Andrew S. de Dezsery M.Sc.
Andrew De Dezsery M.Sc. is a well-known identity in the aquaculture and aquaponics movement both Australia and Internationally.
Andrew has been involved in the aquatic and fishing industries for most of his life, growing up in South Australia he spent many weekends at their second home at Silver Lake where he became interested in aquatic animals at a very young age.
He has worked on multi species commercial farms and his formal education in Aquaculture introduced him to the modernized natural techniques of integrated farming and since 1993, his passion to develop this sector into the farming community started. He and his wife Cathryn developed their business Aquaculture Advantage whilst, he worked as Operations Manager at West Beach Aquaculture Barramundi Research Farm, where they closed the life cycle for the Australian native Barramundi Lates calcarifer. Andrew went on to develop the closed system, green water production techniques now used throughout industry. WBA clientele were encouraged to grow water chestnuts in the aquaculture water from the 100 tonne farming systems developed and he has been an open advocate of aquaponics since 1996.
Andrew is well known for his first of its kind innovative Aquaponic 101 interactive DVD software and has sold these extensively to the world market. He is also known for his strong presence on the YouTube format with 10 of 1000s of hours of content viewing by 100 of 1000s of visitors from around the globe watching his 20 plus clips about aquaponic related subjects.
Andrew has developed many commercial aquaculture products over his 20 plus years and has produced automatic back up failure switches, automatic live fed pumping systems, degassing systems, bio-filtration systems, bead filters, fractionators, grading systems, organic fish feeds as well as aquaponic related products including the first of its kind hybrid NFT – media bed combined production units with mineralised clarifiers since 1999. Aquaculture Advantage and #1Aquaponics have sold a15,000 plus product range as well as exported to Finland, Russia, China, New Caledonia, New Zealand, USA and every State of Australia.
The first Edu System for schools was built and installed by Aquaculture Advantage in 1996 with many more to follow and the first commercial sized salt and fresh water aquaponic system being installed in Australia in 2005 in the US military base Woomera Rocket Range area school. Andrew through his businesses has supplied Schools, Universities and Institutes across Australia with their vast array of educational VHS and CD videos as well as their products since 1996.
Andrew is well traveled and has consulted with 100s of Aquaculture and Aquaponics farms in his career across Australia, the Pacific, North America, Canada and New Zealand. This has enabled him to provide many editorials for the well-known publication AUSTASIA Aquaculture Magazine, Australia, as well as in AQUAPONICS JOURNAL, USA, THE GROWING EDGE, USA and many others in his early career and gave grounding for his executive positions.
He held founding executive member of the Inland Aquaculture Association of South Australia, Council member of the Mallala District PAR policy amendment review for aquaculture and principal aquaculture engineering lecturer at Flinders university, SA for 10 years for the B.Sc. Aquaculture degree as well as Lecturer at various TAFE colleges and Institutes in both S.A and NSW.
Andrew is a multi degree scholar with a M.SC. and also holds an Australian Government TAA40104 Certification IV in Training & Assessment. With his profession he has conducted both practical demonstration and theory training in well over 100 training classes, workshops, seminars and public speaking engagements since1996 around the world. With numerous 1000s of hours of face to face engagement the fruits of his labor have traversed all walks of life and some of his earliest University students now hold executive positions in Fisheries Departments across Australia.
His business Aquaculture Advantage and #1Aquaponics is a leader in the integrated farming (aquaponic) sector and Andrew is well known by EPA, Fisheries and NRM government departments as a mover and shaker. Andrew and his teams’ first of its kind, federally funded, commercial aquaponic training and facility was conceptualized, built and run by Andrews business where, since 2010, over 30 farmers were trained in integrated farming procedures in the drought stricken Riverland, SA
Andrews business also conceptualized, developed and facilitated Australia’s first Commercial Aquaponics Conference in 2013 where over 50 teachers, government agents and experts convened at Wirrina SA. Andrew was a keynote speaker both there as well as at the 11th Aquaponic and Tilapia Short Course at the Virgin Island University, USA run by Dr Jim Rakocy in 2009 where over 20 countries were represented by attending students.
He also keynoted at the Queensland Aquaculture Association Annual General Meeting and also at their following Aquaculture Course.
Andrew has appeared on Australian national television a number of times including Landline, the iconic ABC agriculture industry TV show for Australia as well as countless television news briefs and interviews, talk back radio programs on both commercial and rural episodes and numerous industry and general publications across Australia. Additionally, Andrew and one of his students he mentored from the Aquaponic Training Facility were interviewed and became the cover poster boy for the international publication PRACTICAL HYDROPONICS MAGAZINE. Andrew has also been seen around the world by over half a million people on his dot TV channel.
Andrew received the prestigious title of Fellow of the International Specialized Skills Institute in 2008. He traveled on sabbatical as part of his fellowship across the USA and Canada and visited with numerous Universities, Institutes and Agencies in these regions and produced the publication, The Commercial Integration of Aquaculture and Horticulture, for the federal governments Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Andrew was a finalist in the 2010, AUSVEG National Awards for Excellence, for both Researcher Of The Year and Industry Impact Award as well as numerous other awards for the work that he and his team provided in 2006-2009 at the Lewiston Aquaponic Research and Skills Training Farm that he headed as Operations Manager for Omega Fish Products.
As a fun fact in closing; Andrew was knighted in September 2016 as Vitez Andrew S. de Dezsery M.Sc. into the Order of Vitéz by the Hungarian Embassy’s representative under the acceptance and instruction of the Hungarian Government for his great grandfathers past act of courage.
