Seafarms Group Limited has completed construction of intake settlement ponds at the company's Cardwell farms in North Queensland. The intake settlement ponds have been designed and developed to improve biosecurity and incoming water. This is a major retrofit of Australia's oldest operating prawn farms bringing them to best practice. Nine (9) production ponds were converted into settlement ponds across 10.5 hectares. The ponds are capable of storing 350,000m3 of water at both farms and were built at a cost of approximately AUD1 million. The implementation of intake reservoirs and water treatment allows for an immediate improvement in water quality for both farms at Cardwell, and in particular enhances the mitigation of risk around poor water quality during heavy rainfall events occurring during wet season. Water can be pumped into the intake settlement ponds during all accessible tides. The storage and use of water that has settled, reduces nutrients, solids and biological loads. Additional filtration will also be included in the settlement ponds to limit potential predators or carriers of disease from entering the production area. Although the removal of production ponds will result in reduced production area, the company expects that the improved water quality will enable the overall tonnage of product to be maintained from the Cardwell farms.