June 2007 by Tim Walker

Volume 21 No. 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 2007

Indoor culture of yabbies Oyster grader still going strong Chinese goldfish for global markets Prawn importers question import risks Egg incubator promise for redclaw NZ team breeds eels on demand Warmwater finfish: building a future Pioneer champions rainbow fish

June 2007

www.AustasiaAquaculture.com.au

Editor-in-chief Dr Tim Walker Regular contributors David O'Sullivan John Mosig Dave Field Subscription/editorial Austasia Aquaculture PO Box 658, Rosny, Tas. 7018 Ph: 03 6245 0064 Fax: 03 6245 0068 Email: AustasiaAquaculture@netspace.net.au

FA R M P R O F I L E S Indoor culture of yabbies reduces production risks

Oyster grader still going strong

Chinese goldfish for the global economy

MARKETING Prawn importers question draft import risk analysis

Stricter quarantine management of imported prawns is warranted

Advertising Megan Farrer

Signature restaurant spreads Sydney rock oyster message

Design/production Beverly Waldie

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

Prepress Crystal Graphics Printing Focal Prinitng Copyright © by Austasia Aquaculture. Contents cannot be reproduced without permission. Statements made or opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Turtle Press Pty Ltd (ABN 98 506 165 857). Austasia Aquaculture magazine (ISSN: 0818 552) is published by Turtle Press Pty Ltd (ABN 98 506 165 857) for the promotion of aquaculture in the Australasian and Asian regions – inclusive of farming in marine, freshwater, brackish and hypersaline waters. Reader's contributions are encouraged on the clear understanding they will be subject to editorial control and, if accepted, will appear in both printed and online versions.

Cover photo A montage of photos taken from stories contained in this issue. Captions and photo credits as per the details inside.

Egg incubator shows promise for redclaw

NZ team breeds eel larvae on demand

F E AT U R E Warmwater finfish: building a future

Yabbies, yabbies and more yabbies

Pioneer champions rainbow fish as ornamental species

TECHNOLOGY Jeyco to distribute AEG’s marine aquaculture products

Ridley sponsors upcoming prawn and barramundi conference

FISHENEWS

FISHENEWS/EMPLOYMENT

MARKET PLACE

June 2007

www.AustasiaAquaculture.com.au

AGK Technology / Fresh By Design All Tanks Ajay & Duraplas Tanks Aquaculture Supplies WA AquaFauna Biomarine Aquahort AQUASONIC Inside Front Aquaspex Aquatic Diagnostic Services International AQUI-S Austasia Aquaculture – subscription page Australian Monofil Company BGB M arine – Underwater Light & Vision BST Oyster Supplies Buono Net Australia Elders Fisheries & Aquaculture Brokers Employment – Fish Farm Manager Employment – Pearl Farm Managers Employment – Water Aeration Specialist HR Browne & Sons Hurlcon Intervet Australia JEYCO Mooring & Rigging Outside Back Naimoi Valley Aquafarming Murray Darling Fisheries Oblomov Trading Plastic Fabrications Pro-Aqua P/L Quinntech P/L 2007 Ridley Aquafeed Prawn & Barra Conference Ridley Aquafeeds SEAPA P/L SED – Shellfish Equipment Inside Back Scanz Technologies P/L Inside Back Skretting Superior Fibreglass Tafe QLD (Tropical Nth QLD Institute of Tafe) Technolab Marketing The Market Place – classified ads Tooltech Inside Back Tuckaway Engineering Uarah Fish Hatchery Ultra Violet Products (Aust) Wedeco World Aquaculture Society – Asian Pacific Aquaculture 2007 2 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

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FARM PROFILE

Indoor culture of yabbies reduces production risks W

hen Alan Steel and John Thompson took a stake in the Australian Blue Yabby Aquaculture (profiled in Austasia Aquaculture Vol 16-5) two years ago, little did they realize they would become the owners of yabby technology that carries world wide patents and the potential to revolutionize how freshwater crayfish are produced. Over the last 12 months, working from their Thomastown Melbourne factory, they have taken the technology to much higher levels and then refined it. The system is now ready for commercial development. The major improvements came in the feeding techniques, both the diet and the delivery. Other improvements were in the filtering system, tank design and the actual ‘capsules’ in which the yabbies are housed.

Above: Moult shells are consumed by the yabby in the cell. Shown here is a freshly moulted yabby and its discarded shell. Right: Alan (R) feeding out as John looks on. Although done by hand for therapeutic reasons, this process would be automated in a full scale commercial operation.

Control over production The primary attraction of the system is that you have total control over production and inputs. Yabby farming has been plagued with many recurring limiting factors, seemingly more so, than other aquaculture sectors. Appropriate dietary regimes, attrition (especially during moulting) and, the murkiest of all, predation have all played a part in making the industry a hit and miss enterprise. The market availability of product has also been dictated by the weather. The cost to the animal’s market

image has suffered accordingly. Farmed trout, mussels, salmon, oysters and prawns are all found in the supermarkets. Yabbies are seen as a novelty item bought through speciality outlets – and then only “in season”. Every grower has a personal tale of getting a crop of yabbies close to market size only to have the ponds beset by birds. Tortoises are another persistent and under-rated predator. In eastern coastal regions, eels have invaded ponds and water rats seem to find ponds in the most remote places. This led to one Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 3

FARM PROFILE 1

1. A post of cells. Note the clean appearance of the yabbies. 2. The hatchery at ABYA. Note the simplicity and portability of the system. 3. The yabbies sit comfortably in their cells consuming the feed that is collected as the posts ‘drift’ around the tank. 4. John (L) and Alan have made almost a complete overhaul of the system they inherited just over 12 months ago.

of two strategies for the industry. Either invest in costly predator control or gamble on getting away without it. The interesting thing is that everyone can quantify the cost of predator control but no one seems to be able to quantify the cost of not having it. One of the hidden costs of not having it is that growers lose control of the management of their production systems as biomass calculations fly out the window. This makes feeding rates and marketing a guessing game. Inability to manage production methods has left the sector in limbo between an opportunity crop and a genuine industry, as the current state of the industry nationwide reflects. By growing them indoors, ABYA immediately eliminate one of yabby farming’s biggest bugbears. As Alan, an accountant by profession, points out “it also provides maximum control over environmental factors, water temperatures and quality, 24 hours a day all year 4 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

round.” In effect you get the steak knives thrown in with the predator control. Apart from the security and environmental issues, there’s the bio-security aspect. This works both ways. The water in the tanks at ABYA is the same water they started with 30 months ago. Environmental impact is minimal and yabbies can be grown outside their natural range without threat of escape. From a marketing point of view they can be grown close to the point of sale, minimizing transport costs, enhancing freshness and with control over production. Marketing targets can be set and deadlines met. Principle The pilot stage of the system consists of a 5,000L tank in which posts are suspended vertically in the water column. Attached horizontally to the posts are slotted Perspex capsules called cells.

Each cell holds a single yabby. As the water flows around the tank, the cells drift with the water column and collect, through their slots, the slowly sinking feed. The yabbies eat the food that collects in the cells. Waste is expelled naturally from the cells by the water flow and the water is treated by a biofiltration system attached to the tank. Moult shells are eaten and recycled by the yabby in the cell. Although the principle sounds too simple to be true, , behind that simplicity lies years of trial and error. “Since we’ve been working with the unit we’ve introduced many changes,” says John. “We’ve gone through a huge testing period of feed and feeding methods – when to feed them, how to feed them and what to feed them. But it’s more than that. The cell design, tank design, filtering system and water flows and velocity have all undergone re-figuration to achieve the desired outcomes.”

FARM PROFILE

right, both in terms of delivery and growth.

The system The pilot system’s filtration medium is a cartwheel-shaped inert plastic bead. Two sizes are used. The first line of filtration is by the smaller, 1cm size bead which removes the heavy solids. The second, larger 1.5cm size gives the water a final polish in an upwelling filter. Both sections of the filter nitrify ammonia. Water turnover is a healthy three times an hour.

Nutrition The feed is an extruded proprietary crustacean crumble that is slow sinking and fine enough to enter the cells while, at the same time, getting the yabbies to grow and moult. Slowly sinking feed enures that the cells all collect, roughly, an equal amount of the food. This doesn’t occur by accident. Much trial and error went into getting the water flow and velocity just right and finding the right food.

While growth rates vary, it doesn’t appear to be related to the level on which the particular cell sits on the post. How the feed reacts with the water and its sinking rate are key elements in the efficiency of the system. Whilst Alan and John are discussing with the manufacturer some minor changes, on the whole they feel they have the diet that will make the yabbies grow. Alan says they trialed seven or eight different feeds until they got it

The water in the tank passes through a settlement box. Because of the inefficient food in use when John and Alan inherited the system, the original system used a 300µm in-line screen as the primary solid removal process. Since they’ve improved the feed and the delivery system, this screen has become superfluous. However they have left it in place to prove to themselves they are on the right track. The removed solids are bled off the sump once a week. Water exchange is less than 1% a day. Alan, always the accountant, says the bled off solid organic matter could be

Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 5

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10-15cm in approximately three months. John says the money you can make from the goldfish helps cover the operating costs of the system. By coming to the surface they also warn of low DO situations.

The two sizes of filter beads used to remove organic solids in suspension and elements in solution in the ABYA filtering system.

recovered easily and be sold as fertilizer. Each 5,000L tank will physically handle 1,200 to 1,400 cells with each post having 14 cells attached to it. The number of cells used at any one time depends on the size of the yabbies being grown, the total biomass being the limiting factor. Alan says that while the pilot only has one tank per filtration system, the commercial models could be supplied with a larger filter servicing two tanks. The yabbies are fed once every three days. The feed will last in the cells for two days and the third day ensures the water quality is kept within safe water quality parameters. Aeration is provided by airpumps in the filter and directly into the tank. Not only does this maintain DO levels but also keeps the feed in suspension so that it is all eventually collected by the cells as they rotate around the tank. The filtering system is bypassed during the feeding to allow the cells to strip the feed from the water column. Water is kept at a constant temperature by either an inline heater and/or an atmospherecontrolled room. DO levels are generally around 8mg/L, just a whisker below the saturation level of 8.5mg/L. Auxiliary crop The tank also presently holds 50 goldfish. This quantity will be experimented on in the next few months to optimise this auxiliary crop. They help clean the cells and keep the tank bottom clean as well as provide a secondary cash flow. Introduced at 50mm and they grow to 6 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

Genetics Juvenile yabbies are bred and reared in their own hatchery from stock reared in the ABYA system. The partners are on their second generation of selection and John says they’re getting better results each time they introduce a new generation. They can also breed to a colour which could be important to particular industries and markets. John says you can trace the life history of every single yabby on the farm. “Its birthday, its growth rate, whatever you need to know about a particular yabby can be traced. It makes no difference whether you have 500 cells or five million cells. But throw them in a dam you’ve got no idea of what’s happening.” Growth rates Growth is measured in two stages. The first is the juvenile stage. The 20mg hatchlings reach 10g to 15g in four to six weeks. Alan says the better growers are putting on 40g in 14 weeks. giving a wide range of market options for the product. However, this data has come from a period of experimentation with the management of their growth confined to one tank. When the amount of experimental system is expanded, the chance to produce in size cohorts will be explored. Rather than have juvenile yabbies in with older stock that have a different dietary requirement, the dietary needs of each size of yabby can be explored. Alan says: “This is what we’re achieving at the moment. With the expanded system we’ll be able to target our management more toward production than research and development.” Animal Welfare The animals in the system are in robust good health with clean shells and no sign of tail blisters. Unsightly Temnocephala eggs that can be found on some pond reared yabbies are nowhere to be seen. These yabbies are in mint condi-

tion – Alan says that over the six-month period of his trials the mortality rate was 10%. During that period the yabbies were handled quite a lot; under commercial conditions they’ll be left a lot more to themselves. Moulting – even without the risk of predation – is a high stress period; Alan feels that a mortality rate of approximately 1% per batch should be expected. The selection program is expected to further domesticate the yabbies and remove this natural stress level over successive generations. Marketing One of the attractions of yabby farming is that they have a market value from hatchlings just off the tail right through to 75g table yabbies. The market therefore is very broad and all sectors of the market could be served by this system all year round. John says: “The market for yabbies is so big that it scares everybody who looks at it seriously. If you could produce 25 tonnes a week, somebody would buy them. No one in Australia can do that at this stage. We have had hundreds of enquires from Australia and overseas in regard to the purchase of systems and product.” The future “The only constraint we have is money,” Alan continues. “We could sell our system to operate under license all over the world. We could sell our systems locally under a product buy back arrangement. With seafood markets firming around the globe, we’ve had a lot of interest from overseas, the time to get into aquaculture is now.” Yabby farming has a history of false starts. With their innovative approach and willingness to experiment, John and Alan are confident that they are on track to make the industry a legitimate and viable aquaculture sector. By John Mosig ABYA can be contacted by phone on 0417 319 911, or by email through our web site at www.blueyabby.com

FARM PROFILE

The oysters are sold at the farm gate at a variety of sizes to cater to a wider market of people.

Oyster grader still going strong A South Coast Sydney Rock Oyster farmer invented his own oyster grader over a decade ago that individually weighed oysters and sorted them into four grades. The original machine is still in use at Mckay’s Discount Oysters at Pambula and updated models are being used on other farms up and down the NSW coast.

ohn McKay has been faming Sydney Rock Oysters (Saccostrea commercialis) on the Far South Coast of NSW for 32 years. He now manages McKay’s Discount Oysters since his father Murray retired in 2002. “We now have 7ha of intertidal lease on Merimbula Lake and another 2ha lease on Pambula Lake (around 9km to the South) which we use mainly for catching spat. In drought years we have also been using that lease for holding small oysters.” John uses 1m long by 5cm wide vinyl slats to catch seed. “These slats are the best,” he says. “They might be harder to tie down but the oysters can be flexed off easily by bending the slats in any direction. With other catchers like

stormwater pipe cut into quarters, it is much harder to get the small oysters off without getting lots of backed oysters.” A normal wooden tray frame is used as a base for the slats. “I lay 17 slats in a layer across the tray. If there are too many restrictions to water flow you just won’t get any settlement so I put in a 20mm spreader and add another layer, usually there are four layers altogether. I tie them down with heavy-duty cable ties.” A neat trick gets rid of air pockets. “I drill a 12mm hole in the middle of the slats so if they flex, the air can escape.” The tray full of the slats is then put into catching areas. The best catching time usually starts

around the end of February and into early March and the oysters are left there until the end of August, by which time the largest have reached 15-20mm in length. The catching slats are then brought in and left to air-dry for at least three days. “This ensures there is no moisture left on the oyster shells to form suction with the slat. I have a wooden frame with a fine mesh cloth underneath and a 25mm steel bar across it. By twisting the slats over the frame and then giving them a tap on the steel rod, the oysters fall off and are collected.” Acknowledgement must be given to Paul Wilson of the Port Oyster Co for his knowledge in the management of Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 7

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catching and handling of the slats. Four litres of the small oysters are put into floating Stanway cylinders (tumblers) designed to rotate with the fall and rise of the tides. This movement not only rolls the shellfish producing a cup-shaped oyster but also ensures all get a chance to feed on plankton in the water. During this time the oysters also get to recover from the shock of the handling and removal from the slats. “I then bring the tumblers ashore in October and use a vibrating sieve to sort the spat into three sizes – small (6 mm), medium (8 mm) and large (above 10 mm),” John continues. They are then returned to the tumblers for another 6-8 weeks. “At this stage it is important that they don’t get too crowded as they grow, so the stocking density is reduced for the smaller oysters. These could grow from 1L to 8L in two months, whilst the larger ones might increase from 2L to 6L in the same time.” Early in December the tumblers are brought in and graded through a rotating tube grader into four sizes – 25mm, 29mm, 32mm, 35mm and larger than 35mm. Above: The Mackay oyster grader was developed over a decade ago and is still in use today. Below: The grader electronically weighs the oyster, then an air jet pulses it onto one of four chutes according to its size.

Once the spat reach 25 mm (about 10 months) they are transferred to growout trays. Tray Culture John makes his own wooden trays from 25mm by 50mm H6 treated pine. With a tray length of 1800 mm and 900 mm wide, 304 stainless nails are used to hold the rectangular frame together with two central bars for extra support. Plastic mesh (12mm) is then attached to the bottom using stainless steel staples. John says can make up 25 of these trays in an eight-hour period. The trays are wired onto intertidal racks made of 1” poly pipe – with 25mm Dowling inserted up the centre – nailed to the top of the treated pine posts laid out in two parallel lines. “We need to keep a close eye on the oysters to ensure they get the best conditions for growth,” John explains. “We add a double layer of shade cloth to keep out fish like leather jackets, toad-

8 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

FARM PROFILE

ies and banjo rays. It only needs a toady to make a small hole in the mesh for it to be opened further by the leather jacket and then a ray can get in and crunch all the oysters.” John says that the shade cloth had another advantage in that it promoted frill growth in the oysters, an important part of the whole oyster growing bigger. “If the oysters are left in the sun, the shell grows thicker to protect the meat. This is what you need when you are finishing the oysters for market (it increases shelf life), but when they are small you want them growing bigger, not heavier. The shade cloth also means no sunlight gets through so you don’t get algae growing on the shells.” Merimbula Lake is usually quite saline, being greater than 34ppt in the summer and falling to low 30’s in the winter. However, John says that there’s a wide salinity variation around the lake depending on freshwater input or tidal flow under the Merimbula causeway bridge. “Water temperature also varies; you can get a big difference between in the Lake and those areas downstream (on the ocean side of the bridge). In

summer you can get average 20-22°C in the Lake and up to 27°C downstream; in winter it can be 11-12°C above the bridge and 12-14°C below it. We have three leases, two are above the bridge and one in Pambula Lake so we can move our oysters around to get the best growing conditions.” But there are restrictions. The Shellfish Quality Assurance Program (SQAP) administered by Safe Foods (the NSW Government agency in charge of ensuring foods are safe for human consumption) regulates movement of oysters over 50g. “As these are near market size, there are rules as to what you can move, or ‘relay’ with non sales periods of between two weeks and three months. The SQAP have rated the waters below the bridge for direct harvest, which means we don’t have to depurate them. Above the bridge the oysters need to be harvested and then cleaned of mud before being put in to UV sterilized water for 36 hours (this is to kill or remove potential micro-organisms which could cause food safety concerns).” Merimbula like many other coastal towns has undergone a housing boom

for more than ten years with thousands of people ‘retiring’ to live on the coast. Fortunately, unlike some other NSW rivers, the sewage outfall is into the ocean, well away from the oyster growing areas. “Some of the water from the treatment works is also used on the golf course and there are plans to pipe it inland for use on agricultural farms rather than ‘waste’ it in the sea.” Every three to four months, the oysters are brought in for thinning and grading. A 7m x 3m punt driven by a 60Hp outboard is used to transport them across the water. The oysters are loaded onto a truck using a lifting boom and driven from the Merimbula boat ramp to the shed about 4 km away at Pambula. “All these oysters are put through our rotary grader (a 3m long length of 150mm diameter PVC pipe). This has a series of holes in it, from 25mm up to 60mm; the oysters fall through a certain sized hole and into 20-litre collection buckets. We can grade up to four sizes at once and can put through twenty 20litre buckets per hour.” John says that the trays are sun-dried for a time to kill and remove any fouling.

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“We have a couple of thousand trays now, plenty for us to grow a good crop.” All trays of oysters are brought in during June and allowed to dry out for 14 days to kill any Sydney Rock over-catch. “Fortunately we don’t have too many Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) in the lakes, although we can get some overcatch by Mud Oysters (Ostrea angasi).” Winter mortality also causes some losses in the lake. “There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it,” says John. “There is something which affects the immune system of the oyster and if others (stressors) come in we can incur large losses.” John makes his own wooden trays from treated pine. According to John, he can make up 25 of these trays within 8 hours

All the oysters are put through the rotary grader where the oysters fall through a certain sized hole and into 20 litre collection buckets to grade up to four sizes at once.

Mac Kay’s oysters have 7ha of intertidal lease on Merimbula Lake and another 2 ha lease on Pambula Lake.

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With two tides (0-2m) per day and good water flow, John says that the oysters are kept fairly well free of silt, so mud worm is not usually a problem. “All our culture is intertidal so the oysters get time to dry out.” He adds it will be interesting to see how things go for those farmers who have recently installed floating cultivation – a fresh water layer on top of the lake after rain may cause a reduction in growth rates although there appears to be little difference between either method of culture. During the drought – which probably stretches back as far as 1992 – lakes salinity has increased and nutrient input limited. This has resulted in lower than normal spat falls and lower growth rates in the oysters (particularly the small spat) and increased winter mortality. “We’ve had a few wet seasons with flash flooding over the last 12-15 years, but it has only been the last two seasons that we’ve had heavy rainfall only in the winter with other seasons being dry.” Oyster Grader Over 12 years ago, AAM featured a story on the McKay oyster grader, which at the time was the only one weighing individual oysters. That original grader is still in operation at the shed. “My dad Murray made it out of necessity. Four growers were in our shed one day arguing about what was the correct grade size and who could do it best (by hand). So they went to set of kitchen scales and checked each weight to see who was closest. Dad kept saying there had to be a better way and went off into

FARM PROFILE

his shed and developed the first grader.” The grader electronically weighs the oyster, then an air jet pulses it onto one of four chutes according to its size. The air jet also keeps the scales clean and the different selection sizes can be programmed into the computer. “Dad has sold several to other farmers up and down the coast. He’s added some more to the program so it can now be turned off and it will retain memory on the weight grades and the counts. You can even re-program it now and it keeps the previous counts. A fine tuning system allows you to tweak the settings up or down a % level to take into account the thickness of the shell. Thus you can increase or decrease the number of oysters you have in a bracket.” John says that at Taree (North coast) there is a pearl (Pinctada fucata) farmer who’s using the McKay grader to grade his stock. It is likely that sales to pearl and edible oyster farms will continue. Harvest and Market “Although we can direct harvest from Pambula Lake, we use our depuration plant for the Merimbula Lake Oysters,” John says. “Our Shellfish Quality Assurance Program (developed in association with Safe Foods NSW) doesn’t allow us to wash oysters out on the lease and we can only harvest at certain times (rainfall at 40mm over 24 hours will automatically close the lake for about a week). The main issue is the amount of birds around and their droppings. We get heaps of juvenile terns and seagulls and pelicans so the faecal coliform counts can be high at times. The faeces usually drop to the bottom where they are broken down by bacterial action. However, if you stir up the bottom or wash more droppings (via rainfall) into the lake the faecal coliform levels increase. Hence the harvest restrictions and the use of the depuration plant to ensure our oysters are always safe to eat.”

elsewhere. They want opened oysters usually and in summer this can make up 80% of our sales; in winter it might drop down to 40%. People have different ideas of the size they want in an oyster, so we try to offer good variety to cater to a wide market.” John has his own views on the debate between hatchery reared stock qualities versus that for wild caught stock. “With my source of collected stock, you will have a spread of oyster growth, some grow quicker and others slower. If you get the poor hatchery stock (slow growers), you’ll still not get good growth. “We look at our stock in the second year and see how they are growing. Sometimes the slower grade can catch up if put in good growing areas, but often they won’t. That’s when you have to make a decision on whether to keep going with them or to cull them out. When you think about it (selective breeding) you can see that we have been doing the wrong thing for many, many years. We sell off our fastest growers first and often it is the slowest growers that are left to have a spawn. Usually around July and August we might have lower supply due to them spawning out.” John would like to see more R&D directed at oyster farming on the South coast. “As the research station is up at Port Stephens (200Km north of Sydney) you tend to get more activity up there. I know they are restricted financially like most Government Departments, but it would

MANAGEMENT METRICS Key Management Decisions for McKay Discount Oysters include: • Use of different leases with varying growing conditions to improve shell and meat growth as well as shelf life. •Oysters graded by weight to ensure quality to the customers. • Grading by the use of the rotary tube grader for sizing and culling only. • Cater for all customers, having a variety of oyster sizes and prices. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): • Culture System utilised: intertidal racks with trays and wild caught single seed. • Growth rate (from stocking to market): <30 months (1.0g to 60g) • Survival rate: less than 50% from first stocking to sale size.

be good to see more work on improving the genetic strain of the oysters” Overall like other growers in the area, John is happy with the way the industry is growing, especially with improved growth rates due to single seed cultivation. He hopes to expand annual production back up to 1000 trays per year. By Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact John McKay, McKay’s Discount Oysters, PO Box 152, Pambula, NSW, 2549. Tel/Fax: 02 6495 6171.

McKay’s oysters are sold at the farm gate. “We also have very regular drive-by customers. Tourists will try out different outlets; if they don’t find what they want in size or price with us, they’ll drive a couple hundred meters up the road or Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 11

The majority of these ‘ranchu’ form goldfish have been counted and sorted into different colour forms and sizes. Photo by Shane Willis

FARM PROFILE

Chinese goldfish for the global economy

Goldfish (Carassius auratus) have long been an important historical element of the Chinese culture, with their form and character being depicted widely in the folk lore, art and life of the people of the country. The popularity of the fish throughout the world has ensured it being a major component of the ornamental industry and, while more farms enter into production in western countries, the speed with which this area of aquaculture is developing in China is truly phenomenal.

oldfish farms in China number in the thousands, varying from small backyard setups selling fish at the local market to government-registered businesses exporting globally – the size of these farms (from an Australian perspective) are very impressive. An example of a typical farm of large export volume can be found at Taihu Lake, which has cultivation tanks covering a total of 150,000 m2 of water. This farm alone exports over 5 million goldfish per annum; a similar farm cultivating 200,000m2 produces 5 million goldfish and 2 million koi each year. Many such farms were situated on city outskirts

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but, with the encroachment of urban sprawl, have had to be removed to designated agricultural zones mostly around Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Suzhou. Currently more than 100 operators are registered to export to western countries. Many originate from a family-run business while some are co-funded or government-owned. A small intensive farm may have up to ten employees for one to two acres of pond while larger farms can have 40 or more employees. The low cost of wages for these agricultural workers allow the industry to be very labour-intensive. In most cases, the fam-

Female ryukin goldfish grown on as brood stock in breeding condition. Photo by Shane Willis

ily will live onsite in basic conditions, with anyone of working age being employed. A well paid employee can earn up to $200 USD per month. The farms are situated either on lakes or by river sources. Water exchange is not commonly used as a means of water quality control, as the quality of the water is not always of a high standard – due to the proximity of other agricultural practices or industry. Most farms exporting high quality fish now use screens to filter out small fish and snails (particularly spiral shelled snails and mystery snails) and other pests from coming into the farm but that is the

FARM PROFILE

limit of water treatment before use. All effluent generally goes straight back to the source of origin without filtration or treatment. Depending on the river source, its degree of pollution, and iproximity to an urban population, the water comes in at parameters that are in accordance with goldfish production, with a hardness of 120ppm, while the pH can vary over quite a wide range (6.5 to 8.2). Total dissolved solid levels can range from 100ppm to over 500 ppm depending on the degree of industrial pollution. Tanks Although the cultivation tanks will vary with the size and setup of the farm there are primarily two types. The smallest consist of concrete sides and bottoms, are generally 3m wide by 8m long by 0.5 meters deep and constructed in lines. Each one is aerated and can be filled by a central supply channel above which there are pathways for easy access to all areas of the pond. For easier harvesting, there is a ‘catching basin’ approximately 1m in diameter and 30 cm deep. This is often used for the higher value fish that require high levels of maintenance, temporary purging and for holding the fish prior to packing. This smaller area can also be used for hatching and raising fry and juveniles until the age of about six weeks, whereupon the whole tank is filled for further grow-out. A pond this size can grow up 20,000 fry into 5cm fish.

off using nets or, in some cases, can hold individual cages for grow–out. In such big ponds paddlewheels supply the aeration and water changes reliant on high rainfall. Export-capable farms often have their grow-out ponds covered by bird netting, to minimise losses from predation. Spawning occurs twice a year (autumn and spring) for goldfish – although some of the cheaper, high volume goldfish lines are spawned year-round in heat controlled hatcheries – and can take place over several days. Brood stock are selected from pre-existing stock grown on specificallyfor this purpose, with males needing to reach 2-3 years of age to be able to breed while females are ready at the age of 3-4 years. Males develop shiny scales around the operculum when they are ready to spawn while the readiness of a female is determined largely by body size. A female can produce 50,000 eggs per pound of body weight; these will hatch 2-8 days after fertilisation (temperature dependent). For the more common forms of goldfish, spawning mats are placed in the ponds and removed each morning into nearby fry ponds for hatching. The mats are made out of any inert, reusable

material – plastic bags, bottle brushes, bundles of reeds, rope or palm leaves. The eggs are scattered throughout the spawning material. If there is an abundance of the material, the stickiness of the eggs will ensure that few are lost into the water column. It is also important that there is a good density of the material to prevent broodstock feeding on the eggs. Losses can be quite dramatic in the first few weeks of development as the fry are very sensitive to changes in water conditions. Cold temperatures can also severely affect the development of the fry with 15°C being the lower limit for growth; this is not a problem for adult fish who happily survive under a layer of ice. Ideal conditions for breeding and fry development include a temperature range of 15-22°C, a pH of 6.5-7.0 and water hardness greater than 150ppm. Water quality and temperature is even more important in the development of the egg and fry for the more ornate goldfish (such as ryukin, ranchu and lionhead) and these will often be spawned in controlled conditions in glass tanks in hatcheries. The more extreme shaped gold fish – such as bubble eyes or telescopes – also require much lower stocking densities in the grow out ponds, to eliminate physical

Medium sized concrete ponds in Quandong Province, covered with bird netting to protect against predators. Photo by Shane Willis

Larger ponds generally have concrete walls with earthen bottoms. Although their areal dimensions can vary (from 10m x 30m up to 20m x 60m) all have a depth of 1-1.5m. Such ponds can be sectioned of with nets to hold different sized fish or fish with different forms. Aeration can be via air-stones or with paddlewheels (it is common to minimise costs by aerating only at night) with any water exchange occurring from a central supply pipe to an outflow pipe. Large earthen ponds of several acres are also found; these may also be sectioned Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 13

FARM PROFILE

damage to their features.

The fry feed on algal blooms and zooplankton present in the pond until they are of a size that can take a diet of wholemeal flour and dried fish. This is given in a dry, ground form twice a day. Bigger fish are fed a dried pellet diet, twice daily. Such diets are often produced locally and can contain various fish and meat products for protein, and flour products for carbohydrates. Much more attention is now being paid to quality food products by those larger farms that export their product in order to boost stock health and increase fertility and spawning success.

1. These large redcap orandas are being kept in a packing tank and purged before shipment. 2. The goldfish are visually checked for uniformity of size, colour and body form before being released for shipment. 3. Male rnachu goldfish grown on to breeding size. 4. Hand made nets and sorting trays are used to separate fish during harvesting. 5. Goldfish being grownout to spawning size schooling for an expected feed. Photographs by Shane Willis

All harvesting is done by hand after the pond has been drained into the small catchment area or, for larger ponds, the fish are wide netted into a smaller area which can be partitioned off for easier sorting. The fish are netted into small, floating pens with mesh bottoms and sorted into colours and body forms. The smallest size generally marketed is 5cm while the largest is 25-30cm due to the limited survival of a fish this size in transit and the lengthy time it takes to grow them. After sorting, the fish are moved into glass tanks in an indoor packing room where they are visually inspected, starved, treated for parasites and packed. The water used for transporting is often treated with ammonia blockers (used to chemically bind any ammonia and reduce its toxicity) and antibiotics to help eliminate bacterial infections. Some farms add a small piece of raw ginger to each bag, believing that its aids the immune system and decreases bacteria populations. Traditionally, goldfish exports from China accessed the world through other Asian distribution markets, notably Hong Kong and Singapore. Recently, the introduction of the government run Exit-Entry Quarantine and Inspection Bureau, has allowed China to reap the benefits of directly marketing and transporting fish into the lucrative European and American and the much smaller Australian market. This system provides for farm inspection from government

14 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

FARM PROFILE

MANAGEMENT METRICS

Farm site in Quandong province showing pond construction and staff accommodation.

Key Management Decisions for China’s goldfish industry include: • Education of industry in disease management. • Development of quality global export industry. • Education in stock management and improvement.

Photo by Shane Willis

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture System utilised: constructed ponds with limited aeration • Growth rate (from stocking to market): 4 months at 22oC to 5cm • Survival rate: 75% from first stocking to sale size

animal health officials to constantly monitor the stock for disease and standard procedures. Disease detection is mainly done visually as not all farms have access to technology such as microscopes or knowledge of hygiene practices. Common problems include parasites that infect the gills, skin or intestinal tracts and bacterial problems in the gills due to high biological loading in the water. The latter problem is generally rectified by dumping the tank contents and disinfecting the tank with lime, which in turn creates the problem of high ph values when it is restocked. On the smaller farms, dead fish may simply removed from the stock and the survivors sold on without treatment. This, of course, generates huge stock loses for buyers further down the line. That’s why general disease knowledge and treatment is now a focus of regulatory bodies to help improve the industry. Extension officers work with the farmers to improve overall fish quality and disease control with the goal of certifying each farm’s health status. Fish samples are taken from the farms on a regular basis and tested for a range of viruses and bacterial diseases to meet European, USA and Australian health

certification programs and bio-security concerns. The fish are tested for up to 11 notifiable diseases, including spring viraemia of carp (SVC), epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) and koi herpes virus (KHV), as well as more common place problems. Farms can, and have been, closed down for break down in disease concerns; the government takes the expansion of this significant export industry very seriously and realises that constant quality improvements are necessary to underpin the confidence of overseas buyers.

the hobby is increasing in all western countries, their governments are paradoxically showing little interest in homegrown ornamental industries. Little wonder then that no wonder that China is seizing the initiative to bolster the success of its iconic fish.

Another measure is to restrict the trade of stock from areas of known disease risks, preventing the contamination of other farms and the introduction of viral diseases into broodstock.

Complete sales & service of:

Minimal power and water usage and low wage costs enable the farms to produce fish that are highly competitive in the international market, even after transport and ongoing costs (such as maintaining a quarantine facility) are taken into account. A 5cm goldfish can be landed in Australia for between 4 – 11 cents (U.S), depending on the source of origin’s own market price. A good quality specialty fish can be landed into Australia for approximately $US40 while rarer and highly sought colour varieties can reach a price of up to $US1000. Although the popularity of

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Prawn importers question draft import risk analysis February 15th was the final date for submissions in response to BioSecurity Australia’s latest Import Risk Analysis on Prawns and Prawn Products. According to Norm Grant, former Publisher of Seafood Australia magazine (which ceased in 2006) the current draft recommends much tougher import restrictions, including a total ban on the 2,000 tonnes of whole raw prawns we currently import and new testing of over 14,000 tonnes of cutlets and meat (equivalent to 28,000 tonnes whole weight). Whilst many producers question why any possibility of a potential disease incursion should be defended at all, Norm offers an insight into why importers are prepared to go all the way to a World Trade Organisation dispute panel, for a better outcome. 1

any of you will remember me as Publisher and editor of Seafood Australia over a 15 year period. What you may not know is that I was originally a fisherman (for ten years) and have spent the past thirty years working for the interests of Australian producers, as well for as the broader seafood industry. I still have that interest very much at heart. So why do I now feel obliged to make known the arguments of importers have in relation to the Prawn IRA? It’s to support a couple of basic principals. The first is simple: we need the food. To borrow a more eloquent expression from the chair of the new Seafood CRC, Peter Dundas-Smith: “Australia needs more seafood, not less”.

For those not familiar with the statistics, here are the simple facts of the matter. In very round numbers Australia produces (wild catch and aquaculture) 1. Typical retail display these days, with a mix of local and imported prawns 2. Prawn farmers say cheaper prices means anglers can now afford cutlets as bait – but the prices aren’t all that cheap. In any case, the vast majority is sold to restaurants, say importers. 3. Thai prawns are inspected for clinical signs of white spot, as well tested before export, to reduce disease risk.

16 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

about 250,000 tonnes of seafood annually and exports about 50,000. (Much of what remains is not regarded as table fish.) At the current rate of per capita consumption, our demonstrated usage exceeds 400,000 tonnes so we need to import the balance of about 200,000 tonnes. The numbers are a bit misleading. Most of what is imported comes (understandably, as freight has to be paid) in highly processed or edible form. However, statistics for Australian production generally refers to whole weight - so the percentage of imported seafood that Australian’s depend on to make the per capita average is closer to 70%. If you are fanatically fussy about eating Australian-only fish, there is worse news. By 2020, import demand will be closer to 500,000 tonnes, and by 2050 close to a million tonnes (these estimates are based on further reductions in wild catches and not much growth in aquaculture). This is one of the reasons why those of us who have been involved in seafood promotion over the past 30 years get a little annoyed when we hear the current regime of self-appointed experts citing an increase in per capita consumption (usually by ‘just one kilo’) as a policy to

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solve the price / revenue problems of Australian producers. I hope they are booking a container ship at the same time because overseas is the only place that sort of volume is going to come from (Vietnam will be very grateful for the market development assistance.) The fact is Australia has little seafood import replacement potential – at least in the medium-term. Wild catch fisheries are at sustainable limits, and aquaculture seems to have advanced in every aspect except production volume. Prawns are a good example. Virtually 25 years since the first prawn farming venture started here, we have a mere 25 operational farms, stuck on an annual production of about 3,000 tonnes. Limited species choice, climate, labour costs, disease impacts such as mid-crop mortality and, of course, competition from imports have all conspired to keep the industry in the doldrums. Elsewhere in the world, however, prawn farming has gone ballistic. Thailand alone will produce in excess of 500,000 tonnes this year (despite the presence of WSSV and other diseases). World-wide there has been an incredible boom in prawn production, thanks largely to the emergence of faster growing species such as vannamei and stylirostris and vastly improved disease control. Production volume has soared and prices plummeted – to the point where prawns are now one of the most consumed species of seafood. In the highly indicative US market, they are indeed number one, exceeding consumption of long-time staples such as canned tuna and salmon.

The Consequences of Disease Biosecurity Australia, of course, will argue that this is a quarantine issue only and that economic consequences are outside its consideration. That principal has not been reflected in the accompanying public discussion. Nor has the principal of a science-based outcome. In fact, the whole risk / consequence scenario in the public arena appears to have been deliberately muddied by mythology and propaganda. I was disappointed to see a recent prawn industry news release citing a CSIRO estimate putting the damage caused by WSSV to prawn farming industries around the world at 30 to 50 billion dollars. That figure might be right but it hardly has any bearing on

an Australian industry that has a total annual production value of just $50 million. It would have been less misleading to have quoted the report commissioned by AQIS for this IRA (Economic Impact Of Establishment Of Exotic Prawn Disease – 1999) that puts “the maximum national cost for either disease (WSSV and IHHNV) at less than $17 million”. That report continues: “None of this loss would occur in the wild caught sector of the industry.” This contention, that there would be no impact on wild catch production AT ALL, is supported by a major report also undertaken for AQIS in 1999 by the late Chris Baldock (Environmental impact of the establishment of exotic prawn pathogens in Australia). Prof. Tim Flegel, one of the world’s

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Prawns can’t be ignored. If we have a target for seafood consumption in Australia, then prawns have to be an important part of that simply because the world can efficiently produce them. So when it comes to weighing up the risk and consequence of disease incursion from imports, against the benefit of this important food source to ALL Australians, we should make sure we have the whole picture in focus. Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 17

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Fishermen are right behind tighter import restrictions, although any impact on wild prawn harvests would be ‘undetectable’. Higher prices for Endeavour and Banana prawn are a more likely result.

So what is the risk? According to Prof. Flegel, since the mid1950s there has NEVER been an exotic disease transmission from prawns imported for human consumption, anywhere in the world. Asia alone has exported over 12 million tonnes of prawns in that time and most importing countries have allowed unrestricted use of those imports. All exotic prawn disease incursions have resulted from farmers importing diseased brood stock or fry. Again, that’s a very different picture to the one of imminent disaster given to the media in the lead up to the IRA consultation deadline. What about the surge in import volumes? Certainly Australia’s prawn imports have grown considerably since the previous IRA draft was released, in line with the world-wide boom in prawn production. However, almost all of that increased volume has been in cooked prawns – hence ‘safe’. At the same time, the use of Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) brood stock has seen an enormous reduction in the incidence of viral disease in Asia. In light of this, however you estimate the risk, it is almost certainly less than it was five years ago.

There ARE serious consequences for prawn farmers, of course and I have no intention of down playing those. Their reliance on disease-free wild-caught brood stock is one. Another, perhaps more urgent reason is that, by their own admission, many are hanging on by the skin of their teeth and simply can’t afford any disruption to harvests or additional costs.

What about imported prawns being used by anglers? All sides debate this in great detail in their IRA submissions (which should be available on-line by now). I don’t want to present just one side of that debate here but, to give a quick insight into why so many scientists downplay this pathway, I will say this. There is a big difference between proving disease transfer by direct injection in a laboratory and speculating about disease transfer in the wild - i.e. via prawns eating a bait that is dangled in salt water to catch fish.

The Risk Let me take a Frequently Asked Questions approach to putting the risk in a perspective that resembles the real world (which is not the intention of some in this debate).

It is a question of probabilities and I refer you to the overwhelming statistic above to show how low that probability must be. In addition, importers agreed to Restricted Use conditions in 2002 which prohibits the importation of whole green prawns less than 15 grams – eliminating

The prawn fleet at Raptis in Brsibane.

leading experts on prawn diseases (and whose references are quoted throughout science-based submissions from all sides in this IRA debate) visited Australia in mid-February. He told me that, based on world-wide experience, the impact of WSSV on Australia’s wild prawn production, if the disease did enter, would be ‘undetectable’. All this is a far cry from the multi-billion dollar environmental ‘catastrophe’ that has been propagated in the media during the past 18 months. The public has been seriously misled about this. So have many prawn fishermen, causing unnecessary anguish and perhaps influencing their personal economic decisions. Those fishermen ought to be demand18 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

ing an explanation from governments and their own leadership, on this issue.

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the size range identified in a bait and berley survey as preferred by anglers. Indeed, that survey showed that almost no other prawns were used. A more recent survey (which Biosecurity Australia has refused to release) is believed to show that that usage is unchanged. What about prawn farmers themselves using imported prawns as feed? This one ‘gob-smacked’ importers when it was added to the latest version of the IRA Report as a high-risk pathway – suddenly bumping it over the Acceptable Level of Protection (ALOP). No-one doubts that if a sizable quantity of imported whole raw prawns was mulched into a home-made feed and dropped directly into a hatchery or brood stock pond, that the risk of disease incursion would go through the roof. But is this a realistic scenario? One that warrants costing the Australian community up to half a billion dollars annually in lost commerce generated by these imports in restaurants and clubs around Australia? I won’t waste paragraphs expanding on this other than to make the quick comparison with banning matches to prevent bush fires. (For those not familiar with the industry, it is a HIGHLY unlikely scenario in that it would involve a deliberate, commercially suicidal and illegal act.) What subsequent research into this pathway did reveal, however, was some serious flaws in the internal bio-security arrangements of many prawn farms. It also highlighted the fact that governments have failed to implement or enforce interim recommendations made in the previous IRA draft Report to tighten bio-security. Importers think it’s a bit rough targeting their trade in lieu of enforcing responsibilities that lie squarely with governments and prawn farmers. What about tests that show prawns in supermarkets have diseases? On the basis that ‘truth in science’ is another principal I am now passionate about, this could become my favourite subject in the future. A lot of the urgency and rhetoric in recent months

has been the result of some much-publicised PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests done by QDPI scientists on prawns obtained from supermarkets in Queensland. They say every sample batch tested positive to a prawn disease, and 14 of the 16 batches tested positive for WSSV. I can’t comment on the results other than to say that they are remarkable. AQIS currently checks all incoming whole raw prawns for WSSV using the PCR test, and over several thousand tonnes, I believe the average incidence has been about 13%. Those shipments have been rejected, so the incidence of WSSV-infected prawns getting through could be expected to be much lower. Yet the QDPI tests on 80 prawns found about 90% were infected with WSSV. Even more remarkable, the samples included cutlets and meat. It is an acknowledged fact that removing the head and shell significantly reduces the viral load (hence AQIS has been unconcerned about shell-off prawns until now) but these tests still showed 90% incidence. No details of the tests have been released other than a summary. What I have discovered in my own literature research is that the PCR test is unreliable and indicates a greater presence of disease than is actually the case. This is not just my opinion, but that of Queensland scientists Kerry Claydon, Brad Cullen and Leigh Owens (the latter a member of the current IRA panel) from James Cook University in Townsville who have published a paper on this very subject. The PCR test frequently shows ‘falsepositives’ which, when re-checked by bioassay, prove to be negative. Further, the PCR cannot distinguish infective doses from non-infective doses nor can it distinguish active from non-activated virus. For instance, cooking inactivates these viruses yet a cooked prawn can record a positive PCR test. Contamination of samples resulting in false-positives is common, and when samples are split between two labs (as is safest) the results frequently conflict. A spectacular PCR faux pas occurred in 2003 when former NSW Fisheries Minister Edie Obied closed Sydney Harbour

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Massey University in New Zealand, provide an even higher level of protection than the restrictions recommended by BioSecurity Australia. (Remarkably, the Massey University team found that BioSecurity Australia’s own recommendations would not meet Australia’s ALOP.) Let’s hope that a truly science-based outcome prevails and that future management controls are based on what is really needed to protect Australia’s biosecurity, and not on ‘rough science’ or covert industry protection.

Australia’s prawn production shortfall is about 30,000 tonnes (whole weight equivalent) based on current consumption. In15 years it could be treble that. Elsewhere, a global boom in vannamei production is filling the gap.

to angling over the Easter holiday break after the ‘discovery’ of WSSV infected prawns there. Two weeks later, after rechecking, the Harbour was declared WSSV-free again. However, there was an even more significant PCR-related incident in 2000, when a carton of imported prawns was found in the Darwin Aquaculture Centre. No one knows if they were used for anything but, as a precaution, all crustaceans (and prawns being cultured at the nearby NT University) were destroyed, equipment disinfected and samples collected for WSSV testing. Positive PCR tests resulted from a number of those samples including prawns from Darwin Harbour. However, the tests were never verified by bioassay. A survey of the harbour later in the year showed it was disease-free. The only two conclusions I can draw are: a) an incursion never actually occurred, or b) even in this worst case scenario, the infection of a hatchery, the disease failed to establish in local marine life. This incident is heavily relied upon by BioSecurity Australia as a precedent for the otherwise highly unlikely prawn hatchery pathway but due to the unreliability of the PCR test, it’s hard to know what really happened. More than likely, 20 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

there was no outbreak at all, but politicians at the time made the most of it, resulting in further import restrictions – those that are currently in force. It seems an extremely unreliable basis for regulating international trade. Importers can be forgiven for complaining that their shipments can be rejected, at very great expense, on the basis of a testing regime that simply doesn’t do what is required: accurately identify an infective disease. BioSecurity Australia argues that, based on the precautionary principal, the test is adequate but few people in business could accept such a flawed system as the basis of multi-million dollar import / export trade. That’s why importers – and the countries that supply them – are so strongly objecting to PCR tests on cutlets and meat. Not only are there insufficient labs to do the testing (so trade would effectively cease) but subjecting 14,000 tonnes of product a year to a demonstrably-unreliable testing system that just isn’t a commercial option. Nor is it a good option on which to base Australia’s bio-security. Sensibly, importers have put a case for a different set of management controls that, in the opinion of an extremely eminent group of scientists led by Prof. Roger Morris of

There is an important precedent here. Australia will import a lot of seafood over coming decades, and a focus on trying to hold back the massive weight of international production from a country increasingly starved for seafood, risks overlooking some of the enormous opportunities that will soon emerge for local producers. Australia is in the process of generating overwhelming demand for seafood in dozens of domestic niche markets. Efficiency, product quality and market innovation are the keys to success in these markets and, ironically, engagement with importers and their marketing and technical resources, may be one of the most powerful tools that clever producers can mobilise to take advantage of these opportunities. References Environmental Impact of the Establishment of Exotic Prawn Pathogens in Australia. A consultancy report to AQIS - Chris Baldock, AusVet Animal Health (March 1999). Economic Impact of Establishment of Exotic Prawn Disease - Alliance Resource Economics, for AQIS (April 1999). OIE White Spot Syndrome Virus PCR Gives False-Positive Results in Cherax Quadricarinatus - Kerry Claydon, Bradford Cullen and Leigh Owens. Microbiology and Immunology, James Cook University, Townsville. By Norm Grant For more information contact Norm Grant on seafooda@bigpond.net.au

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Stricter quarantine management of imported prawns is warranted T

he Australian Prawn Farmers Association has welcomed the proposal from Biosecurity Australia to implement stronger quarantine management protocols for uncooked imported prawns. To knowingly allow diseased product into Australia, and place a direct threat to our member’s livelihood is unacceptable. To date, all truly independent crustacean health experts have stated that the risk Australia faces to exotic disease incursion are high, and by independent we mean those that have no financial ties to either the Asian or Australian prawn farming industries. For example, Professor Donald Lightner, the world’s leading prawn health scientist who is based in the US and has no formal ties to the industries, has written to the Australian industry stating this. The majority of Australian based crustacean disease experts, who receive more funding to assist Asian countries with adapting to their disease problems than on projects with the Australian industry, are all warning of the dangers. The proposal put forward by Biosecurity is far from the ‘ban’ that many stake-

holders have made it out to be. Whilst whole green imported prawns will all but stop, these prawns make up less than 5% of the total prawn market in Australia. Prawn Cutlets, which will now be subject to testing, are not being banned. All that is required from the exporting nations and Australian prawn importers is to source this product from prawn farms that are not affected by devastating prawn viruses and prove this is the case with testing. The testing will be an added cost, however at less than $1/kg it is not a lot to ask to ensure Australia is kept free of diseases that overseas experience has clearly demonstrated can wipe an industry out in the blink of an eye. If product fails the testing, it can be either cooked or value added in an AQIS approved facility. Cooked prawns and value added prawns, which make up the majority of imported prawns will not be affected by the proposed quarantine measures.

The Australian industry has competed with imported product for many years, and will continue to do so. However claims that we are protectionist and trade restrictive should be dismissed. The opposite is in fact true. All prawns imported into Australia have no tariff applied to them. However the majority of countries (Thailand, China etc) that export prawns to Australia impose large tariffs (10-20%) on all Australian prawns entering their countries, regardless of Free Trade Agreements. Who is being trade restrictive? Imported seafood is an extremely important part of the broader Australian seafood market. However that does not mean that risks associated with its importation should be ignored. The Australian Government expects a lot from local industry, the Australian prawn farming industry has developed under a regulatory regime based on the precautionary principle, and our seafood imports should be expected to do the same. By Scott Walter, Executive Officer, Australian Prawn Farmers Association Inc Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 21

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Signature restaurant spreads Sydney rock oyster message A top class seafood restaurant at Pambula (south coast NSW) has been established by oyster farmers to showcase the Sydney rock oyster and other local produce. Housed in a spectacular purpose built wood, rock and iron building, the restaurant and associated café and deli-type shop is proving very popular with locals and tourists.

yster farmers Hugh and Debbie Wheeler wanted to do more than just grow and sell Sydney rock oysters (Saccostrea commercialis). They wanted to use the oyster as a major tourism attraction for NSW’s Sapphire Coast. “We focused on Australia’s northern tourism migration (everyone seems to go north for holidays). If you live in Victoria you go to NSW. If you live in NSW you go to northern NSW or Queensland. As you move north the climate changes and so does the produce in these areas. Others like the Big Banana and the Big Pineapple had proven that people are interested in the different products of these northern areas. As oysters are not farmed in Victoria we

thought this would be an opportunity to follow the success of those tourism icons with a product foreign to the Victorian tourist who flock to Merimbula for holiday. Since the settlement of Merimbula began, oyster farming has played an important role in the town’s economy. Merimbula oysters have become famous throughout Australia and the world for their excellent quality and flavour, resulting in many awards for farmers. We didn’t want a big model oyster but we wanted somewhere for locals and tourists alike to enjoy this unique oyster.” The Wheelers had been running oyster farm tours as well as a takeaway shop and small restaurant at Pambula on the busy road between Pambula and Merimbula for more than 23 years. The success of that led to the $1,500,000 restaurant that has been attracting great crowds since it was opened in September 2003.

“We wanted a signature building that would attract drive-by business so we used 40-50cm beams from an old railway bridge to form the front. More wood and pillars of local stone, wide verandas and an unusual three-peaked iron roof complete the picture. We have a building that allows us to focus on a product that consumers believe is a luxury and a pleasure to eat. People don’t normally eat oysters at home. We have created a destination that does justice to what their expectations are.” Hugh says that everything was thoroughly planned to make a real impact, from the building, to the tables and chairs, to the friendly service to the

As well as featuring a restaurant and farm tours Wheelers Oysters also has a retail shop which during peak times can sell up to 600 dozen opened oysters a day.

22 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

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sumptuous dishes. “We present the oysters in the best way possible in a casual relaxed atmosphere, not necessarily the most expensive. Our oyster prices are higher than the clubs in the area,but we are certainly not the highest. Natural oysters are around $20 per dozen. You’d pay more than $30 for similar oysters in Sydney, up to $48 in top end restaurants.”

Hectic Opening The Wheelers started the building on January 2003 with a deadline for the grand opening on 1st September 2003. It actually opened only one day later. From there it has been “full-on” according to Hugh. “We were unprepared for the huge crowds that turned up ... it was very hectic, unbelievable in fact. We had done a little advertising on the radio; however, there was a spontaneous word of mouth promotion with locals telling holiday makers and others to try us out. We thought it would be an easy transition from the small restaurant doing lunches to a 120 seat one doing lunches and dinners. We brought across all of our staff from the other business but we were just overwhelmed with the response.” The crowds continued for more than nine months after opening. “The slowdown came in the winter (2004) which gave us time to catch up, such as train more staff, fix things up, and concen-

The restaurant offers a whole page of oyster dishes from the traditional natural and Kilpatrick to more exotic styles that have proven very popular.

trate on making improvements. Even then we were getting around 100 people a day for lunch and dinner.”

new facility took sometime to determine

Previously they had operated for lunches only (11am till 4pm) but the

of 1.5 seatings per time (lunch or din-

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“We have constructed the menu to focus on oysters and other local seafood. We have a whole page of oyster dishes ranging from natural, the old favourite Kilpatrick, to more exotic styles that have proven very popular. We have found that the average sales through the restaurant give us around six oysters per person which is much higher oyster sales per person than most restaurants. On busy days we have served close to 400 people leading to 100 dozen oysters for the day just through our own restaurant. With our retail shop also selling oysters for takeaway and home consumption. It’s not uncommon in our peak times to sell 600 dozen opened oysters a day.”

Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 23

MARKETING

the restaurant for lunches from 12pm till 3pm seven days a week and for dinners from Monday to Saturday from 6pm till late. The shop and café is open from 9am till 5pm seven days a week with longer hours in season. We serve oysters year round and we want to ensure we are selling only the best quality oysters. Because ours can be less than perfect leading up to Christmas we get oysters down from Foster and Port Macquarie. We still sell up to 200 bags to Sydney Fish Market during winter and we have sales to some local outlets and up to the Snowy Mountains as well as our own café. Local seafood and produce The Wheelers focus on promoting high quality local products. “We want to offer the best local seafood as well as other produce. We are fortunate here to have a great selection of quality products. It’s not like we are in the city and can go to the market and select the best seafood available on that day. But do we want to give the perception to our clientele that we build our menu around the best and freshest of local seafood. So we change the menu every day to offer a real diversity of dishes ... lobster 24 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

The Wheelers focus on promoting high quality local seafood as well as other produce.

from Narooma, Balmain Bugs from Eden, Kingfish from Bermagui. This is our menu building philosophy.” Hugh says that they source local seafood from as far south as Lakes Entrance (300km) and up to Narooma (250km to the north). “We get a range of fresh Scallops, Bugs, Rock Lobsters, Ocean Snapper, Ling, Flathead and other ‘fish of the day’. To add to this we can get local Eastern King Prawns for a couple of months; for the rest of the year we use Crystal Bay Banana Prawns from a farm in north Queensland. There’s also farmed Atlantic Salmon from Tasmania, Hiramasi Kingfish and Suzuki Mulloway from South Australia and even Barramundi from a farm a couple of doors up (Mitch’s Barramundi). All the fish is supplied whole and we fillet them ourselves to make a 200g portion size. The Barra was available down to pan size (350g) but now we have been getting fish up to 2kg and

serve Barra fillet instead of whole Barra.” A feature of the menu is the ‘pairing’ of all this delicious seafood with special recipes or local condiments. “We have a range of special sauces, dressings and spices made by ourselves or local businesses. For example, we use products from the Tathra Beach Pickle Factory and the Saucy Spice Company; both sell their product to select markets, even overseas. We make our special poppy seed Wheelers Salad Dressing and have our own wine label Bidgebong featuring wines from Tumburramba near Tumut in the Snowy Mountains. This includes Chardonnay, Merlot and Shiraz.” Popular dishes include our seafood platter which has become a real signature of a ‘Wheelers experience’. It has everything including lobsters, oysters, bugs, crabs, and fish. The most common comment from those who have tried it is ‘It’s the best we’ve ever had’. Lime prawns are the next most popular dish

MARKETING

which is served with crispy noodles and a sweet chilli dressing. “In the takeaway shop we don’t do just a plain ‘fish and chips’; there are plenty of other places around here where people can go for that. Our clientele are more taste conscious and are looking for something different. Thus our lime prawns offer something different to deep fried prawns and then you can add a take home platter with fresh oysters, prawns and lobster and a fresh salad and the meal is complete.” Farm Tours Education of the public about the special taste and high quality of the Sydney rock oyster is the focus of the daily farm tours. “By this education we create our business,” Hugh explains. “We show people the differences between our Sydney rock oyster and the Pacific oyster,and how to identify them. We show them how good our rocks can taste and the care that is taken in producing them for sale.” “Oyster farming is Australia’s oldest form of aquaculture but until now very little information has been available to the public about how oysters are farmed. We have been offering the opportunity for people to discover the complete oyster story. We have a tour of our state-of-the-art factory at 11m Monday to Saturday. The tour includes our own video showing the complete history of oyster farming and the life cycle of oysters. People can also see our oyster purification system and watch experts opening oysters. To date we have probably had more than 100,000 people go through the tours since we started them back in 1995.” Hugh says that the NSW Farmers Federation had been doing some very good promotional work with both types of oysters. “There has been a fear factor with eating oysters in NSW for some people, however, people can be very confident with local oysters now. With the aging population, there has been a decline in oyster consumption, so all of industry needs to continue working hard to make oysters popular again.” At present the Wheelers are growing

Since opening in September 2003 the restaurant has had great success.

most of their oysters on sticks. However, they are phasing this out with floating baskets. Hugh says that this type of culture gives oysters in very good condition with a shorter growing period as they are able to feed continuously. “Our most popular oyster size is the gourmet or plate grade, around 50g each. These look good on a plate and we can serve them with consistent size all year round. People want consistency; it’s not good to give big oysters one day and small oysters the next. We get regular comments that people like the rock oysters more than the Pacific oysters. But in Victoria there is buyer resistance to anything from Sydney. We use the local product as our customers see it as local and sort of quirky and special.”

By Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Hugh and Debbie Wheeler, Wheelers Oysters Seafood Restaurant, 162 Arthur Kaine Drive (opposite Pambula-Merimbula Golf Club), Pambula, NSW, 2548 Tel: 02 6495 6330, Fax: 02 6495 6289 Email: hugh@wheelersoysters.com.au Web: www.wheelersoysters.com.au

“We are delighted with the success of our new complex. We had a great deal of confidence that the concept would be successful and now that the teething troubles have been overcome our future looks bright. We are hoping to develop new interesting tourist options for people and at the same time restructuring our farm to embrace new farming technologies such as selected line stock and improved environmentally friendly farming methods. “If you’re passing Merimbula call in and take a look around, stay for lunch or come on an oyster tour. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.” Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 25

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

Egg incubator shows promise for redclaw High fecundity and the additional costs of intensification have seen almost all freshwater crayfish farmers in Australia abandon hatcheries for pond breeding. Whilst this may mean some cost savings, the benefits of highly managed selective breeding have become unattainable for the industry. A freshwater crayfish egg incubator from Finland is now being tested in Queensland for redclaw (Cherax quadricarinatus). If successful, it is likely that the technology would be readily adaptable to other freshwater crayfish species such as Marron (C. tenuimanus) or Yabbies (C. destructor), particularly in the production of disease-free juveniles enhancing survival and growth. Colin with the first Aussie Hemputin.

s a boy growing up in Perth, Colin Valverde was always interested in creepy crawly things. About 13 years ago Colin and his Swiss wife Ursula, visited a few marron farms in Western Australia, a trip which changed their lives. “We were hooked on the idea of becoming crayfish farmers. After a six year stint in Switzerland we returned to Australia in 2003 to re-establish an old run down redclaw farm on the Atherton Tablelands near Cairns Queensland. The property had been left for a few years and was in quite a state, but with our two young boys Nicolas (now aged 11) and Samuel (aged 9) we are well underway to get26 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

ting it up to production again. I have nearly finished a Post Graduate Diploma in Aquaculture at Deakin University. We have since been working towards becoming poor crayfish farmers which we have now achieved!” Colin says with wry humour. Their AquaVerde Crayfish farm has 38 ponds covering a total of 4ha. Until recently, Colin and Ursula have used pond breeding to maintain their stocks of redclaw. But they had been thinking of another way. “I met Dr Brett Edgerton (a retired crayfish pathologist) at a redclaw conference in 2003 where he explained the tech-

nique of crayfish egg incubation that he had seen while visiting Finland. It sounded very interesting and so I travelled to Finland in October 2004 to speak to local crayfish biologists Teuvo Jävenpää (Helsinki) and Jappo Jussila (Kuopio University). Both were kind enough to take me on a tour around Finland’s very old and culturally significant crayfish farming industry.” Crayfish is a very important part of life for the Finns and they were desperate to restore native populations of the noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) after the American Crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci) had decimated them. The plague

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

had been introduced into Italy in 1860 with the accidental introduction of the American red swamp crawfish (Procambarus clarkia). The Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) was introduced to Europe in the early 1900s because it was resistant to the plague. Unfortunately it still carried the plague and was ultimately responsible for it’s spread through-out Europe. About 25 years ago Teuvo and a government team began work trying to develop a crayfish egg incubator as a means of producing plague-free juveniles for restocking lakes and waterways. Colin explained that after many trials and tribulations using methods similar to fish egg incubation (such as air bubbles to suspend eggs in a conical glass vessel and trapping eggs between netting), Teuvo had a flash of insight and came up with a crayfish egg incubation system that was eventually called the Hemputin. “In a Hemputin the eggs are stripped from the female’s tail and are held in over 500 specially designed 100ml plastic baskets which are held in place by a stainless steel rack. The rack sits in a fibreglass tray (3m long by 550mm wide by 100mm deep). An electric motor connected to the rack rocks the baskets backwards and forwards and up and down to generate a careful and gentle current of water that probably simulates the mother’s pleopod (swimmerets) movements. In conjunction with the basket design this keeps the eggs tumbling within and allowing the entire egg surface to be available for oxygen uptake.” Colin says the incubator had enjoyed success in Finland and has produced large numbers of crayfish free from the plague. “So today a reasonable proportion of Finland’s 140,000 lakes are now sustaining populations of plague-free crayfish.” But the war against the plague still rages on. Disease free offspring However, it is in the production of disease-free offspring that makes Colin very excited about how the Hemputin could provide benefits to freshwater crayfish growers around Australia.

Redclaw eyed eggs in the incubator.

Reclaw just after their second moult in the incubator.

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consistent results. However there is still room for improvement and I suppose there always will be.” A special insulated room (21m2) has been built for the incubator and the temperature is maintained at 25-28°C. Colin says temperature regulation has been a problem, particularly during hot weather and he’s considering purchasing an air-conditioner. The Hemputin is kept it total darkness to inhibit the growth of algae and water is circulated at around 60lt per minute Whilst natural spring water on the property is used for the growout ponds, water for the incubator comes from a 5m deep well, which was also used for drinking water. This is filtered (50µm) and UV filtered (Lifegaurde 40 watt). Baskets of eggs in the Hemputin.

This is possible due to the following disease transmission principles: • The mother does not pass viruses to the eggs. Rather, the viruses are transferred after the eggs hatch or more specifically once the juveniles begin to feed. • Fungal (i.e. Psorospermium) and bacterial infections along with protozoan (i.e. Epistylis) and metazoan parasites are restricted to the outside of the egg. Therefore if the eggs are stripped from the female and their outside is sterilised, and then incubated separately from the mother, the juveniles produced are Specific Pathogen Free (SPF). “Although the SPF properties of the Hemputin have not been systematically and scientifically tested for redclaw, the anecdotal evidence is starting to accumulate that SPF Redclaw are produced.” (NB: Post graduate students who would like to test this as a project might like to contact Colin). “SPF crayfish result in better survival and increased growth rates as the crayfish does

This fellow has a long way to grow.

28 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

not have to combat disease. In addition, there could be a reduction in the amount of crayfish that were unmarketable due to parasites, including unsightly ectocommensals, such as Temnocephalids, and other Helminth worms that normally co-exist with crayfish.” Colin says it’s hard to know (at this stage) if it is possible to completely eradicate diseases from an existing farm. “New farms, however, could start by stocking with juveniles from the Hemputin and be in the fortunate position of starting and maintaining a disease-free farm.”

“The water from our well is very clean but unfortunately quite acid at around pH5.5 with low hardness of round 20ppm. pH is increased to between 7 and 8.5 and hardness increased to 100ppm.” Colin says dissolved oxygen has to be kept as close to saturation as possible for the five-week incubation period And regular cleaning of filters, tray and partial water exchange are essential. Eggs are stripped from the females by gently grabbing the base of each pleopod with tweezers and drawn upwards. This does no damage to the female and surprising little damage to the eggs.

Colin’s decision to try the Hemputin with redclaw came after “a big night out with the Finnish farmers eating crays, drinking wine and Schnaps”. He had the two major components shipped back to Australia and constructed the rest to make a working system.

Colin says his incubator has 540 baskets with each one holding up to 450 eggs. “Eggs from one female go into one basket and, if there are too many eggs, they will be split into another basket. But the eggs from different females are never mixed.”

“Murphy’s Law applied exceptionally well,” he continues. “I suppose that’s what you get when you are trail blazing.” A few unforseen circumstances – like Cyclone Larry taking out his hothouse and breeding tanks, depriving him power for ten days and killing 50,000 hatchlings – didn’t help either.

Dead eggs and/or dead hatchlings must be removed by hand to limit exposure to Saprolegnia infection. Depending on how successful or unsuccessful the incubation is progressing, this task can become quite tedious and labour intensive. “We are currently testing ways to see how we can remove them more efficiently.

“My experiences with the Hemputin have been frustrating for the first year but I am now getting on top of the problems and beginning to get good

“In Finland, the Hemputin reliably allows up to 150,000 eggs to be incubated in one go, with previously unheard of sur-

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

vival rates approaching 90%.â&#x20AC;? Although Colinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best result to date is 65% survival rate, this is a marked improvement on the estimated 10 per cent survival rate from usual (pond) breeding practices. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s he set a target of 150,000 juveniles per batch and five batches per year. Once this target is reached heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be able stock each of his growout ponds with 10,000 juveniles each weighing 0.02 grams and 9mm long (with plenty spare for sale). continued page 32

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TA N K S

Key Management Tool Colin says it quickly became apparent the technology was useful to all types of crayfish farmers as a farm management tool. He sees the following advantages or benefits from the Hemputin: • Survival rates are much greater than natural breeding (of around 10 per cent). • Post incubation pond survival rates should be positive because all the juveniles are going into the ponds at the same weight and age, which means less cannibalism. • High survival rate of juveniles significantly reduces the quantity of broodstock required, freeing up broodstock ponds for grow out. • Faster growth as the crayfish are not wasting energy fighting disease. • Managing smaller quantities of broodstock makes it easier to breed out of season and therefore have juveniles ready for stocking at the very beginning of the growout season (usually early spring).

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

The Finish take their Crayfish seriously.

• The farmer knows exactly how many juveniles are stocked into each pond. • Ponds can be stocked immediately after filling, giving juveniles a head start before the waterborne predators can move in. • Allows for the possibility of a specialist redclaw hatchery to free growers from having to maintain their own brood stock and breeding programs. continued page 37

Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 33

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Positive plans for the future Colin says having a functioning example of the Hemputin to produce SPF Redclaw juveniles in Australia has given the North Queensland Crayfish Farmers Association (NQCFA) an incentive to make plans for its genetic breeding program. “The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in Queensland finished with its redclaw genetics program a few years ago. Many farmers are now realising how important such work is and having no one to turn to, meant we have begun to make plans for our own genetic improvement program.” Colin says stock from as many farms as possible from around Far North Queensland will be cross-bred using a system designed by James Cook University through Dr Dean Jerry (geneticist and his scientific consultant). He says the selected crayfish would be mated, the eggs incubated (using the Hemputin away from the farms that participate) and the juveniles then sent back to the farmers for grow out.

The final product: one basket of 400 juveniles

“The best performing crayfish will be returned next year to the genetic improvement program for cross-breeding and incubating and the cycle repeats indefinitely. The Hemputin gives the farmers the confidence they won’t spread or acquire any disease they didn’t already have, as only the SPF juveniles will ever make it back to a farm.” Not wanting to get too far ahead of the job at hand – building a successful redclaw crayfish farm – Colin says he sees a lot of potential for the Hemputin and is very interested to see if it would work with marron and yabby farms as well. Another use is for the conservation of hard to breed or threatened species such as the many colourful giant spiny crayfish (Eustacus spp) or the world’s largest freshwater crayfish (Astacopsis gouldi). “These species could also have their populations enhanced by using the Hemputin to incubate their eggs for better survival and restocking.” By Emma Rudge and Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Colin Valverde by email: info@aquaverde.com.au or by post: PO Box 830, Atherton, QLD 4883

Teuvo (right) discusses Hemputin with a farmer.

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NZ team breeds eel larvae on demand M

ahurangi Technical Institute (MTI), started by Paul Decker as a private marine training centre, is now a joint private-government enterprise. Situated at picturesque Warkworth, 65km north of Auckland, its prime purpose (as specified in its mission statement) is ‘to encourage a love of knowledge by the teaching of essential skills for living in today’s modern world’. But MTI is more than that. The Institute’s research arm that has followed several paths, none more exciting than the spawning and hatching of short finned eels (Anguilla australis).

Multi-faceted The Institute was set up as a maritime school teaching marine technology ten years ago. Paul, a Queenslander by birth, is the President of the New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers (NZAPEP). The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, a governmentowned polytech, took a half interest at the beginning of 2006. The curriculum, as Special Projects Manager, David Cooper points out, includes an aquaculture stream as well as delivering training for the fishing industry. In a nation with as many splendid waterways as New Zealand, boat handling and seamanship is an important commercial and private proficiency. The value of tourism far outweighs that of the fishing industry and creates a huge demand for professional boat handling skills at all levels. David’s background in the aquarium industry has also been helpful in the Institute moving into a

1. Project Manager, David Copper, with a picture of an Anguilla australis larva at five days old. 2. Paul Decker is the founded MTI back in 1987 and is still a steady hand on the tiller. 3. Dr Tagried Kurwie in the laboratory. Tagried’s efforts have been amply rewarded with this major breakthrough. 4. Hatchery technician Victor Mankov with some broodstock from the broodstock conditioning tank.

38 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

long neglected area, providing a course that delivers qualifications for those working in the aquarium trade. Some of the courses are only a few days in duration; other units run for a semester or two. Last year MTI had over 4,000 enrolments with 100 to 150 delivered on campus. However, the majority of the courses are delivered off campus, either by correspondence or by tutors visiting the workplace to run training sessions and assess the students’ progress. Research arm The research branch started as a series of student projects and grew into a separately-staffed arm of its own. Paul came across ‘The Ditch’ with a background in aquaculture and had established a marron farm in NZ before a change of government policy saw him have to close it. So the step into research was a very short one. Institute researchers are developing commercial breeding techniques for redfin perch (Perca fluviatilis), grey mullet (Mugil cephalus), Giant Kokopu (Galaxias argenteus) and Northern Mudfish (Neochanna helios). The latter two are bred for conservation purposes. Koura (Paranephrops planifrons) – a local freshwater crayfish – is also being bred, the main market for these being the aquarium trade. However, the most exciting research findings to date have been achieved with eels. The hatchery Although Warkworth is on a tidal stream, the marine water for the hatchery is brought in by tanker from an oceanic collection point and treated on site. The system holds 20,000L. First it is conditioned through a sand filter and an 80 watt UV filter before passing on for filtering to 5µm through a cartridge filter and further exposure to UV light. The water at this point is considered suitable for broodstock. Before going on to the hatchery it is screened further

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

down to 0.5µm and the salinity is adjusted to suit the particular species being raised. The eel project The NZ eel fishery is not insignificant although it does suffer from wildly varying catches. The fishery is controlled by transferable quotas. The main market is export, however there is a growing interest from the domestic market and eels have always been of cultural importance to the Maori. In 1998 around 100 tonnes were exported. Two years later they peaked at 381 tonnes. Values in those two years ranged from $NZ800,000 to $NZ3.5 million. The eel project started five years ago led by Dr. Tagried Kurwie. Tagried and her family fled the Sadam Hussain terror and have New Zealand citizenship. What started as a bit of interest and challenge for the student intake has developed into major project. The project’s big breakthrough came in 2005. David says that if they had missed that window they probably would have given up. It was at the end of 2005 that the team first bred eels successfully and in large

numbers. Since then, focussing on a relatively low technology approach, they have finetuned the hatchery process, hatchery vessels and design. David says, “We got it to the point where, when a TV crew wanted some action shots, we said that if they arrived on Thursday at 11am those shots could be taken. They arrived at 10, had a cup of tea and set up. At 11 o’clock we were spawning eels. It was probably one of the best spawnings we’ve ever had.”

It gave them a lot of confidence, David continues: “We made a fuss of it in the media, applied for more funding, leased the building we are now in and fitted it out to incorporate what we had learnt over the years.”

David points out that they have only thus far produced larval eels, as have others, notably the Danes and the Japanese. However, they can now condition eels to spawn at their ‘beck and call’. As David says, “We are ready for the next step, to take them past the post larval stage to leptocephali. Because we can breed them more or less at will, if we kill off a batch we’ve got another batch coming up behind.”

1. Koura is a local breed of freshwater crayfish under research at MTI. 2. The tanks at MTI are put to some odd uses. These crayfish are being held as evidence in a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) cruelty prosecution against an Auckland restaurant.

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RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY 1

Commercial approach Being a commercial animal with commercial goals, MTI has successfully concentrated on keeping the process ‘low tech’. The team is also putting other commercial aspects of eel farming under the microscope. The first of three ancillary projects has already been achieved. Eels are catadromous: they go from fresh water to a marine environment to breed. While MTI uses sea-run spawners captured by the wild catch fishery, the researchers feel confident that they’ll be able to identify and condition breeding stock from farmed stock when that opportunity presents itself. Of interest in these endeavours is the observation that broodstock not used in the breeding program will start feeding again. That mirrors the natural process, where females may make several attempts to make a breeding run. If they get to the river mouth lacking in the energy to finish the long journey with enough to spare for vitellogenesis (formation of egg yolk), they will return to the upper reaches of the catchment until they do. It is estimated that they only use 20% of their energy on the journey. The balance is reserved for breeding. For sometime the conventional wisdom had it that the digestive tract morphed into

1. Working on the assumption that hatchery grade water is two steps up from hospital grade water, shown here is some of the water sterilizing and monitoring equipment at MTI. 2. Redfin, or English perch, have a strong market appeal and the team at MTI are looking at its commercial development. 3. David Cooper with some of the spawning tanks at MTI. 4. Some of the broodstock held at MTI’s Warkworth facility.

40 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

the reproductive system when they made their breeding run. The other two ancillary projects also looked at commercial aspects. Glass eels are sexually indeterminate. As they enter the estuaries, some remain in the tidal influence where food is plentiful and stocking densities are high, just the conditions you’d expect in an aquaculture situation. Those remaining in the estuarine habitat are predominantly males. Those glass eels that push on to the upper reaches of the catchment become the females. As the females grow to market size much faster than the males there’s an obvious advantage to eel farmers to receive glass eels that will become predominantly females. MTI believe that they may be able to achieve this although this is by no means certain yet. Additionally preliminary trials by other researchers on raising Anguilla australis in recirculating aquaculture systems have indicated that a percentage of the stock grows at a much faster rate than the rest. Whether this is a genetic trait or simply a bunch of greedy eels is yet to be determined but either way it would make sense to select these faster growing eels as future broodstock. The third adjunct MTI is looking at is beyond the preliminary stage. Once the loop has been closed, genetic selection can be brought into play. Researchers are looking forward to the day they can select their breeders from the better performers on the farms and use them to develop breeding lines that will increase key performance the growth rates and feed conversion. Broodstock treatment The wild caught broodstock are taken by professional eel trappers during the migration season and brought to the hatchery. The migration runs from the end of February to as late as May, with March as the peak month. The trappers know what Tagried is looking for and select the best conditioned stock for the hatchery. Incoming broodstock undergo a rigorous quarantine protocol. The animals are wormed, treated for external para-

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

sites and any capture trauma that could lead to infection and kept in quarantine for up to two weeks. After that they’re held in acclimatization tanks at ambient temperature: 20oC plus or minus 2oC. Salinity is increased to 33ppt. Damaged animals actually give Tagried a chance to dissect eels to check the gonadosomatic indices (GSI) of the batch - comparing the weight of the gonad against body weight - without having to destroy healthy broodstock. Over the years the team has accumulated some valuable data. More importantly, that data has been consistent. They have been able to hold the broodstock in a forward breeding condition by lowering the temperature to 16oC. The consequential lowering of the metabolism allows the stock to be held for at least 12 months without losing any significant condition. Breeding cycle The breeding cycle, while in itself is low tech, is quite involved. The breeders are selected from the conditioning tanks to the hatchery and the water temperatures are increased to 24oC. The males are injected three weeks before the females with weekly doses of HCG at 1IU/g of body weight. The females are injected with salmon pituitary extract (SPE) at 20mg/kg body weight. Within 7-13 weeks the body weight starts to increase as the eggs hydrate. Samples are taken to assess shape, size and appearance of the eggs. They should be round, between 750µm and 1,000µm and clear in appearance. Once the eggs are nearing ovulation – usually between 7-13 days after the first injection – they are given two boosters (priming 20mg/kg SPE and DHP (17,20 ß-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one) 24 hours apart. They are ready to strip 12 hours after the second booster. Originally the eels were being given 8-13 injections to trigger ovulation. That number is now down to 3-4. The female is dried off and hand stripped into a dry bowl. The males are stripped into the bowl and the sperm and ova mixed gently before the eggs are rinsed and placed in the purpose-

designed hatching vessels. While all precautions are taken at this stage, David points out that the water may not be totally sterile. “Our aim is to develop a commercial model. While our hatchery water is sterile in a practical sense, the procedures we are developing are able to be duplicated under the factory conditions that would be required of a commercial hatchery,” David says. The eggs take 37 hours to hatch and after that the yolk sac lasts the larvae between five and eight days. And that is as far as MTI have taken their work having concentrated on finetuning the breeding protocols. Until now. Given their ability to mass produce larvae, the focus is shifting to the next stage of the program: developing a diet that will take the larvae through to leptocephali, glass eels and beyond. The mouth gape of the five day old larvae is very small – approximately 2mm – with teeth that are backward slanting and locking. They are a pelagic opportunistic feeders; zooplankton faeces have been found in the gut of wild caught larvae of Anguilla japonica.

Another denizen of the deep that could hold clues to the dietary requirements of eel larvae is the larvacean house. This small creature drifts in the surface layers of the water, surrounding itself with a gelatinous case (house) web that catches falling detritus (as small as 1µm) from which it extracts nutrients. When the house gets clogged up, the overloaded segment breaks off and sinks to the deeper layer of the seas. This material too has been found in the gut of the Japanese eel larvae. Tagried and her team at MTI are looking at several options, including shellfish larvae and commercially available material that is small enough for the eel larvae and easy to digest. Without doubt, the next few years at MTI’s Warkworth research facility are going to be as exciting, and hopefully as rewarding, as the last five. By John Mosig Project Leader David Cooper can be contacted by email on david@mti.net.nz

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Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 41

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Warmwater finfish: building a future

Growers are expanding their production capacity to accommodate the increase in demand for warmwater finfish.

armwater finfish is the generic name applied to the native fish of the inland river systems of Australia and includes perch such as giant perch and callop, grunters such as silver perch and barcoo grunter, eel tailed catfish and Maccullochella sps. such as Murray, Mary River and Eastern cod. Three of these species would be more recognizable under their more popular marketing names of barramundi, golden perch and jade perch. Based on the work carried out by the late John Lake in the 1970s and further developed under Dr. Stuart Rowland’s’ watch at NSW Fisheries Narrandera Research Station, these fish have been bred for recreational re-stocking in public and private waters. Since the mid 1980s they have been reared as table 42 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

fish for the live fish trade in the nation’s growing wet markets as well as the fresh chilled mainstream markets. At that time, prices of $25/kg for silver perch delivered live to Sydney’s Chinatown outlets attracted investors and growers and the fledgling industry seemed set for rapid growth. Then, in the mid 1990s, with prices for large wild fish often exceeding $30/kg on the auction floor, Murray cod became the next big thing. The discovery that jade perch possessed extraordinary growth rates launched them into the limelight not long after. As would be expected, the boom prices of the early days are gone. In fact the sector went through some trying times as poorly-presented fish and piecemeal marketing resulted in a volatile market

very much in the buyers’ favour. Many of the original growers have also gone. Business plans based on the unsustainable prices soon looked like a map to Treasure Island as market reality set in. Hastily-designed pond layouts exposed the inherent inexperience of a large proportion of growers. In some cases fish were grown in farm water storage reservoirs. As nutrient loads built up, management became impossible and the phones at Fisheries started to run hot with “what do I do now” requests. Concerns for the future of the industry led NSW Fisheries to instigate a moratorium on the issue of new licenses until guidelines had been established. In 1994 Stuart Rowland led the team at the Grafton Research Station in organiz-

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ing workshops at Grafton and Narrandera in order to educate potential and existing industry players to the pitfalls as well as the opportunities silver perch production represented. Grafton TAFE established an aquaculture training program to provide growers with an understanding of the basics of fish husbandry and farm infrastructure and extension officers were appointed in various states to help promote the industry and guide growers. It was about this time that recirculation technology began to be adopted by some growers as a means of growing under tightly controlled conditions and outside their natural range. At one stage South Australia was second only to Queensland in barramundi production and in 2005 was still number three. Murray cod were packed into oxygen injected tanks at world record stocking densities and Barcoo grunter became jade perch. The future beckoned and the foot of the rainbow seemed within reach.

Adrian and Elinor Matthews proudly show off some of their produce.

So what is the status of the sector now? Many participants have moved on. Farming is a tough business and fish farming even more so. Adrian Matthews of One Tree Hill in the Adelaide Hills is a poultry producer. Starting in 1998, he still farms barramundi and jade perch in a recirculation system. Adrian says: “On the poultry farm there will be times when I don’t sleep in a bed for 48 hours but there are plenty of times when you just need to keep an eye on the job. In fish farming it never seems to end.” Unstable and irregular weather patterns have also placed pressure on the sector relying on open pond systems. Water availability as well as quality has become an issue. The problem has been highlighted in 2006/07 as a ten year dry spell culminated in one of the worst droughts ever to hit Eastern Australia. Water allocations aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. For instance, the 3,334,158ML Eildon Weir, Victoria’s major water storage reservoir, started the summer at 15% of capacity.

The efficiency improvement in re-circulation engineering has seen this sector become a mainstream producer of warmwater finfish species.

Max and Deidre Cluff of Hanwood Fish Hatchery at Kingaroy in the peanut growing capital of the nation rely on the 2,150ha Bjelke-Petersen Dam for water. By early summer it was down to 3% of its 125,000 megalitre capacity. Max says the situation was very, very serious. “This year we’ve had none of our water entitlement. We’ve managed to get by on what we have stored on the farm but production is way down. We normally do between two and two and a half million tails. We’ll be lucky to do 700,000 this season. We need to send out a million to break even.” Many recirculating systems have been designed by the growers themselves, usually on a limited budget with the Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 43

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Display tanks are becoming the norm in seafood restaurants, regardless of the cuisine.

intention of scaling up as the business grew. While that effort has been admirable, most of these systems have proven uneconomic for commercial production. As John Dusting of Melbourne put it: “A round of fish feeding and filter cleaning at the end of a long day, followed by Saturday morning doing deliveries just got a bit too much”. Many others were lured into investment by the simple promise that aquaculture was the next big thing. Not a difficult vision to sell for an industry that has sustained double digit annual growth over two decades. But most were ignorant of the key performance indicators of an intensive animal production system that was driving this growth overseas. And many were ill-prepared for the dynamic and volatile nature of water chemistry and the husbandry needs of fish. 44 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

No surprise then that the numbers of licence holders in each state have diminished. So what of the future? Despite that somewhat gloomy picture of the warmwater finfish sector, those who survived the rationalisation are reaping a reward for their perseverance and faith in the industry. Seafood prices have firmed considerably over the last 18 months. FAO predictions for growth in farmed seafood have fallen well behind the actual escalation of production and the expansion of the market. The prediction that by 2020 half the world’s consumption of seafood would be farmed was reached in 2006! Interest in seafood, particularly Omega 3 rich species, as a lifestyle food has increased world wide and the growing affluence in traditional seafood markets has added to the global demand.

For the warmwater sector, CSIRO tests have shown that many Australian native fish species – notably silver and jade perch – are amongst the richest sources of Omega 3. Added to that, the natural hardiness of the natives makes them ideal candidates for the live fish tanks so popular in the Asian communities. Infrastructure is in place to support industry growth. Australia boasts three extrusion millers specialising in native fish diets. Research institutes are responding to growers’ representative bodies for specific research projects in nutrition and genetics. Growers have learnt how to keep fish alive and make them grow, albeit in many cases, by costly and bitter experience. Indoor system designs have been refined and facilities, based on market driven business plans, have been expanded. The figures bear this out. The 2004/05

FARM PROFILE

production figures for Australia show that native finfish earned producers $36.3m. Barramundi has proved to be far the most widely farmed species with production of $24m. At $3.7m silver perch lag well behind but lead the rest by a considerable margin. While Murray cod have not fulfilled their early predictions, the species still generates $1.2m for their devotees. Native ornamentals make up a healthy $6.25m. Unfortunately, data is not always up to the moment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the demand for native species is very healthy, especially silver perch. Roger Munzel’s mid Murray farm has been producing silvers since 1999. He is one of many survivors in the industry who have expanded their farms to meet market demand and increase its viability. However, he offers some sound advise for anyone contemplating getting into the industry. “We’ve had to do a lot of hard work to get where we are,” he says. “Especially in the marketing. But one thing’s for sure in this industry, the minute you think things are starting to look good, get ready to duck, because there’s sure to be a surprise heading your way.” Growers are expanding their production facilities to cope with demand and to reduce unit costs. This also enables them to supply fish on a regular basis, an issue that has plagued the market’s perception of the sector previously. But one of the biggest gains for native species has been in the domestic growth of seafood consumption. Cheap imported white flesh skinless boneless fillets have always been a challenge to locally produced fish. And while local producers can’t compete with the frozen imported product, they have found that the demand for fresh fish is growing as consumers recognize the quality the locally farmed product represents. In seafood restaurants beyond the Asian community, live fish tanks are becoming a mandatory feature of their display. Pressure from the angling lobby has seen their license fees used to buy back commercial entitlements, especially those for bays and inlets. Climate change and sustained fishing pressure

has made the wild catch less productive on a catch and effort basis. Rising fuel prices have added to the cost of the wild harvest. The price increases at the wholesale level have filtered through to the farmed sector. A message that could be taken on board by other warmwater sectors comes from Mainstream Aquaculture’s Paul Harrison. Mainstream produce barramundi but have tried golden perch and Murray cod in their Werribee recirculation system on the edge of Melbourne’s western suburbs. Paul was extremely positive about the future of his sector when Austasia spoke with him and his comments reflected the coming of age of the industry. “Clearly barramundi are an accepted species. They are well enough known not to have to promote them per se. Having stable production has helped tremendously. The more we produce, the more the market accepts. We certainly haven’t found the cap here in Melbourne. “If we had five tonne one week, nothing the next week and five tonne the next we’d be hard pressed to move the second five tonne. If we had eight tonne every week we could place them. The market looks for dependable supplies of product. And it’s our job to give it to them.” The future for native fish production looks extremely good for those who have managed to survive the pioneering days. With the rising cost driving innovation in multiple application of water to gain the maximum value from its use, warmwater finfish may have entered a new era in inland Australia.

State Fisheries authorities are working with irrigators in NSW, Queensland and Victoria to establish guidelines for integrated production systems. Markets are buoyant and look to remain so. The supply and service sectors for aquaculture are in place and, probably most importantly, growers now have a more worldly understanding of the industry. Has the warmwater finfish sector come of age? Only time will tell, but the signs are good. By John Mosig

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A beautiful batch of 250-300g marron in the holding trays in the chillers. Photograph: Paul Verity

Yabbies, yabbies and more yabbies Australian Yabby production is dominated by Western Australia where much of the industry is based on the harvesting of yabbies from farm dams and other private waters. One of the longest established companies is Southern Yabby Farms which obtains product from broad acre and sheep farmers across the south-west of the State.

aul Verity was brought up farming sheep and cattle in New Zealand. After moving to Australia in 1992 he worked in the mining industry where he met his future wife Saskia (Sas). Both enjoyed the money side of mining, but described it as a non-family friendly lifestyle. So they looked around for opportunities to get back into farming as a family business (they now have a one year old son and a three year old daughter). “Aquaculture really stood out,’ explains Paul, “Especially yabbies (Cherax albi46 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

dus) which we saw as having huge potential. So we did our homework and by chance met Steve Kolb who had been operating a successful yabby business for more than 13 years. Luckily Steve was looking to move into other farming interests so in late 2003 we purchased Southern Yabby Farms (SYF) and relocated the business to Chidlow 50kms east of Perth.” Paul says they took over the marron (C. tenuimanus) interests from a seafood processor operating out of Albany. “The marron really compliments the yabbies

as we have buyers who want both species of freshwater crayfish. Another advantage is that their main seasons are at opposite times of the year to keep us busy 12 months a year.” “We then purchased another yabby domestic (non-export) processing business called Farm Fresh Yabby which was based in Beverley and was selling its yabbies locally and interstate. The SYF area of operations is huge and Paul says that round trips collecting yabbies from various growers can be up

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to 1,200km in a day. “Our growers are as far east as Southern Cross (300km from Perth), south as Ravensthorpe (540kms from Perth) and everywhere in between. We have around 450 growers on our books, of which around 200 will trap yabbies regularly, usually every six weeks.” “There are also a fair number of farm kids who regliously catch when they are home from boarding school during their holidays,” says Sas. “Many a farm kid’s first car has been paid for by yabby farm catches.” Farm Dams The yabby growers are mostly broadacre farmers who have built large dams for water storage. Most of the dams are of catchment or turkey nest construction and all are earthen based. All collect water runoff as there is no bore water available. Most are around 2,000m2 but some of the larger ‘key dams’ can be over 6,000m2. “The further east you go the larger the dams become as there is less rainfall,” explains Paul. “With some of these key dams, once full they can supply water for the farm for more than two years. The larger dams can be up to 6m in the middle; however, most average 4m in maximum depth. All have battered banks of various angles and it is in this top 2m of water where the yabbies live. Any deeper and the water temperatures and oxygen levels are too low for good yabby growth.” According to Paul an average growers would work 30 to 40 dams. “Towards the end of summer up to 25% of the farm dams can be dry and as the dams recede in depth, the overall water quality will fall. Once refilled with rain, all the previously dry dams are stocked with juvenile yabbies from other dams.” In addition to the amount of appropriate bottom area and water quality (particularly temperature and dissolved oxygen levels), the amount of food in the dams is very important. “With the rain a lot of organic matter is washed into the dams but you don’t want too much or your water quality might suffer. To provide regular food during the main growing season (October to April),

A Melbourne destined esky full of delicious Yabbies. Photograph: Paul Verity

Southern Yabby Farms has three chillers. Photograph: Paul Verity

many of the growers feed on farm products such as lupins. “These are high in protein and as they come off the farm there are no transport costs which you would have to pay if you were buying in a marron pellet. People have used wheat and barley in the past but lupins have proven to be the best and nearly 100% of our growers use it. “Winds also continually blow more

organic mater into the dams but the growers who want good production would feed their dams at least once every two weeks. We have a few semi-retired farmers who have more time and they might feed weekly. It is all about distance and time. One of our growers has to travel 400km to visit all of her dams!” Temperatures in the top 2m of water can be in the mid to high 20°C in the summer (December to March), and this Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 47

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needs to be said that this grower is at the higher end of the spectrum.” The trapping method is fairly straight forward. Most growers would use between 20 and 120 collapsible traps. These traps are 80cm long and 60cm wide and 20cm high with a catching hole of 40cm2. A bait tube holds the trap in the catching position and there is a rope and buoy for recovery of the traps from the banks. Paul says that many growers use pilchards for bait, although there is a few that swear that dog pellets are the best.

Holding socks are used to hold freshly caught yabbies in a dam whilst waiting for a pickup by Paul Verity. Photograph: Paul Verity

For a 2,000m2 dam 6-10 traps would be used. These are baited, thrown into the top 2m of water and left for 24 hours before being retrieved and the catch sorted. Yabbies less than 30g are returned to the dam along with any that are soft (recently moulted) or damaged (lost claw or legs). The catch is then transferred to woven mesh ‘yabby socks’ made from UV stabilised nylon netting with a 6mm mesh. They are like an envelope with a Velcro strip at one opening to allow yabbies to be added or taken out. Each can hold up to approximately 10-12kgs of yabbies. The socks have plastic carry handles sown into them. The socks are laid in shallow water in a clean dam for three or four days in summer and up to ten days in winter. During this time the yabbies are not able to feed and so the purging of their digestive system starts. “With well fed yabbies generally survival is very good.” Growers might accumulate up to 300 to 400kg of yabbies and these will be picked up by Paul at a prearranged time and day.

Easycatch traps are used by most of the growers. Pilchards and sometimes dog biscuits are used as bait. Photograph: Paul Verity

can drop off to around 15°C in the winter. Thus conditions for good yabby growth exist for more than half of the year and some growers are able to regularly harvest large quantities of yabbies during the warmer months. Catch rates are lower in the winter months; however, most growers still operate during this time. 48 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

“One of our growers in Hyden (350km SE of Perth) feeds her 20 dams every two weeks. She can take average harvests of almost 23kg market size yabbies/2,000m2 dam every five to six weeks during the period October to April. This equates to over 2,400 kg at $10/kg (average) to provide a net return of $24,000 per season. However, it

Cool Room on Wheels The Veritys have a specially decked out 3-tonne truck with a purpose-built insulated body (sandwich board). This ‘cool room’ uses a system of ice and water that cascades through white plastic trays full of yabbies. It can hold over 1.5 tonnes of yabbies for up to 24 hours with negligible losses. The Yabbies are brought back to SYF factory at Chidlow and are transferred into ten fibreglass purging tanks; these

F E AT U R E

are 3.6m diameter and 120cm deep and hold around 10,000L. Paul says that they have a good source of water which is used to fill the tanks. “We maintain static water in the tanks which we will drain after a batch of yabbies have gone through. We try to dry the tanks before the next batch. If there isn’t sufficient time for these we will sterilise with some chlorine and then flush out the remaining chemical. All the effluent water is used for irrigation of our crops.” The yabbies might be held in the purging tanks for 24 hours or up to 72 hours. “This depends on the time of the year – in summer with the warmer water temperatures the yabbies will purge faster than in winter months. Usually the yabbies just need to be flushed of any muddy water from the dams. We use the plastic trays and sit these in stacks of three to five trays on top of stainless steel racks which keep the bottom trays some 40cm off the bottom, away from any wastes. We have eight small blowers (Hiflo 80) to provide aeration through lines on the racks. We went for more smaller ones so if one breaks down we still have good capacity to supply air to all the tanks.” Cooled Down for Grading At SYF there are three 5.5m x 4m cool rooms, each set at 6°C and capable of holding up to 950kg. Chilled water is pumped up from collection reservoirs through a PVC irrigation system and through commercial reticulation sprays it cascades from the 2.4m high ceilings over the trays of yabbies in stainless steel racks. The water is changed every 48 hours. “The chilled water quietens down the stock so they become almost dormant. This makes grading and handling much easier and also significantly reduces bacterial growth, stress, fighting and overall losses in the trays. It only takes one to two hours for the yabbies to cool down but they still keep purging during this stage. We keep the yabbies in the drip room for at least 24 hours; however, depending on demand we might have held them for up to ten days.”

MANAGEMENT METRICS Key Management Decisions for Southern Yabby Farm include: • NUMBER 1 - Look after your growers. At the end of the day, if you do not have any product to sell nothing else matters! The WA yabby industry cannot survive if we do not have them out there catching strong yabbies & marron. • Focus on quality and consistency to ensure customers get what they expected. • Maintain cool chain from collection at farms, through purging, grading and packing and then onto transport. • Using smaller size Marron as a second product offering to replace lower quantities of the large yabbies during the winter months. • Having two products farmed in different ways in different locations has reduced our vulnerability to low volumes. • Work with local, domestic and overseas markets to get the best prices. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture System utilised: large farm dams and lakes • Growth rate (from stocking to market): variable, unknown • Survival rate: <2% from harvest to sale • Feeds: Supplied lupins and natural organic materials

A grading table is used with two people sorting the yabbies into First Grade (perfect, even size, two nippers, no marks, no tail blisters, etc.) or Second Grade (alive but some damage). “We pride ourselves on getting our grading right and we will never send any yabbies that are not going to make it (survive the trip). Around 80% of our sales

are First Grades; of the Seconds around 70% are sold in Perth. “We have five sizes of the First Grade– Size 3 is 30-40g, Size 4 is 40-50g, Size 5 is 50-70g, Size 7 is 70-100g and Size 10 is 100g plus. We also have two sizes of the Second Grade 30-40g and 40g plus.”

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F E AT U R E

Yabbies Size 10: 100g plus graded yabbies being held in the chiller

After holding in the drip room, the yabbies are weighed into 5kg or 10kg net batches and then packed into polystyrene foam boxes with a frozen ice replacement pack in the bottom in between layers of moistened 9mm thick foam sheets. The lid is taped on with destination, SYF contacts and handling stickers (‘Store at 2°C to 4°C’, ‘Handle with Care’). The boxes are then taken to the airport for transport. “We are only 40 minutes from the air-

ports (Perth has separate Domestic and International airports) so we deliver the packed yabbies ourselves,” Paul says. “This means that we have total control over them and that ensures only the best handling so the yabbies are sent in prime condition. For domestic transport we use Consumer Airfreight who work through Australian Air Express. The boxes are consolidated into cans (metal containers for bulk shipping of cargo). Last week for Easter we sent single shipments of over 350kg to Melbourne and over 400kg to Sydney.” Paul says that Perth has three flights a day for both Melbourne and Sydney. “Most of our clients prefer we ship in the afternoon so that the yabbies reach Sydney before the midnight curfew. As they are early starters, selling product from 4am or 5am onwards, they like to have the yabbies early as possible for the day’s sales.” Export markets are also an important part of SYF’s business. Emirates Airlines

50 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

has daily flights out of Perth into Dubai and then onto Europe. Paul says that they work through the freight forwarder Fresh Live and Frozen who pack the boxes into freight cans at the Perth Cargo Centre. “We only use 5kg boxes for export as the flight times into Europe are around 24 hours. We have used temperature monitors in the boxes and found that the temperature might only change by 3-4°C so we have great survival rates. This is in large part to Emirates’ good handling. “Over the past three years we have only had one complaint from a customer and that was for less than 1% of the shipment. We exported more than 11 tonnes last calendar year (mostly to Switzerland, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Germany and east coast USA) so we are very proud of the fact our customers are so happy. In the factory we get less than 2% mortality so we know we are holding very good stock.” Paul says that they sold over 55 tonnes

FARM PROFILE

last year (2006/07) and are hoping (if the rains come) to boost that up to 80 tonnes this season (2007/08). Marron Southern Yabby Farms has two different sources of marron. “In the summer we have a number of trappers who take stock out of private dams or lakes. One grower has a specially constructed dam of more than 9ha which has banks of earth in its centre to increase the area which can be inhabited by the marron. This grower has even lined the banks with sand to get a better quality product and he harvested around 4.5 tonnes last year.” The summer marron are graded into weight categories of 200-250g, 250300g, 300-400g, 400-500g and over 500g. “We don’t find much demand for marron over that size.” The winter suppliers use purpose built ponds or dams which are drained down and all of the marron are removed. “Undersize individuals are restocked in other ponds for further growth over the next summer. We work with smaller marron during the winter; the grades are 60-80g, 80-100g, 100-120g, 120150g and 150-200g. Larger marron are put into the summer grades.” Although the marron are not as tough or hardy as the yabbies they are worth a lot more, so they are only packed in 5kg boxes. “Last year we sold more than 11 tonnes and if necessary, we work with other suppliers if we need to fill a big order. Around 20% of the marron were exported, mostly to Dubai and Germany.” Newsletter and Grower Awards To keep their growers active and interested, Paul and Sas publish a quarterly newsletter with loads of information. For example, the February 2007 issue discussed the handling of yabbies in hot weather, renovations to the SYF cool room, direct payment options and which celebrities and sports people had yabbies or marron on the menu in Perth (Kylie Minogue, Elton John, Robbie Williams, Aussie and England Ashes

Cricket Teams, and Hopman Cup tennis players and support staff). There was also a piece on the Australian team using both marron and yabbies in the Bocuse D’or Chef’s competition in Lyon France. The competition was run by Paul Bocuse who is ‘The World Chef of the Century’. The Aussie team was headed by Phillipe Mouchel who has an enormous reputation in the ‘chef world’ and has his own award winning restaurant in the Crown Casino Melbourne. Phillipe trained under Paul Bocuse in France as an apprentice. Unfortunately Australia did not win as France took out the top prize with the English taking second place. Also popular and highly south after are the Southern Yabby Farms King Catch Award and the Super Yabby Award. The first is to the grower supplying the greatest amount of yabbies in a year, whilst the second is for the largest yabby caught (currently the largest weighs 254g). “The Winter Winner Award goes to a yabby or marron farmer who catches for us between May and September,”

explains Sas. “The winner is drawn out of a hat, and will receive a $100 Bunnings voucher, a SYF polo fleece and a 12 month subscription to Austasia Aquaculture Magazine.” Paul and Sas are very confident of the future for their business. Whilst the drought has limited production and the high Aussie dollar has made exports expensive compared to other crustaceans, they are still moving large – and increasing – quantities of product. Their clients have more demand than what they can supply so domestic prices are pretty good, even considering there is still some wild harvested product in the eastern states. By Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Paul and Saskia Verity, Southern Yabby Farms, PO Box 158, Chidlow WA 6556 Phone: 08 9572-3342 Mobile: 0419 680-057 Fax: 08 9572-6172 Email: veridalefarm@smartchat.net.au and website: www.southernyabbyfarms.com

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Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 51

FARM PROFILE

The difference in Cape York rainbow fish can be seen here. The top fish is from Running Creek Weipa and the bottom one from Wenlock River. Both Gulf of Carpentaria drainage catchments. Photo By Neil Armstrong

Pioneer champions rainbow fish as ornamental species ‘Pioneer’ can be an overused word. But in the case of Neil Armstrong it very much fits the bill. Like many ornamental breeders Neil started with a single tank in his formative years. Following the pattern of the devotee, this single tank grew into a fish room and a life long pursuit of breeding rare and exotic aquatic plants and fish. His knowledge and experience – both in collecting and breeding – is unsurpassed.

tenous mass overnight. The cause was never confirmed, but Neil suspected it was stress related. In his growing conditions – under glass – evaporation dropped the water level. He allowed the water level to fall so the plant flowered and developed their emersed leaves. Then, as the weather cooled, he topped up the tank, thus emulating the natural conditions of the plant’s environment. The problem disappeared.

Neil bred the usual platys and swordtails before specialising in exotic aquatic plants in 1968. Naturally he chose the species that were difficult to propagate. His favourite was Cryptocoryne. of which he had 75 species. It is a beautiful plant but they provided quite a headache until Neil made a discovery. Serendipity played its part. The plants had a propensity to collapse into a glu-

In 1973, the importation of the Amazon sword plant (Echinodorus horemani) was another success story. During the process of getting the plants brought in from Brazil and passing them through a gruelling AQIS process, half of the dozen plants were lost. However, it was worth the effort. His colleague Lance Smith and he were responsible for trebling the Australian stocks in one season. Neil

52 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

still regards Lance as the best aquatic plant grower in the world. Rainbow fish His next venture, and by far the most challenging, was the development of rainbow fish as an ornamental species. Rainbows had never had good press. Neil called them Singapore specials. “They were plain and through over breeding and lack of genetic diversity had lost the colour and vibrancy.” But they ware easy to produce there was an abundance of them ... so much so that they were often used as a feeder fish. Through a chance meeting with an old primary school mate, who just happened to be working in New Guinea as an aircraft mechanic, Neil was able to link up with a group of rainbow fish enthusiasts in the area. He imported a

FARM PROFILE

range of the more vibrant species and they were an instant success with collectors in Australia. This enthusiasm caught on and now rainbow fish now have a global following. Like all collectors, Neil has found leads in the most unexpected places and ways. For example, a friend of an uncle put him onto the fact that a rainbow fish species is found in Southern Queensland’s Tin Can Bay – redcheeked rainbow fish (Melaentonia doubalayi) – was very similar to a fish found in the inland drainage system from Victoria’s Goulburn River to Central West Queensland (M. fluviatilus). Another person Neil has worked with is Dr. Gerald Allen from the WA Museum. Gerry, an American by birth, confided in Neil that when interviewed for the position he was asked if he held an interest in Australian fish species. Sensing the answer was central to getting the posting he answered in the affirmative. It can be told now: he knew absolutely nothing about them! But, to his credit, once appointed he went about finding out as much as he could. Neil and his Papua New Guinea (PNG) colleague met Gerald through this quest for information and have worked together ever since. Amongst the species Neil has had the opportunity to raise in captivity as a result of this association has been the rare Lake Tebera rainbow fish (M. herbertaxelrodi) found only in the waters of its remote name sake. Cape York Peninsula Neil regards Cape York Peninsular as a collector’s paradise with each catchment seeming to have its own strain. The further north you go the more vibrant the colouration. “Arguably the most beautiful fish in Australia is Melanotaenia trifactiana. On the eastern seaboard the rainbows are slender. On the Gulf side they’re all deep bodied. Colours vary too. An experienced collector can look at them and say that one there, Running Creek Weipa, that one Pappin Creek Weipa, that one Burster Creek. They’ll vary that much. Up north on the western seaboard the predominant colour is canary yellow. As you move south that will change to a bright green and then

to a bluish hue until you get down to the McIvor River where they are rather plain in appearance.”

The region sits in the coastal tropics and is far enough north to be subject to two distinct seasons: the wet and the dry. During the dry the water becomes dark with tannin from the fallen leaves and the pH drops to as low as 4.5. Neil says this is the reading on the eclectic pH meter from the Weipa Mines, so it is accurate. This changes dramatically when the rains come, highlighting the wide range of conditions rainbow fish can adapt to. Arnhem Land In 1993, through another series of fortuitous contacts, Neil was able to make several collecting and photographic trips into Arnhem Land. The Goyder River is the home of a rainbow fish the enthusiasts call ‘The King’: (M. trifasciata). Neil described it as “the most beautiful fish you would ever see. It’s absolutely stunningly beautiful. We’d had the fish since 1971 and they haven’t lost a drop of colour”. Nevertheless, they brought back some new blood to keep the line strong from one of the most crocodile infested regions in Australia.

1. The King – M. trifasciata. 2. The pygmy rainbow fish is one of the world’s rarest species. 3. M. fluviatilus is found in found in the inland drainage system from Victoria’s Goulburn River to Central West Queensland. Photographs by Neil Armstrong

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FARM PROFILE 1

Allen, Neil feels that the isolated and diminutive nature of its habitat would ensure the homogeneousness of the genetic pool. However, other, more widely spread species bred in captivity may lack genetic diversity. Since regulatory authorities clamped down on the importation of rainbow fish from PNG in 1986 it has not been possible to maintain this diversity.

1. Wolfia is simple to grow. Neil uses turtles in the outside trough to provide the fertilizer required to trigger a bloom. 2. There’s nothing more relaxing than feeding fish. 3. Rainbow fish getting stuck into a feed of Wolfia. 4. Green feed is an essential part of the rainbow fish diet. Neil grows his own Wolfia, and the fish love it. Photographs by John Mosig

Kimberley region But without doubt, Neil’s most prized possession is the pygmy rainbow fish. (M. pygmaea). Named by Dr Allen in the 1970s, it is only 50mm long, it is found in an inaccessible river system in the Kimberly - in the ragged defile that makes up the headwaters of Cascade Creek. The series of ponds is so remote that access is only possible by helicopter or by boat from the sea followed by climbing the cliff face above the falls from which the creek derives its name. From just two pairs Neil has generated a pool of this precious species should anything happen to their isolated habitat. As is the trend with rainbow fish, the eggs from the pygmy strain were large (2mm) and few. As an exception to the rule, Neil notes another small species, M. praecox from PNG, which has very small eggs and lots of them. When he started breeding them he noticed that the eyes of the young were cloudy. “Straight away I suspected water quality and began filtering the water through shell grit,” he says. “That was 54 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

the end of it. No more problems. The water just needed a slight boost in the calcium hardness (to 150ppm) from the soft Melbourne tap water (pH 6.5). We add a little magnesium salts every now and then.” Ironically, Neil’s amazed at the number of people who take offspring who got back to him complaining of cloudy eyes and other health issues. “I just wish people would listen to what I tell them when they take delivery of the fish,” he muses. “Pygmaea is safe in Australia. No one can get near it. But if we don’t keep it going, and anything happens to its natural habitat due to climate change, it’s gone forever|”, he said. Rainbow fish are generally speaking long lived. Neil has had some for ten years, and a female trifasciata from the Goyder River and a herbertaxelrodi from Lake Tebera he estimates to have lived for over 12 years. Although all the pygmaea available to the aquarium industry are from the original two pair brought out by Dr

Furthermore, he feels, along with others in the aquarium industry, that the importation ban has encouraged smuggling by inflating the value of fish brought in illegally. He says the risk of introducing an unwanted species disastrously damaging to our fragile environment or a disease of equal impact is greater under the present regulations than bringing stock in through ‘triedand-tested’ quarantine system that has worked well for years. It wouldn’t be fair to close without mentioning that Neil Armstrong is a world class photographer. His fish, location and human interest photos have appeared in journals around the world. And he did the photography for the Victorian Aquaculture Council sector brochures for the World Aquaculture Society Conference in Sydney in 1999. Many of the photographs supporting this article are from Neil’s enormous collection. In fact Neil jokingly boasted that if he hadn’t photographed it, it doesn’t swim in Victorian waters. By John Mosig Neil Armstrong can be contacted by phone on (03) 9306 4079, or by email on silverbudgie@optusnet.com.au

TECHNOLOGY

Jeyco to distribute AEG’s marine aquaculture products T

he Aquaculture Engineering Group (St. Andrews, NB) and Jeyco Aquaculture Solutions (Australia) have announced that Jeyco will serve as their distributor/agent for Australia and New Zealand. “This arrangement gives further evidence that Jeyco is determined to position itself as a provider of full-service turnkey systems for the marine aquaculture sector,” states Geoff Wolfenden, Jeyco General Manager. AEG supplies the marine aquaculture sector with the AEG Centralized Water Borne Feeder, innovative AEG Containment Systems, and the turn-key AEG Integrated Swing Site. Jeyco is the developer of Stingray is an ultra-high holding power anchor developed especially for the aquaculture and offshore industries. The Stingray penetrates quicker and tolerates a higher riser angle than any other commonly used aquaculture anchor. Further, its large surface area makes it the most efficient model on the market in terms of weight to holding power. “The Stingray has been deployed in the most extreme conditions in the world, holding fast in conditions with up to 300 km/hour winds, 10 m tides, and 8 knot currents,” explains Geoff Wolfenden, Jeyco General Manager. “Stingray anchors can also be transported and stored in flatpack format, and are easily assembled and deployed, cutting down on cost, storage space, and required manpower.” The announced agreement also establishes Jeyco as the primary mooring provider for AEG equipment to be deployed globally. Jeyco professionals conduct complete engineering and design of mooring systems based upon known oceanographic conditions. In this manner, individual mooring lines are matched accordingly with the anticipate loads. Complete mooring grid solutions are provided pre-made with a vendor data book and assembly drawings. This approach eliminates the need

for onsite splicing and fabrication of mooring lines. “Jeyco recently supplied two complete mooring systems to a salmon farmer located in the south of Tasmania, Huon Aquaculture. Each grid was composed of 30 cages using 160 m circumference collars. In the past, the operator would have used up to 1,500 kg anchors along with some concrete blocks for such a deployment. The Jeyco solution involved use of 250 kg and 375 kg Stingray Anchors to maintain the same holding efficiency for the site requirements. Jeyco involvement also reduced the required time for mooring installation by 50%,” adds Wolfenden. About AEG The Aquaculture Engineering Group Inc. provides professionally engineered equipment and management solutions to the marine aquaculture industry, particularly those operations sited in medium- and high-energy environments. All solutions offered by AEG must meet five sustainability criteria to ensure our product portfolio is socially acceptable, cost-effective, eco-friendly, professionally engineered, and robust for survival. Our own line of innovative technologies coupled with those provided through strategic business partnerships allows AEG to supply turn-key Stingray (kg) 10 25 50 100 150 175 2503 375 500 750 1000

Sand 2.39 4.95 8.59 14.91 20.58 23.26 30.89 42.64 53.60 73.99 93.00

systems that meet global client needs. For company details, please visit http:// www.aquaengineering.ca/. About Jeyco Jeyco Mooring and Rigging, headquartered in Bibra Lake, Western Australia, is a leading global supplier of mooring and rigging equipment. The company success in the aquaculture sector is largely a result of the performance of the innovative Stingray Anchor. Our philosophy is that mooring grids must be well-designed to account for all of the anticipated forces while remaining costeffective to the site operator. Jeyco also works with a number of partner companies to delivery turn-key solutions as required including Australian Marine and Offshore Group, Universal Nets, Aquaculture Engineering Group, and Fusion Marine. For company details, please visit http://www.jeyco.com.au/. For more information, please contact: Chris Bridger, General Manager Geoff Wolfenden Aquaculture Engineering Group Inc. Jeyco Aquaculture Solutions Tel: +1-506-529-8467 or 61+8 94187500 Mobile: +1-506-467-7488 61+417750033 Email: chris.bridger@aquaengineering.ca Email: geoff_wolfenden@jeyco.com.au Skype: cjbridger Skype: Geoff Wolfenden Holding Power (tonnes) 1,2 Clay 1.85 3.83 6.65 11.54 15.93 18.01 23.92 33.01 41.50 57.28 72.00

Mud 1.34 2.77 4.80 8.34 11.51 13.01 17.27 23.84 29.97 41.37 52.00

1 All holding capacity trials are carried out in scientifically consistent conditions. 2 Certificates of tensile strength and examination are available upon request. 3 The approximate holding power equivalency of the 250 kg Stingray anchor = 2000 kg Danforth anchor.

Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 55

TECHNOLOGY

Ridley sponsors upcoming prawn and barramundi conference

Dr. Matthew Briggs

idley Aqua-Feed is proud to be the Gold Medal sponsor for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prawn and barramundi conference to be held in at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on the 25th â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 26th July 2007. Every year, the prawn and barramundi industries in Australia and come under scrutiny from various areas, be it the low price of imported prawns and fish to the IRA that is currently causing much discussion in the prawn industry.

Likewise the cost of imported feed has made competitive feed manufacture in Australia challenging. But an understanding by the farmers of the value of Australian owned and made feed, has enabled Ridley Aqua-Feed to grow and to maintain a high quality of product and technical services. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the prawn and barramundi industry for their current and continuing support. Ridley Aqua-Feed has focused its R&D effort for the last three years on areas that will enable the Australian industry to grow. It is continuing investigations on a large number of projects looking at influences on production in fish and crustaceans and improving animal health and harvest quality. A large proportion of the work is in conjunction with numerous

R&D providers within Australia and where possible studies are conducted on farm to make the results as applicable as possible to the farmer. However the reduction on the reliance on fish meal still remains at the sharp end of R&D within Ridley Aqua-Feed in order to provide a sustainable industry together with the lowest possible feed costs. As in previous years Ridley have been Gold Medal sponsors of the conference and once again will be inviting a number of keynote speakers to the meeting. One of these will be Dr Matt Briggs who at last years prawn farmers conference gave an excellent talk that updated delegates on the current practices adopted in the South East Asian shrimp farming. Dr. Matthew Briggs has over 25 years experience in aquaculture, specializing in shrimp farming at all stages of the culture cycle. He gained his undergraduate degree in Marine Biology, followed this with a Masters in Aquaculture and Fisheries Management from the prestigious Institute of Aquaculture, and finally completed his Doctorate in the Nutrition of Penaeus monodon from the Institute of Aquaculture, Stirling, Scotland. After this academic training Dr. Briggs gathered substantial commercial experience in facility design, maturation, larviculture, on-growing, feed formulation and product sales for many species of shrimp around the world including Kenya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ecuador, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China and Vietnam. He has offered consultancy services to many international institutions around the world. Other speakers will be announced shortly and attendees to the conference should keep an eye on the conference website and register at: http://www.australian-aquacultureportal. com/aquafeed07/

56 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

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FISHENEWS

ABALONE PINDIMAR ABALONE FARM MAY NOT EVENTUATE

The proponent for the land-based abalone farm at Pindimar has chosen to surrender his development approval for the venture. Mr Graham Housefield of Australian Bounty Seafoods made the move during an appeal to the Land and Environment Court by the Pindimar Bundabah Community Association Inc, which challenged Great Lakes Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approval of the development. There are suggestions Mr Housefield may now lodge an application with the NSW Department of Planning to have the project determined under State Significant Development (Major Projects) Part 3A legislation. Plans for the venture were first lodged in March 2001, meeting extensive opposition and leading over time to various controversial outcomes. Source: Great Lakes Advocate (4/4/2007).

SOUTHERN OCEAN MARICULTURE BACK IN PRODUCTION

Southern Ocean Mariculture (SOM) is back in production after the best part of a year. The abalone farm was completely destocked after a viral outbreak in the area. The virus has devastated wildstocks between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, prompting calls for an independent inquiry. SOM, which has lost millions of dollars as a result of the problem, now operates with upgraded biosecurity measures, which include not taking stock from the wild. The abalone are accepted only from other farms providing a full health certificate for the animals. Farm manager Mark Gervis advises thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no scientific evidence to support a claim the virus originated in an abalone hatchery - there have been suggestions hybridisation of abalone led to creation of a new form of the herpes virus responsible for the deaths. In later news, the Department of Primary Industries reports there has been no further detection of the ganglioneuritis virus since confirmation of the disease on the reef known as the Devils Kitchen near Portland earlier this year. Ongoing monitoring of stock on land-based farms shows them to be virus-free. Source: Everard Himmelreich in the Moyne Gazette (22/3/2007); Portland Observer (30/3/2007).

CSIRO WORKS ON BREEDING BETTER ABALONE

Hobart-based CSIRO scientist Dr Nick Elliott is working with Australian abalone farmers to gather information leading to the more efficient production of abalone. A prime requirement is to breed animals which grow to harvest size within three years. The researchers have learned that triploid abalone can be produced in commercial quantities, and that they deliver an increase in weight of between 10 and 25 per cent over diploid abalone of the same age. Scientists have 58 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

FISHENEWS

an interesting problem in tracking abalone, which is that of how to individually identify animals only 5mm in length. Another thrust is breeding abalone resistant to the virus which emerged in stocks in Victorian waters in 2005. Source: Wendy Laursen in the Canberra Times (12/3/2007).

TASMANIAN SEAFOODS SET TO EXPORT MORE LIVE ABALONE

Asian customers will be importing live abalone from the Smithton premises of Tasmanian Seafoods within three to five months. Australia’s largest abalone producer, the company has previously exported predominantly canned, frozen or dried abalone to European, US and Asian markets. Live abalone has been exported from the Margate plant for around a year, and the technology will be brought into the Smithton facility. While currently the business deals with wild-caught abalone, managing director Al Hansen advises he’ll consider farming the species if it’s shown to be economically viable. Source: Martin Agatyn in the Burnie Advocate (6/3/2007).

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR ABALONE BUSINESS

Streaky Bay Aquaculture has won a dollar-for-dollar $185,000 grant from the State’s Regional Development Infrastructure Fund. The grant will provide half the cost of bringing mains power to the operation. The business, which is located about eight kilometres north of Streaky Bay, currently uses diesel generators to produce power. Streaky Bay Aquaculture, which commenced six years ago, is to double the size of its growout area, with production planned to increase from 15 tonnes to 100 tonnes annually. There’ll be an additional eight full-time jobs created, and on-site processing facilities developed. Nearly 80 per cent of the business’s product is exported. Source: West Coast Sentinel (15/2/2007).

AUSTRALIAN BIGHT ABALONE EXPECTS TO SHIP IN MARCH

Australian Bight Abalone (ABA) expects to have its first batch of cage-farmed abalone ready to ship to Japan in March this year. The company has 35 cage rings 5 kilometres off Elliston, carrying baskets to which abalone are attached. With plentiful quantities of the abalone’s natural food available in the environment, no supplemental feeding is required. The first shipment is occurring after two years, well ahead of schedule. Director of ABA Kenny Bascombe advises he can foresee staff at ABA growing to 30 or 40, and he has plans for a hatchery. Source: SA Life (February 2007).

EXPERT SUGGESTS ABALONE STOCKS MAY BE DEVASTATED

Marine biologist Dr Jeremy Prince estimates the virus disease which appeared in some areas of the Victorian coast some months back has already destroyed 200 tonnes of abalone near Killarney, Following a survey of the Merri Marine Sanctuary, Dr Prince and Port Fairy abalone diver Peter Riddle revealed most of the area’s abalone had been killed off - an estimated 95 per cent loss with a 10-15 year recovery period.

There are suggestions the virus is ‘hybridised’ and probably appeared in a hatchery on an abalone farm. Many hatcheries are creating hybrid abalone, usually by crossing strains of greenlip and blacklip animals, looking to obtain better growth rates and other advantages. The conventional virus usually causes chronic disease rather than killing the abalone. Dr Prince believes the best hope is that the virus will evolve back to its normal disease pattern. However he has concerns the problem will spread throughout the country, though he doesn’t know over what time-scale. The virus is threatening Victoria’s status as one of the few sustainable wild abalone resources remaining world-wide. The state supplies 12 per cent of the world’s wild abalone. Source: Everard Himmelreich in the Warrnambool Standard (7/2/2007), and in the Moyne Gazette (8/2/2007).

BARRAMUNDI BOWEN SCHOOL MONITORS BARRAMUNDI

The Bowen River Fish Restocking Association is receiving assistance from students at the Bowen State Primary School. The Bowen Family Fishing Classic has donated 200 barramundi fingerlings from Guthalungra to the school’s aquaculture project. They’ll be grown out to 300mm and then released. The aquaculture project is extensively supported by various Bowen businesses. Source: Bowen Independent (23/3/2007).

WONGA BEACH AQUACULTURE EXPANDS

Douglas Shire Council has conditionally approved a proposal by owners of the Wonga Beach Aquaculture for the barramundi farm to be augmented with a restaurant, shops and two large fishing pavilions. Source: Cairns Post (19/3/2007).

BARRAMUNDI BLUE A LEADER

Barramundi Blue is one of the largest sustainable recirculating aquaculture operations in the world. The business produces a tonne of fish a week from its premises near Ingham and is extending into a new venture to supply rock bream for the Japanese market from a facility in South Korea. Owners Geoff Orpin and Cynthia Taylor have built the business since 2003, often in the face of scepticism. Their farm technology produces healthy fish against a background in which the environmental. impact of the operation is outstandingly minimal. Fish are grown in an enclosed system under cover. A gravity process moves the water, reducing power bills and greenhouse emissions. Solar heating is used. A minimum of 95 per cent of water is recycled. Salad vegetables and flowers are commercially grown in a hydroponics system liked with the fish farm water supply and acting as a tertiary water filter. Source: The Australian (13/3/2007).

Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 59

FISHENEWS

HEAVY RAIN BRINGS BUGS, KILLS BARRA

A heartbreaking 60 tonnes of barramundi valued at $300,000 have been carted away from Bluewater Barramundi at Cardwell following their deaths as a result of flooding conditions. The soil-borne infectious agent Streptococcus iniae is believed to have been brought into all 32 seacages on the farm with the fish made more susceptible as a result of the salinity of the water being lowered. Remaining stocks have been successfully treated . Bluewater Barramundi is the only sea-based barramundi farm on the east coast. It’s hoped similar outbreaks on the farm will be prevented by having fingerlings vaccinated. Source: Sonia Campbell in the Sunday Mail Courier (4/3/2007).

the shellfish, and local suppliers had the opportunity to make their seafood available to guests on board who are key stakeholders in the restaurant and food supply sectors. Source: Eden Imlay Magnet (15/3/2007).

EUROPEAN MARKETING PUSH

Marketing consultant Litzie Makhotine, based in Paris, is to promote The Eyre Peninsula’s seafood in Europe. She’s been appointed by Food Adelaide, and recently visited a range of suppliers in the State. The European office of Food Adelaide has been funded by Clean Seas Tuna Limited, the Department of Primary Industries and Resources SA, and Food Adelaide Source: Port Lincoln Times (15/3/2007).

GARFIELD FISH FARM

Brian Fox is yet another person who, seeking a life style change, has taken on fish farming. Seven years back he decided to work from home instead of spending a lot of his time travelling for work. He and his wife bought two ha at Garfield in West Gippsland and, a little too late to obtain their preferred Murray Cod, tried growing out Jade Perch. Two years of effort showed how that species didn’t sell easily and, with a little experience the Foxes moved on to barramundi. Now Garfield Farm buys up to 4000 SA fingerlings each 3-4 months and carries some 11,000 fish - rather under capacity. Brian says the farm should have more like 20,000 fish. Garfield Farm fish are sold to clients within Victoria. Source: Philip Hopkins in The Age (2/3/2007).

CONE BAY BARRAMUNDI FARM TO EXTEND

Following on successful commercialisation trials in 2006, Marine Produce Australia is to expand its sea cage farm at Cone Bay, around 100 kilometres north of Derby. The plans, which have been brought forward, will result in the venture moving into weekly harvests supporting domestic and overseas sales. The company is to sell its Aussie Prawns tiger prawn farm near Darwin. Source: Kimberley Echo (22/2/2007)

MARKETING SEAFOOD EXPERIENCE AUSTRALIA

With statistics showing that seafood doesn’t rank too highly as a component of average Australian household spending, the seafood industry is engaging in a marketing and education program to improve the situation. The industry’s newlyformed Seafood Experience Australia will take on the job, with an immediate aim of counter-balancing the Meat and Livestock Corporation’s campaign, which features actor Sam Neill. Source: Fairfax Business Media Summary (4/4/2007).

SHELLFISH PROMOTED ON CRUISE SHIPS

In February, Eden Mussels donated 40 kilos of product for the visit of the cruise ship ‘Silver Cloud’ to Eden. In March, 25 dozen oysters were donated by Broadwater Oysters for the visit by the cruise ship ‘Orion’. Passengers were delighted with 60 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

MUSSELS WANNA MAR LEASE LAUNCHED

The Wanna Mar Premium Seafoods shellfish lease was officially launched on 6 February. It’s the first lease operated by the Port Lincoln Aboriginal community. The 20ha lease is the result of four years of planning by the community and the Eyre Peninsula Regional Development Board, and is the brainchild of local identity Harry Miller. Source: Natasha Ewendt in the Port Lincoln Times (8/2/2007).

O R N A M E N TA L S BILL BOUSTEAD BATTLES ON

Bill Boustead and partner Pam have been involved - with varying degrees of financial success - with aquaculture for quite some time. Bill moved from commercial crabbing to culturing barramundi, crabs and prawns. Each week, the Bousteads are now exporting approximately 500 clown fish and other ornamentals to markets in Asia, Europe and North America. Based on their experience, the Bousteads make most of their fish food to their own formula, and are known for the health of their fish and timeliness of deliveries. Source: Peter Murphy in the North Queensland Register (1/2/2007).

O T H E R C R U S TA C E A N S CULTURED ROCK LOBSTER JUVENILES

Things are looking good for the aquaculture of the three major rock lobster species in Australia. The MG Kailis Group has recently produced juveniles of the tropical rock lobster panulirus ornatus. The Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute is successfully growing out the western rock lobster, using puerulus sourced from sustainable wild stocks, and has laboratory-cultured the southern rock lobster. The three projects have been pursued under the Rock Lobster Enhancement and Aquaculture Subprogram established by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation in 1998. Source: Canberra Times (4/4/2007).

FISHENEWS/EMPLOYMENT

LICENSING FEES THREATEN MARRON FARMERS

Marron Growers Association president John Small asserts proposed water licensing fees for dam owners could kill off the marron and trout industries in the Lower South West. He says that marron farmers and other aquaculturalists use dam water differently from agriculturalists and horticulturalists. They move water according to the time of year and their situation and don’t ‘use’ it in the sense that other farmers do. Yet they face the same charges, for installation and reading of meters for moving water they have collected by installing dams on their own properties. Mr Small believes the marron industry is already over-regulated. An associate, Mr Trevor Hump, observes that legislation providing for water trading as in the Murray Darling area is a nonsense when applied to the Manjimup and Pemberton areas, since the infrastructure in those areas is property-specific. Source: Conrad Natoli in the Manjimup Bridgetown News (4/4/2007).

NT CRAB FARM GETS FEDERAL FUNDING

The Kulaluk mudcrab farm in Darwin has received more than $433,000 from the Federal Government under the Regional Partnerships Program to develop stage two of the venture. The farm has also been given support by the NT Government, the Aboriginal Benefits Account, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and Tropical Aquaculture Australia Ltd. Source: Northern Territory News (27/2/2007); Territory Times (2/3/2007).

CHERAX PARK AQUACULTURE FARM

Seven years after the Moore family started the farm, Cherax Park Aquaculture is the largest in Wide Bay. Twenty tonnes of crayfish were produced in 2006, from 37 growout ponds. There are also 20 brooding ponds. Each pond holds a megalitre of water. The Moores export product to many parts of the world, and there’s interest from other areas of the globe. However, while they export crayfish for food, 80 per cent of the sales are for broodstock. The farm operates using water recycling with nil discharge. With crayfish between 300g and 400g, spin-off product includes crumbed tails and peeled tails. There’s also a building tourist industry.

Fish Farm Manager Marine Produce Australia is a public company pioneering the sea cage farming of premium Cone Bay Saltwater Barramundi in the rugged Kimberley Region of north Western Australia. Due to the early success of our operations, we are seeking to employ an experienced Marine Farm Manager to run the day to day operations of our farms in the spectacular Buccaneer Archipelago, approximately 200km north of Broome. This position is an exciting opportunity for the successful applicant to make a true change to a tropical climate and to join the company at this foundation stage. We are offering an attractive salary package with relocation expenses, as well as all meals and accommodation when on site. Please send applications to Marine Produce Australia Pty Ltd, PO Box 1008, West Perth WA 6872 or email to hvm@marineproduce.com.

Source: Stephen O’Grady in the Fraser Coast Chronicle (14/2/2007).

WATERMARK SOFT SHELL CRABS

Watermark Seafoods grows about 250,000 soft shell crabs annually at Pinkenba, harvesting some 40,000 each time. Watermark’s Angus Cameron has developed a machine which removes the requirement for human observation of the crabs to determine when they require feeding and when they shed their shells - crabs must be harvested within 90 minutes of shedding, before their new shell begins to harden. Every crab is monitored continuously. Soft shell crabs are becoming of interest in Australian cuisine and an import industry has developed in the wake of their being farmed in the country. However, Angus Cameron advises the imported variety often has a less rewarding taste than those grown in Australia, to the extent that he insists where his produce is offered in Australian restaurants, it’s identified as a Watermark soft shell, not the import. Source: Natascha Mirosch in the Courier Mail (6/2/2007).

O T H E R F R E S H WAT E R F I S H WORKING WITH NATIVE FISH

Alan and Deborah Hambly pursued a lifestyle change and bought a 40.5ha property near Kundabung. They decided to grow native fish - mainly silver and gold perch. Ten years on they operate Sunrise Fish Farm, which has a hatchery supplying fingerlings to other users. A growing market is supplying silver perch for stocking farm dams - farmers grow out the fish for personal use. While acknowledging the need for the extent of regulation in the industry, Alan notes costs are rising and would like to see the same conditions placed on imports as are imposed on the Australian industry. Income is falling too, he points out, with 12 hatcheries supplying 637,000 fingerlings and sharing an income of only $123,000 for the effort. The Hamblys grow out silver and gold perch, mostly to supply Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 61

FISHENEWS/EMPLOYMENT

Pearl Farm Managers

the Sydney Fish Markets. Rather less than a quarter of the farm’s fish is sold live to shops and other outlets in Sydney. Source: Leslie Penfold in the North Coast Town & Country - insert (26/2/2007).

OTHER MARINE SPECIES A SEAWEED FEED

Pearl Farm Managers, Atlas South Sea Pearl, a recognized leader in the cultivation of south sea pearls, invites experienced, dedicated and enthusiastic individuals to apply for the positions in Pearl Farm Management in its expanding Indonesian based pearling ventures. Atlas employees enjoy an excellent salary, generous leave arrangements, medical cover (in Indonesia) and a variety of allowances that enhance earning opportunities in a dynamic and challenging work environment. Suitable candidates will correspond to the following criteria:

Essential: 1. Tertiary aquaculture or marine science qualifications and/or extensive experience in the aquaculture industry 2. Demonstrated experience in marine animal husbandry 3. Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills 4. Demonstrated communication and reporting skills 5. Experience in small vessel handling 6. Experience in occupational diving 7. Ability to live and work abroad 8. A commitment to learning the language and culture of Indonesia 9. A high level of general health and fitness

Desirable: 1. Experience in pearl oyster cultivation 2. Experience in bivalve hatchery production and grow-out 3. Experience working in South East Asia (especially Indonesia) 4. Knowledge of the Indonesian language 5. Mechanical aptitude Candidates should send a written application including CV and referee list by email or fax to the following address: Email parni@cipindo.com Fax +62 361 284 454 All correspondence should be headed ‘To the MD, Atlas south sea pearl’. Telephone enquiries can be made to: +62 361 284 455 . Applications will close 20 May, 2007.

Caulepa lentillifera, more commonly known as ‘sea pearls’, ‘sea grapes’ and ‘green caviar’, is being grown by biologists at James Cook University and finding a market as a garnish in Australia. The Japanese delicacy is a seaweed found near Townsville and Magnetic Island. The weed, produced by Professor Rocky de Nys and biologist Nick Paul, is being trialed at Quay Restaurant in Sydney. The plant is also produced seasonally in Okinawa in Japan. The Australian researchers have plans to supply in the Japanese off-season. Production could be combined with prawn and barramundi aquaculture since the plant removes nutrients from culturing water. Source: Chris Quagliata in the Townsville Bulletin (7/4/2007).

OCEAN WORMS INVESTIGATED

Ocean or sea worms are being investigated at the Bullock Creek Prawn Farm as sand filters and nutrient removers in settlement ponds. Under a Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries/Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Centre program, research is ongoing to determine the value of the worms in cleaning water and improving productivity. The work began 30 months ago and moved to the prawn farm in January this year. The worms are now known to eat Lyngbya - a seaweed which has become troublesome in the Limestone Passage. It’s possible worm populations could eventually be used to address issues in much larger areas than settlement ponds on prawn farms, such as rivers. Source: Michelle Fleming in the Island & Mainland News (Bribie Island) (4/4/2007).

CLEAN SEAS HAS MALE TUNA SPAWNING

Following on seven year’s work, Cleans Seas Tuna has induced male southern bluefin tuna to spawn at its land-based facility on the Eyre Peninsula. The company’s shares increased in value by 20 per cent when the news broke. Cleans Seas has gone to great lengths to make such an achievement. Live fish were transported by helicopter to the facility. To cause them to spawn the workers arranged hormonal treatments, artificial moonlight and sunlight, and currents in the water. The next step in the project is to have female fish produce eggs at the site, and this is expected to occur quite soon. The company has enlisted internationally-acclaimed scientists to break this new ground. Clean Seas chairman Hagen Stehr believes the company has the potential to duplicate Australia’s 5200-tonne southern bluefin tuna annual quota in a decade - with no impact on wild tuna stocks. Source: Mark Hawthorn in the Independent Weekly (31/3/2007); Nigel Austin in the Adelaide Advertiser (29/3/2007).

62 Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007

FISHENEWS/EMPLOYMENT

AUSTRALIS BUYS INTO WESTERN KINGFISH

Australis Aquaculture has purchased 2.5 million shares in Western Kingfish for $6 million. The link between the two companies provides advantages to both. Australis will make its US fish marketing network available to Western Kingfish, and also provide access to its patented recirculation technology in Australia. Australis will have the first option to jointly develop US-based Kingfish production with Western Kingfish. Over the last year the share price of Australis has grown steadily, from 40 cents to now be hovering around 70 cents. Source: Food & Drink Business (March 2007).

WAKOOL MULLOWAY

Interest in the mulloway produced at the Inland Saline Aquaculture Research Centre near Wakool has been solid. Although the number of fish has been limited it’s expected around 300 to 400 kilos will be harvested. The fish have been grown out during trials at the Centre, which is operated by NSW Primary Industries Research in conjunction with Murray Irrigation Limited. However it’s unlikely mulloway will be tried again as they don’t develop quickly enough - chances are ocean trout will be trialed next. Previously tiger prawns and rainbow trout have been grown at the Centre, which takes advantage of saline groundwater from the Wakool Tullakool subsurface drainage scheme. Source: Brad McGrath in the Border Mail (14/3/2007).

CLEAN SEAS DOING WELL

Clean Seas Tuna has increased its half-year profit by 548 per cent. The $486,000 compares well with the 2005-2006 full-year profit of $75,000. Higher tuna prices and growth in the kingfish market have supported the result. The company has almost doubled its production of Yellow Kingfish fingerlings compared with the same period in 2006, to 700,000. A Clean Seas Tuna spokesman advises the company is settling in well at Fitzgerald Bay, with monthly community consultation under way. Source: Alexandria Tredrea in the Adelaide Advertiser (28/2/2007); Whyalla News (1/3/2007).

Water Aeration Specialist Technical Role in Aquaculture and Waste Water Treatment • Provide aeration and oxygenation dissolution solutions • Technical support and marketing for commercial oxygen supply partner • Solutions for agricultural and municipal water management BioRemedy is a long established business servicing the aquaculture and waste water industry. We provide solutions to our customers in the form of aeration/oxygenation equipment, biological and chemical treatment. Key Job Roles • Technical support to commercial oxygen supply partner within the greater Australian aquaculture industry • Market oxygen dissolution to commercial production facilities for pelagic species (predominantly based in Tasmania and South Australia). • Market the use of aeration products in aquaculture, water treatment, and waste water treatment. • Develop techniques to improve air and oxygen dissolution in water. • Market systems and products for the control of algal and aquatic weed species within water bodies. Experience We are seeking an individual with technical experience gained from within the Australian aquaculture industry. The position would suit an individual keen to develop their skills within a business environment but retain a focus within the Australian aquaculture industry. The individual appointed needs to be willing to travel, possess good oral and written communication skills, be a team player, and have a desire to develop technical and business marketing skills. The successful individual will require a relevant working history of at least ten (10) years. A tertiary qualification in science or engineering would be viewed as an advantage. The position is based in Brisbane. Attractive salary package provided based on experience and qualifications. Please email applications to Mike Thompson at BioRemedy. Email: mthompson@claytonengineering.com.au

SNAPPER FARM FROM SEWAGE FARM

HELPING THE ASIA-PACIFIC SEA CAGE INDUSTRY

Clean Marine is to lodge a development plan for a snapper farm on the site of an old sewage treatment works following on completing a deal to buy the facility from the George Town Council. The farm will employ nine people and export more than a million fish annually. If plans progress satisfactorily, construction will begin in October. The farm will be the first closed-loop on-land system in Australia.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is leading a collaborative project developing methods to address environmental concerns involving the Asia-Pacific sea-cage fish culture industry. AIMS is working with eight Australian and Indonesian agencies with a goal to develop guidelines for building sustainable cage fish farms in Indonesia, which is the world’s second largest aquaculture producer, and in Australia and other tropical regions. Currently little is known about the impacts of cage culture in tropical regions. The work is being done against a background in which sea cage culture in Indonesia is growing at an alarming rate without the management tools and environmental research necessary for sustainable development.

Source: Launceston Examiner (23/2/2007).

Source: Australian Maritime Digest (February 2007).

Austasia Aquaculture | June 2007 63

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