Petuna Aquaculture opened a new AUD10 million ($7.3 million/€6.9 million) recirculation salmon hatchery in Cressy in the north of Tasmania that will produce 3.5 million fish per year, reported Australia's ABC News.

The system will re-use nearly all of its water and the company plans to phase out the use of traditional flow-through ponds, which have raised environmental concerns about fish waste entering nearby waterways.

Petuna CEO Mark Porter said the new system was more efficient.

"It uses less than 5 per cent of the water that a traditional [flow-through] system would," he said.

"We're