A five-year memorandum of understanding has been signed by Bluff Ltd, which owns the Ocean Beach site, and Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
Bluff Ltd chief scientist and AUT marine biologist Prof Andrea Alfaro said it was a growing industry.
The New Zealand aquaculture industry generated $600million in revenue a year and the Government’s Aquaculture Strategy, released last year, set a target of increasing this to $3billion by 2035. Prof Alfaro said this was achievable.
More than 500,000 juvenile paua are growing and the farm is on target to produce its first major harvest in 2023. The first group of students is to visit the site in coming months.
It is hoped the site can be developed further to include other species, such as a salmon hatchery and Bluff oysters, which would provide jobs in the region, as well as a future in ecotourism, with accommodation and a restaurant.
"If we can continue to develop the production with research underpinning it, we’ll continue to grow in this specialty market," Prof Alfaro said.
Research would enable sustainable growth and innovative practices and technologies.
She said Bluff provided cold and clean water — ideal because of the thermal stresses of global warming — and the region could be remodelled into an aquaculture hub.
The Ocean Beach-AUT collaboration included education, research projects, staff and student exchange programmes, internships, post-doctoral research fellowships and funding applications.
Ocean Beach’s managing director, Blair Wolfgram, said there was a need for industries such as aquaculture to sustainably grow export earnings and create high-skilled jobs and opportunities.
Prof Alfaro said it was about re-igniting the history and roots of the area.
"The people who live there are intimately familiar with these industries. It would make sense for the growth to happen where you can utilise that historical capacity."
