company was given over to producing
printed tags.
“Since then we've grown 10% every year. We now sell
to over 100 countries and enjoy a $1m turnover.”
Hallprint's biggest export market is the US, followed
by Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand and the
range of products is substantial. There are stainless
steel darts for tagging tough-skinned sharks, ‘streamer’
darts for tagging crustaceans as delicate as prawns
and even glue-on markers for shellfish. “We recently
had an order for 100,000 of these from a New Zealand
group – they were gluing them onto 100,000 green-lipped
mussels!”
While any company can spruik the quality of its products,
Hallprint tags literally speak for themselves: when
a tagged fish is accidentally netted, the tag will
often be sent back to the owner. “We've heard of tags
being sent back that are dated from 15 years previous.
It means they're staying in the fish for all this
time and are still readable in spite of the marine
environment.”
The company is presently moving into the cutting-edge
business of electronic tags or Passive Integrated
Transponder (PIT) tags. These are food-safe implants
encased in surgical plastic which, after being darted
under the skin of a fish, can be read or tracked by
scanners. The challenges were many – not least to
make the 12mm implant able to withstand high pressures
and temperatures as low as -84 degrees Celsius, to
make them programmable and cost-effective. But the
challenges have been met – and the technology has
now been migrated into the printed plastic tubes.
“It’s a new area, but a really exciting one,” says
David. “We’re hoping to corner the market.”
If you would like to know more about Hallprint, contact
Mark Przibilla at the number below. Mark will be happy
to make arrangements for an interview or site inspection
…
Fresh surfing talent to shine on Victor waters …
 |
| |
The Quiksilver Australian Junior Titles will be held off beaches
along the Victor Harbor Coast from Saturday, December
1 to Sunday, December 9 2007.
A major event in the surfing calendar, the competition
sees state qualifiers vying for four Australian Championships
titles: Under-18 boys, Under-18 girls, Under-16 boys
and Under-16 girls.
Nearly 200 competitors will gather at a number of
contest sites, including renowned and pristine surfing
beaches, Waitpinga and Parsons in the Newland Head
Conservation Park.
According to Steve Reddy, CEO of Surfing SA, the championship
has a rich history: If you can think of a famous Australian
surfer, there's every chance they won an Aussie Junior
title during his or her rise to the top. Past winners
include some of the world’s finest surfers including
Tom Carroll, Joel Parkinson and Jessie Miley-Dyer.
“But it’s also fantastic that South Australia is showing
off its fabulous surfing locations and giving local
surfers a chance to shine. It’s a home ground advantage
for some real upcoming stars such as Brett Edwards,
Max Longhurst and Brinkley Davies.”
Winners and finalists in the Quiksilver Australian
Junior Titles are selected into the Team Australia
squad to represent their country in the Quiksilver
ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in France,
2008.
Surfing Australia will also present perpetual awards
named after surfing legends Duke Kahanomoku and Isabel
Letham for the most impressive ‘grommets’ over the
course of the event.
In addition to the competitions, organisers will be
hosting state rivalry events and a public opening
ceremony at Warland Reserve in front of the Crown
Hotel, complete with a parade of entrants.
For more information and media images, contact Mark
Przibilla.
-----
Mark Przibilla
Tourism Marketing & Events Co ordinator
City of Victor Harbor
Ph: 08 8551 0520
Fax: 08 8551 0521
Mobile : 0417 809 194
Email: mprzibilla@victor.sa.gov.au
Web: www.tourismvictorharbor.com.au |
