News & Views Top 10 Under 40 Profiles
Top 10 Under 40: Dane Kieser

“There is nothing I would rather do than farm fish.”

That was what smolt production manager Dane Kieser said about the way he felt working as a farm technician at Molapong Aquaculture in South Africa.

The 34-year-old studied aquaculture production management at the University of Stellenbosch and has participated in the implementation and operation of New Zealand’s only first-feeding facility, introducing newly designed/innovative substrate frames for eggs to name a couple.

Raising animals to the point where they get distributed worldwide, and seeing the joy people get from consuming them, gives Dane satisfaction.

(Photo: Dane Kieser)

Even though there isn’t a lot of information about culturing Chinook salmon compared to Atlantic, and although that’s challenging, he said that’s what makes them special and makes farming them exciting.

A core memory for Kieser was when he tried farming Coho salmon, a species that had never been farmed in South Africa. He imported the species and despite having a low survival hatch twice, he tried the third time and it yielded success.

To new hatchery professionals, he advised: “Keep working the long days and nights, keep reading up on your species and keep learning. Do everything 100 per cent and your animals will reap the benefits and the results will speak for themselves.”