"I'm excited to help position Aquna amongst the best food brands in the world," Katherine Bryar said commenting on her appointment.
Photo: Katherine Bryar / Aquna Sustainable Murray Cod.
Murray Cod Australia Ltd (MCA) - Aquna Sustainable Murray Cod - today announced the appointment of Katherine Bryar as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer (CSMO). Effective February 1, 2026, the aquaculture marketing specialist will leave BioMar and return to her native Australia to lead the premium Aquna Murray Cod producer's global growth strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in brand building, category strategy, and channel development across retail, food service, and export markets, after nearly nine years as Global Marketing Director at BioMar, Bryar is now leaving the aquaculture feed industry to take on the challenge of boosting more than just the global presence of the Aquna Murray Cod brand, the global presence of a native Australian species, beyond its borders.
When asked by WeAreAquaculture about this change, it is precisely this challenge that Katherine Bryar points to as the key factor in taking the plunge, despite the sadness she feels at leaving her current company.
"It's bittersweet," she says. "It's sad to be leaving such a great company like BioMar, but I'm excited to take on this fantastic opportunity. It's time for me to be back at the forefront of the seafood industry, and what better than with this outstanding product and brand Aquna."
When she talks about returning to the forefront of the seafood industry, Bryar is recalling some key moments in her career in premium food marketing and aquaculture, leadership in sustainability, and international brand development, such as when, in the early stages of her career, before joining BioMar, she worked closely with New Zealand King Salmon.
As Katherine Bryar herself told WeAreAquaculture in her Talent View, together with Don Everitt, she worked to create the New Zealand King Salmon strategy and helped with its formation, where she contributed to the success of the Ōra King brand in the United States and the Regal King Salmon brand in Australasia — two of the world's most recognized and premium salmon labels.
Prior to that, Murray Cod Australia's incoming CSMO had already played a key role at Australian Eggs, where she repositioned eggs as a healthy food. This work not only earned her an Effi Award—whose registered motto is 'Awarding ideas that work'—for long-term effectiveness, but above all, it resulted in a substantial increase in national egg consumption in Australia, and propelled her onto the international stage, first to the seafood industry and then to BioMar.
Within the global leader in aquafeed, BioMar Group, she has led strategic marketing programs that supported aquaculture producers in brand positioning, customer loyalty, and international expansion. This work has also allowed her to continue what she considers her life's journey: to stand up for farmers.
"We're here to make sure that we do everything we can to help them do everything they need to be able to bring nutritious food with the lowest impact to the market," Katherine Bryar explained to WeAreAquaculture about the philosophy behind the feed company, created by Danish trout farmers driven by the purpose of securing the future of aquaculture.
In her new role as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Murray Cod Australia, she will continue to work with farmers. The company is the world's leading producer of premium sustainably grown Murray cod, grown on innovative open pond farms located in the Murray-Darling basin in the Riverina region, in New South Wales, the fish's native environment.
As the company explains on its website, with a commercial fishing ban on wild Murray cod and an increasing appetite for the iconic Australian fish, Aquna has responded by developing a versatile ingredient that gives chefs new and flexible ways of including white-fleshed Murray cod on the menu.
MCA already supplies Australia's leading restaurants, retailers, and distributors, as well as major international markets, but with the addition of Katherine Bryar, it aims to go even further. As the company explains in its release, her focus will include strengthening domestic retail and food service partnerships, expanding export distribution networks, and advancing chef engagement and building brand value for Aquna Murray Cod.
"As MCA enters its next phase of growth, we are focused on building a strong and balanced sales foundation — driving greater domestic brand penetration while expanding our international footprint," said Ross Anderson, CEO of Murray Cod Australia.
"Katherine's global perspective, proven record in premium seafood marketing, and commitment to sustainability make her an outstanding addition to the leadership team as Aquna Murray Cod continues its rise across key markets," he added.
"Murray Cod Australia is the most exciting company I have seen in seafood for a very long time," Bryar said, for her part, in the statements included in the release commenting on her appointment. "This fish, with its exceptional quality, provenance and sustainability credentials, has the potential to be a truly iconic Australian product."
"I'm excited to help position Aquna amongst the best food brands in the world and to collaborate with our partners to achieve maximum value both in Australia and abroad," she added.
The commitment to sustainability in the seafood industry and, more broadly, in food production, together with her aforementioned personal commitment to farmers, is a constant in Katherine Bryar’s career. This was pointed out by the company, which also highlighted her contribution to United Nations-affiliated programs focused on responsible food systems.
MCA's incoming Chief Sales and Marketing Officer also sits on several advisory panels and is committed to supporting the role of women in the seafood industry through projects such as the Caribbean Aquaculture Education and Innovation Hub, where she was first an Advisory Board Member and, since last year, has also held a position on the Board.
In addition, she is also co-founder of the NGO Fed by Blue, whose goal is to expand access to responsible blue foods by increasing transparency, expanding education, and improving policies. Bryar is even a seed funder and technical advisor for the NGO's documentary series 'Hope in the Water', whose episode on aquaculture was nominated for an Emmy Award this year.
