AUSYFISH PROVIDES AQUACULTURE WORK EXPERIENCE  FOR STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

For free work experience you need to be a student, preferably studding aquaculture or related subjects. The minimum time for free work experience is four weeks the maximum will depend on the circumstances of the experience you require, but can be up to 5 months.

Students can do less than four weeks but if they are housed at the farm a fee of $50 per week will apply. This fee must be paid, in advance when the booking is made, and is NOT refundable. 

The minimum term for work experience 6 days. 

High school students work experience must be part of their school's work experience program.

You will be exposed to the day-to-day activities of a working fish farm/hatchery producing a variety of fishes for a variety of markets. If required visits to other fish farms can be arranged. 

Maximum two students at any one time.

WHAT YOU GET

Ausyfish will provide you with hands-on aquaculture experience relative to the time of year and the normal activities of the farm for that time of year.

A CD RECORD of your visit can also usually be provided. Digital pictures of activities on the farm from throughout the year showing activities other than those you may experience can also be provided.

MEALS: We provide you meals while you are at the farm. You will be part of the family, taking your meals with the family and generally experiencing Australian farm life. (Queensland style) 

ACCOMMODATION: Your room is air-conditioned with TV.

INTERNET & EMAIL: A computer is available with e-mail facility. If you have your own lap top with wireless connection you can connect to our broad band wireless system.

STUDY: Plenty of aquaculture books are available at Ausyfish to assist in your studies.

STUDENT EVALUATION: All students are provided with an evaluation at the end of their work experience period. This assessment lists activities the student was involved with, skills acquired, general skills, ability to work in a team, special assignments, personal reference/personality, reliability, ability to work unsupervised, dates of students training period etc. The document is handed to students as a hard copy. Electronic copies are not provided. Schools or employers are able to confirm the content of individual assessments by contacting Ausyfish.

OTHER ACTIVITIES: Depending on the length of your stay, other activities can be arranged, reef fishing, river fishing, bush trip and camping, etc.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

For international students:

If you have a lap-top, (notebook) computer you should bring it too. Ausyfish has wireless broadband you can connect to.

WHAT WE GET

Free labor, and benefit from the exchange of ideas from people with different experiences.

Activities vary depending on the time of the year. Spawning of native perch takes place from about mid September until about mid January. This can sometimes extend through to April. Ornamental fish, both exotic and native starts from about mid September until April. Harvesting native fingerlings from December to May and ornamental fish year round.

Hi my ausy name’s Mat, I have been a work experience for four months, so I think I have a few things to tell you. I’m a student in freshwater aquaculture and aquariology at Nancy, France; this is my third year and eventually the last of my studies.

All I wanted was a change in my life see something else, do what I liked: aquarium fish farming, work in shorts and tee shirt under the sun. My other concern was to improve my English level. So after all those enquiries I focused on Australia, while searching on the internet I found this web site. The first page was asking for work experience, I send an email and it was done. This is the only place that was concerned by an exchange of information and not just exploitation of my labour (and I have been exploited by previous places); it had a place to sleep and would feed me, the holy grail of work experience if I can say.

Everything was set up and here I go down under to see what it’s like. I left at the start of spring and arrived in autumn, what a change to see how different things were. What I did here was great and exactly what I was hoping for, my project was to start a new species on the farm but it didn’t take all my time, so I could get involved in all sorts of activities as breeding rainbows, strange rosy barbs and all sort of Australian native fish, most of the time we were sorting out all the aquarium fish we were harvesting for sale, I even set up the office fish tank as I wanted and tried to keep some larvae in tanks, I did everything I had and wanted to do and it was brilliant.

Living on the farm in the bush was very different from life in Europe but much healthier, drinking rain water was a surprise, having a shower with dam water in company of all kind of frogs was another. All those little details that made my life different and full of surprises was part of the greatest experience of my life.

Meeting different people was another part, the family was very kind with me, I was even invited to the engagement party of Alan, the owner’s son. This place has taught me so much that I can’t believe it lasted only four months, I learned a lot in fish farming and it gave me the idea of doing the same type of work in my farm one day, hopefully.

This place is the new generation of respectful fish farming, not intensive but well managed not to waste and not to destroy the environment, even though producing enough for a family to live on and invest.

I am now looking back to this experience with great respect to the Sambell family, since they even accepted when I asked if my girlfriend could come at the end of my period, as we had planned to travel around Australia together. The other thing was the cherry on the cake as I call it, a trip in the bush to collect and fish for a week, camping in the most beautiful natural places, along the river.

I was glad to talk to you about my experience; I am now in the bush at the last day of my trip with the owner Bruce Sambell and definitely recommend you this place if you want to have a real adventure in one of the last really natural places on earth, good luck. Mat.

 Below is a picture of me writing this in the bush on the Michel River.

Below are a few words from Mat's Mother.

Dear Sambell family,
I want to thank you so much for the fantastic work experience and the countless good times to gave to Mathieu during his stay with you, including hosting his beloved Caroline !

Congratulations also for the work experience e-logbook which allowed me to share his time and see him smiling all along (at least on the pictures !). I am sure that is was not easy and rosy every day, but such is life, and it is good for him to learn that too ! Claire and Violette enjoyed immensely seeing their brother on line, and it made time shorter and easier for them too. Your idea of this section of web site went straight to my heart ! I spent 2 1/2 years in Central and Latin America way back in my youth, and my parents had to wait sometimes for weeks to get news or photos ! I know now it was probably not as comfortable for them as it was for me, when I could just on a click take stock of how Mathieu was. Keep up the good idea for the sake of other parents !

Go to Home Page