The Aquafin
Cooperative Research Centre's Research Program
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This
page was last updated on the 5th September 2007
Our Research Programs are:
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| Weighing
southern bluefin tuna after harvesting
Photo: TBOASA
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The research strategy of the Aquafin CRC is built
around the principal technology needs of the Australian tuna and salmon farming
industries. In addition, some focussed research is aimed at removing key
constraints in the emergence of new finfish aquaculture
species.
Farming Technologies
The tuna farming industry could achieve a major
increase in the volume of product by holding its fish for two successive growing
seasons (18 months) rather than one season as at present (up to six months). The
CRC research programs address a range of new research and technology issues relating
to health, nutrition, and environmental impact, which are not significant
problems with short-term ranching, but which could place limits on longer-term
farming.
The potential increase in volume of production
will increase the need for tuna farming to move further offshore and into deeper
waters. The consequent issues relating to production systems, feeding strategies
and environmental management will require innovative solutions.
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The development of manufactured feeds for
southern
bluefin tuna will greatly benefit the industry through reduced dependence
on imported bait fish, improved water and sediment quality around farms,
use of remote sites, easier feed storage and handling, more consistent,
(and potentially enhanced) growth, survival and product quality.
High tuna product quality and diversified
products will offer new national and international market opportunities, with
increased profitability and regional employment, and value-added products are
expected to create a need for new quality assurance and food safety techniques
and procedures, and possibly new packaging methods.
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CRC value-adding researchers in Tokyo, Japan
Photo: Philip Thomas
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Better understanding of physiology and nutrition
of southern bluefin tuna will underpin future developments in tuna husbandry.
Seasonal growth and maturation of salmon can be
managed by special lighting techniques, resulting in significantly increased
production efficiency and consistency of product quality.
Health And Environment
Amoebic gill disease (AGD) costs are about 10%
of the gross value of production of farmed salmon in Tasmania. Improved treatment
of AGD infected fish, AGD risk forecasting ability and more cost-effective control
of AGD will increase the profitability and competitiveness of this industry.
There is a continuing need for faster, specific
and sensitive diagnostic techniques for viral and bacterial diseases of fish,
evaluation of health risks and the design of health surveillance systems. These
will help to improve industry and government responsiveness to disease
outbreaks. Ultimately this will make Australian finfish aquaculture more secure
and sustainable.
The finfish aquaculture industry is totally
dependent on marine waters maintaining high water quality. In Australia, the
need is clear for a national approach to environmental issues, and in some cases
for the development of new technologies for environmental management.
Co-ordinated in-depth environmental research is essential to ensure that marine
finfish farming can enjoy ecologically sustainable growth.
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New And Emerging Species
Better larval survival through enhanced feeds,
control of parasitic disease and improved grow-out feeds will strengthen
the emerging snapper farming industry.
Striped trumpeter offers the best current prospect of diversification
for salmon farmers, having good market acceptance, and satisfactory
growth rates. Research and development is still needed to increase the
larval survival rate and if this is successful and well-supported by
stakeholders, the Cooperative Research Centre can help to bring this species to commercial reality.
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| Harvesting
Atlantic salmon in Tasmania
Photo: Shane Roberts
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There are also opportunities to apply CRC
expertise and technologies to support the sustainable development of
other major emerging aquaculture prospects, such as mulloway and yellowtail
kingfish.
The Aquafin CRC research programs are designed to deliver
key technologies and enhance research and technical capabilities. A large
aquaculture industry, economically and environmentally secure and sustainable,
will be a major contributor to regional development and national export
performance.
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The
Six Research Programs
The Aquafin Cooperative Research Centre has five research programs.
They are:
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Program Leader
Mr Steven Clarke (SARDI Aquatic Sciences)
Production (Grow Out) Subprogram Objectives
- Better understanding of the physiology
and nutrition of
southern bluefin tuna to underpin farming developments.
- Growth of tuna farming industry through
extension of grow-out period and use of deeper offshore sites.
- More cost-effective and environmentally-sustainable
feeding strategies and grow-out feeds.
- Increased production efficiency of
Atlantic salmon.
Production (Grow Out) Expected Outcomes |
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| Harvesting
southern bluefin tuna
Photo: TBOASA
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A
commercially acceptable extruded-pellet tuna feed.
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A
reduced exposure to the risk of interruption of pilchards imports.
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Reduced
environmental impact of tuna feeding.
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More
reliable (price, availability and quality) sources of feeds.
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An
ability to reduce feed costs while maintaining production and product
quality.
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Diets
optimised for different phases and seasons of longer-term grow-out.
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Evaluation
of baitfish as source of vitamins for tuna.
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Means
of delivery of supplements and diet changes.
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Better
understanding of activity metabolism and physiology of tuna, leading to
improved husbandry, especially when holding through more than one season.
- The capacity to rapidly and non-destructively
assess the acute reproductive condition of caged salmon.
- The development of commercial scale
photo-manipulation techniques for the retardation or prevention of precocious
sexual maturation in farmed Tasmanian salmon.
Production (Hatchery Technology) Subprogram
Objectives
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- Support for new and emerging industry sectors
of finfish aquaculture.
- Availability of species suitable for a range
of aquaculture opportunities.
- Quality fingerlings for farm stocking at an
affordable price.
- More cost-effective finfish farming methods.
- To reduce costs of fingerling production.
- To develop high-performance "winter"
diets.
- To improve the cost-effectiveness of grow out
diets.
- To validate improved feeds and feeding
practices on a commercial scale.
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| CRC researcher
with an adult striped trumpeter
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Production (Hatchery Technology) Subprogram
Expected Outcomes
- A reliable supply of inexpensive and healthy snapper
fingerlings.
- Reduced use of Artemia for larval
rearing.
- An ability to wean snapper larvae onto
commercial artificial diets at an early age.
- A commercially significant reduction in
parasite induced disease.
- Snapper with desirable quality characteristics
are produced at a competitive price.
- Nutrient wastage and effluent pollution are
minimised.
- A capacity to produce and enrich live feeds
with appropriate lipids and vitamin profiles.
- Understanding of the lipid nutrition of striped
trumpeter larvae and juveniles.
- More reliable supply of live feeds.
- Improved survival, growth and condition of
intensively reared striped trumpeter juveniles.
- Ability to assess the species as an
alternative sea cage culture species in Tasmania.
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The
Value-Adding Research Program
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Program Leader
Mr Steven Clarke (SARDI Aquatic Sciences)
Value Adding Objectives
- Increased industry profitability through the
mastery of the quality requirements of the producer-to-market chain and
development of value-added products.
- Development of value-added products.
- Ensuring product safety and avoiding residues
in food products.
Value-Adding Expected Outcomes
- An ability to manipulate tuna quality to the
requirements of the producer-to-market chain.
- Tuna farmers capable of supplying a premium
quality product.
- Increased value-added production within
Australia.
- Understanding the potential for bio-accumulation
of residues in farmed tuna, with short and long term holding.
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Dr
Philip Thomas and PhD student Alistair Douglas in the Tsukiji markets,
Tokyo, Japan
Photo:
Philip Thomas
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Program Leader
Dr Barbara Nowak (University of Tasmania)
Health (Diagnostics and Risk Assessment)
Subprogram Objectives
- Reduced economic impact of disease in
farmed finfish.
- Improved industry and government responsiveness
to disease outbreaks.
- Environmentally friendly approaches
to disease management.
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Conducting
an autopsy on a kingfish
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Health (Diagnostics and Risk Assessment)
Subprogram Expected Outcomes
- Reduced economic impact of disease in finfish
farming.
- Improved industry and government responsiveness
to disease outbreaks.
- Environmentally friendly approaches to disease
management.
- Greater ability to anticipate and guard against
disease incursions in tuna farms and hatcheries.
- Enhanced capability for the detection and identification
of potential viral pathogens of tuna.
- Improved health surveillance program for the
tuna aquaculture sector.
- Capability to screen broodstock, eggs and fry,
caught from the wild, for existing viral infections, essential for successful
closure of tuna life cycle in hatcheries.
- Ability to monitor all phases of tuna aquaculture
operations for the presence of viral pathogens as part of a health surveillance
program.
- Better diagnostic tools for covert bacterial
fish pathogens.
- Surveillance tool to detect presence of bacterial
pathogens in live fish or raw products.
- Health surveillance capability for optimum health
management of
southern bluefin tuna.
- Staff trained in tuna health management and
research.
- Solutions to health threats as they emerge.
Health (Amoebic Gill Disease Management
and Control) Subprogram Objectives
The essential objective is to develop a set of
strategies and tools to enable the salmon industry to achieve a substantial reduction of
the economic impact of amoebic gill disease in an economically and
environmentally sustainable way. While a vaccine against amoebic gill disease
and selection of amoebic gill disease resistant stock would be very attractive
solutions, these are high risk and long-term prospects. There is an urgent need
to improve management strategies, treatment and risk forecasting to reduce
production costs in the near term.
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| Researching
the pathophysiology of amoebic gill disease
Photo: Shane Roberts
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Health (Amoebic Gill Disease Management and Control)
Subprogram Expected Outcomes
This large project commenced with a broad initial
assault on the disease, with an increasing focus on the most promising
approaches as the project proceeds. The project is divided into three phases.
Phase 1 explores a broad range of options, seeking possible short to medium term
solutions, together with some basic studies that are expected to open more
innovative pathways. Phase 2 is more focussed, depending on the relative
feasibility of the alternative options emerging from Phase 1. With particular
emphasis on bringing to commercial reality the shorter-term solutions
(improvements to current treatments, management strategies). Phase 3 will only
be undertaken if the need for, and feasibility of, long-term solutions (vaccine,
novel therapeutics, genetic selection) are clearly established in Phase 2.
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Program Leader
Dr John Volkman (CSIRO Marine Research
Laboratories)
Environment Objectives
- New technologies for environmental management
in aquaculture.
- Sound environmental decision making
at farm level.
- Widespread adoption of sustainable aquaculture
practices.
- Increased certainty of scientific understanding
of aquaculture-environment interactions.
- An aquaculture industry trusted by the
public.
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A
benthic infauna sample from sediment under salmon cages
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Environment
Expected
Outcomes
- An ability to predict the environmental impact
of cage aquaculture at the local (e.g. farm or lease) scale.
- An ability to predict the environmental impact
of cage aquaculture at the system-wide (e.g. estuary) scale.
- Widespread adoption of sustainable cage aquaculture
practices.
- Improved monitoring of the environmental performance
of cage aquaculture operations.
- Better community understanding of aquaculture
and the environment.
- Increased productivity of cage aquaculture.
- Optimum use of anti-foulants, to reduce environmental
impacts and facilitate management of deep water sites with longer term holding
of tuna.
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Sub Program Leaders
Professor
Colin Buxton (Atlantic salmon)
Mr
Steven Clarke (Southern bluefin tuna)
Dr
Peter Montague (Other species)
Technology
Transfer and Commercialisation Objectives
- Transferring technology rapidly and
effectively to commercial users.
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Aquafin
CRC's Dr John Carragher bagging southern bluefin tuna flesh for sensory
experiments
Photo:
Philip Thomas |
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The
Education And Training Program
This program is quite extensive and is fully covered
in the "education" link located on the left hand side menu.
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Getting Involved
In Aquafin Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Research
Inquiries from researchers, research agencies and
industry organisations about opportunities for involvement in the Aquafin CRC
research program should be directed in the first instance to Dr Peter Montague -
Chief Executive
Officer (peter.montague@aquafincrc.com.au).
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