March 2007

Volume 21 No. 1 – March 2007

At-sea abalone fattening in trays Free range Murray cod culture Vic hatchery would kickstart mussels Multi-tasking helps hatchery adapt Upscaling hobby to breeding factory Jade perch larvae fly to Asia A cautionary investment tale Prawn manual’s focus on health

March 2007

www.AustasiaAquaculture.com.au

Editor-in-chief Dr Tim Walker

FA R M P R O F I L E S

Regular contributors David O'Sullivan John Mosig Dave Field

Abalone fattening in plastic trays for premium product

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Free range Murray cod culture the key for southern inland farms

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Subscription/editorial Austasia Aquaculture PO Box 658, Rosny, Tas. 7018 Ph: 03 6245 0064 Fax: 03 6245 0068 Email: AustasiaAquaculture@netspace.net.au

Vic hatchery would kickstart Vic mussel expansion

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Queensland hatchery moves with the market to focus on ornamentals

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Early retirement upscales ornamentals hobby into diverse breeding factory

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Expansion into Asia for Jade Perch larvae

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Advertising Megan Farrer Design/production Beverly Waldie

Export business for Sydney rock oysters

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Prepress Crystal Graphics

Fish-out and more for Australian Rainbow Trout Farm

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Printing Focal Prinitng

F E AT U R E S

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.

How I very nearly lost my shirt whilst investing in aquaculture

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Prawn manual stresses health management for profits

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TRAINING Marine ornamentals at the Broome Aquaculture Centre

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TECHNOLOGY Innovative new disinfection system

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Tooltech’s ‘Aquatray’ celebrates its 11th birthday

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Small in size but a technological leader

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Oyster equipment manufacturer adds spat basket to its range

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New multiparameter water quality meter

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FISHENEWS

59

March 2007

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AGK Technology All Tanks Ajay & Duraplas Tanks Aqua Assist Aquaculture Supplies WA AquaFauna Biomarine Aquahort AQUASONIC Inside Front Aquaspex Aquatic Diagnostic Services International AQUI-S Austasia Aquaculture - subscription page Australian Monofil Company BST Oyster Supplies Buono Net Australia Elders Fisheries & Aquaculture Brokers EnviroEquip FishQuip Australia Inside Back Gale Pacific Hanna Instruments HR Browne & Sons JEYCO Mooring & Rigging Kel Gordon Lifestyle Real Estate Inside Back Murray Darling Fisheries Oblomov Trading Plastic Fabrications Pro-Aqua P/L Quinntech P/L SEAPA P/L SED - Shellfish Equipment Scanz Technologies P/L Skretting Smo-king Ovens Sydney Fish Market Outside Back Superior Fibreglass Technolab Marketing The Market Place – classified ads Tooltech Tuckaway Engineering Uarah Fish Hatchery Ultra Violet Products (Aust) UTAS – School of Aquaculture Wedeco World Aquaculture Society – Asian Pacific Aquaculture 2007 2 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

26 36 31 41 45 39 26 Cover 42 24 24 58 47 21 29 35 27 Cover 44 36 47 30 43 Cover 11 56 11 44 34 35 41 31 32-33 23 Cover 39 15 63-64 31 12 7 11 5 29 9

FARM PROFILE

Maintenance vessel ‘Te Koura’. Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

Abalone fattening in plastic trays for premium product South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula is fast becoming a centre of innovative technology for the seabased culture of abalone. Novel technologies include the use of ships, special self feeding cages hanging from ex-tuna pens and now longlines supporting stacks of plastic trays. This latter system incorporates an innovative feeding system that allows quick and easy feeding with artificial diets.

T

he Foster family are fifth generation wheat and sheep farmers used to the trials, tribulations, and sometimes rewards, of being primary producers.

Now father John and brothers Andrew and Matthew are turning their energies to the sea with the H.J. Foster & Co abalone farm. At present the operation requires only three part time workers; however, the Fosters (and another partner Ron Scholz) all expect it to get a lot bigger real soon.

Andrew has been interested in the industry for some time. “After 15 years of wheat and sheep I changed jobs to do some security work driving boats around the tuna farms,” he explains.

“I also had some time at South Australian Seafoods’ abalone farm as a maintenance person so I got to see what was happening and the opportunities for doing things differently.

“It took us more than eight and a half

years to get our aquaculture licence. We originally applied for scallops as there were some good beds in the Coffin Bay area and we thought we’d be able to catch seed. We put abalone on the licence application as a backup. Since then the numbers of oyster leases in the region has increased. As it was therefore unlikely we would get a licence for another filter feeder, we focussed on the abalone. In August 2003 we obtained pilot culture licences to grow greenlip Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 3

FARM PROFILE 1

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1: One of the old 12mm mesh cages and the first version of the 2m long buoys.

The crane is attached to the steel plate at the bottom of the buoy and top of buoy is hanging down.

abalone (Haliotis laevigata).”

Their farm, the first in the area, is at Frenchman’s Point, near Gallipoli Beach (where the famous movie was filmed) on the bottom end of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The farm currently consists of two sea sites for a total of 15 hectares (one x 5ha and one x 10ha).

“We chose the sites to be around 10m to 13m deep at low tide and with sandbased seafloor for easy placement of the mooring equipment,” explains Andrew.

“With the beautiful clean waters from the Southern Ocean, we get average water temperatures of 18°C in summer and 14°C in winter which means we can get the abalone growing year round, although they are a little slower in the winter. We are able to get around 2.5 mm growth a month for 80 to 90 mm abs during the summer and 1.5mm per month during the winter.”

Andrew had seen that land-based abalone farms using concrete slab tanks usually found it difficult to get their abalone to grow larger than 70mm.

“Most people said it was a combination of not being able to get enough oxygen, space or the right food. We decided to go for seabased systems to get around all that.”

The Fosters have developed a highly innovative system for the ‘fattening’ of their abalone. “We purchase abalone from local farms, generally Streaky Bay Abalone. We normally pay the current market price for them and expect we’ll be able to get a premium price for larger animals of around 100mm after 18 months of growth in our cages.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

2: The feed boat which has excellent stability; five adults can all stand on one side and it still will operate.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

3: The feed pump used to pump the abalone chips (feeds) with seawater into each of the 20 trays in a cage.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

“Our system puts the abs back into the sea. This increases meat colour dramatically and encourages fast growth, particularly in their overall weight. They stay in the tray without grading for up to 18 months, so handling costs are lowered.”

Stacks of Tooltech Abalone Trays Andrew says that they had built their own cages to begin with but, at 3m long x 1.5m wide and 2m high, they were too heavy to handle after being in the water for 12 months. Instead they

4 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

switched to the solid-bottomed Tooltech abalone trays 18 months ago. These trays are 930mm by 930mm and 100mm high with mesh on all sides and 100mm spacers to allow the trays to be stacked. On each corner there is a hole through which 18mm ropes can be threaded to allow the trays to be easily stacked. The trays are made from black polypropylene and are UV stabilised.

“When we first started we brought a lot of smaller abalone (10mm to 40mm) from a farm that was closing down. We put them on 12mm mesh trays but found that the abalone and cages had too much fouling, particularly white worm (Pomatoceros sp.), and algae on the cages. Sponges were not really a problem but they could double the weight of the cages within 12 months.

“Now we are buying abalone from 70mm upwards and using 24mm mesh trays as we find there is much less fouling problems than with the 12mm mesh. The trays are stacked 20 layers high with 100 mm between each tray to give a ‘cage’ 2m in height. This gives 16.2m2 of bottom surface area per cage in which we can hold up to 2,000 abalone.

The Fosters have few escapees with abalone over 60mm. And those that do seem to hang on to the outside of the cages feeding on the algae off the cages.

“These have great meat colour but are fairly slow to grow,” Andrew says. “Any on the outside of the cages are chipped off and placed in cage at maintenance time.”

A 40mm x 40mm aluminium frame (made from 3mm angle) goes on the top and bottom of the cage with an aluminium bar joining the top and bottom frames on one side. Ropes are used to hold each of the four corners together.

“The aluminium bar gives us a structure to place our feeder system onto and also holds the cage together if the rope hangers break. The cages cost us approximately $900 each fully set up and hopefully they will last for three to four batches of abalone at 18 month each.

“We are experimenting with placing the

FARM PROFILE

trays vertically instead of horizontally. I am convinced this is a much better option (doubling our surface area to start with and helping to purge out wastes and uneaten food) but it means it is a little harder to get the artificial feed to the abs regularly.”

1

Moorings and Longlines The abalone cages hang from longlines anchored at each end by 150kg Stingray anchors. The anchors have 5m lengths of 30mm ship links chain which is shackled onto 40mm diameter 8-plait polyethylene rope. These mooring lines have an angle of around one in three up to the surface or ‘backbone’ longline.

“Our system is pretty much like that used for the pearl or mussel farms but we only have a single backbone line.

We started with a 100m continuous longline, but found that to be too long.

Now we have much shorter ropes, usually around 5m long.”

Andrew says that the 5m lengths of rope are joined to a diamond shaped steel plate and added in to the long line as cages were added. This minimises the amount of unused rope in the water.

There is one steel plate for each cage and the buoy is attached to the top of the plate and the cage to the bottom.

This reduces wear on the longline where the cages and buoys normally join.

“We started with 200L mussel buoys but found that these jerked hard on the cages with each large swell or chop.

Our site is a bit exposed and we regularly get 4 to 5m swell coming through.

Any winds west of north will result in quite choppy conditions out there so we needed to come up with something different to stop the damage to the cages.”

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3

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1: The Foster family, from left to right John, Andrew, Jordan and Matthew Foster.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

2: Trays being put together, note the white spacers in each corner. There is a piece of polytube that runs from top to bottom after the cage is finished and a 22mm rope runs inside of that to the top hangers. Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

3: The cages before the feed distributor head is put on; you can see the mounting plate at the bottom for distributor. Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

4: A metal tray insert is used for loading abalone into a new cage. Normally the Fosters like to use cages that have been in the water for a couple of weeks to give them time to ‘mature’ a little before they put new stock in but in this case they had no option. Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 5

FARM PROFILE

MANAGEMENT METRICS Key Management Decisions for H.J. Foster & Co include: • Value-adding of product by fattening in a more natural environment.

• Use of vertical home-made buoys that result in less stress of the cages and abalone • Off-the-shelf trays combined with innovative holding and feeding systems.

• Feeding from the surface overcomes need for divers.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture System utilised: ‘Cages’ of Tooltech abalone tray (24 mm mesh) with a flat bottom (these give less fouling problems than the 12 mm mesh). The trays are stacked 20 layers high with 100 mm between each tray (this gives 16.2m2 of surface area per cage).

• Growth rate (from stocking to market): Starts with 70mm abalone, achieve approx 2.5 mm a month for 80-90 mm abs during the summer and 1.5mm month during the winter, total growout period is 18 months.

• Survival rate: 70 to 80 percent from first stocking to sale size, we are working hard on this and hope to dramatically increase survival rate in the near future.

• Av. stocking density: around 320 to 350kg of abs per 16.2 m2 cage • Annual harvest: yet to occur, aiming for annual sales of more than 720,000 abalone.

The answer came in some ‘cheap’ tuna pen rings. “These polypropylene pipes were 280mm in diameter and we cut them into 2m long sections and sealed them for 100mm at each end. To do this we adapted the use of a hydraulic rammer to flatten and weld the ends after heating them with a Spit Fire shed heater. A 30mm hole is drilled at each end in the middle of the welded section and a hot bar was pierced through the hole to make sure they were sealed and smooth.”

This design allowed the floats to stand vertically in the water with a 28 mm rope extending from the bottom of the buoy through the top of the float and back down again. This meant that the rise and fall of the buoys in the waves was gentler. Andrew says that the mussel buoys also had a problem of imploding if they are dragged underwater by heavy (fouled) cages. “Our pipe buoys won’t do that.”

Up to twenty-four cages are now joined to make a single longline. Each one is attached to one of the steel plates.

Feeding from surface Currently Andrew and his team are using Adam and Amos 6mm chip (2324% digestible protein, crude protein 6 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

around 33%). “All cages are fed 1.1kg every three to four days during summer and every five to seven days during winter. We have had cameras in the cages at night and the abalone seem to pick up a lot of small natural algae floating around as well as pickings from anything growing through the tray mesh.”

“We invented a feeding system that will feed 20 trays (one cage) in around three minutes from start to finish. The cages do not need to be pulled to the surface and feeding can be done from a vessel as small as 4m long. We currently feed with a 6m aluminium pontoon boat which is excellent for the job.”

“The main component of our feeder system is a converted airseeder distributor unit normally used to sewing cereal crops. These have a 10 way split, each of which we split again for the 20 trays in each cage. We mount one of these to each cage and have a 50mm hose connected to it. The other end of the hose floats on the surface of the water. To feed we pick up the loose end of the hose and connect it to a feed pump on the feed vessel. Using an open impeller Pollypump with a 5.5 Honda motor the artificial feed is pumped down the pipe

and automatically distributes itself in even quantities through the 20 trays.

This system took us approximately 12 months to refine to a good working model.”

Few problems As most of the equipment that could be bought off shelf has not been able to handle the conditions on their lease, the Fosters have had to redesign or invent a majority of their plant and equipment.

“We had to invent our own feeder system, buoys, cage hangers, and to some extent the cages,” says Andrew. “One major problem was the thimbles we were using at the top of our rope hangers were turning and cutting the rope.

We ended up designing a stainless steel pipe bend that has fixed the problem.”

“As this was an untried system we had our fair share of teething problems, now mostly overcome. We lost a few abalone from equipment failures, generally buoys breaking and cages falling to the bottom where the abalone can’t survive in the sand.”

Dodge tides (where there is no tidal movement) can occur every two weeks in the region. Andrew says that there’s a suggestion that the lack of water flow has resulted in low dissolved oxygen levels in some trays which in turn resulted in some mortalities. “We are now trying not feeding when the dodge tides are due to reduce such problems.”

“We have very little predator concerns with the system we use. Occasionally there will be a fish that gets between the trays (usually a small Leather Jacket).

We also get a few small crayfish which are removed during maintenance to the cages as we found they can have very expensive appetites if left in the trays.”

In addition to a 6m aluminium pontoon workboat, H.J. Foster has a wooden 13m ex-prawn trawler the ‘Te Koura’ (Kiwi for crayfish, ex ‘Nina 2’) which is used for lifting the cages and longlines for regular inspection and maintenance.

“Maintenance to cages is done at around six week intervals with cages being cleaned and mortalities removed. We pull up along the buoys and have a

FARM PROFILE

hydraulic crane which can lift in excess of 500kg. This is hooked onto the steel plate at the top of the cages and lifts the whole thing onto the deck. We simply undo the two front ropes and lift the trays to take out morts and use the feed pump with a fire nozzle to clean off most of the fouling.”

Andrew says that the same system could be used when harvesting the abalone.

“We have found that the abalone don’t hold onto the plastic trays as well as they do on the concrete slabs. We can chip the abalone off the plastic easily and there’s a lot less harvesting damage and mortalities than chipping from a concrete slab.

“We clean out the feeders about three times a year as sponge growth can be a problem in the feed outlet blocking the delivery of the chips. We are currently experimenting with a small amount of bike tube over the end of the feeders to try to reduce this problem.”

At the end of the harvest the trays are left to air dry for a few weeks before the white worm and other fouling is scrapped off ready for the next batch of abalone.

Future Plans It has taken over three years of trialling but the Fosters are now happy with a system that works. But they do have “communication issues” with government and no support infrastructure in the immediate area (they beach launch off Farm Beach which is approximately 30min from the lease, with the nearest fuel and loading facilities 2.5 hours away at Coffin Bay). Andrew nominates however their biggest concerns as red tape and compliance costs.”

“For example, we need to have a Veterinarian Health Certificate for each shipment of stock we get from the farms.

This is an essential precaution that needs to be taken to reduce the risk of any disease. The problem is that every time we do one the cost doubles; the latest one cost us $2,000. Two years ago it was $1,000 and three years ago it was only $500. Some years we will be doing two stockings (each of twelve to thir-

Front view of cages ready to be stocked and put on the sea lease. The trays are from Tooltech, just about every thing else was built in-house.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Foster.

teen cages) so just that will cost $4,000.”

Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt are wonderful people.”

The high cost of the seedstock is also an issue, for any mortality of a near market size animal is going to hit the cash flow hard. “We are selling some 5ha land blocks at Coulta to raise the capital for the next stocking, and to get more cages in the water.”

“We are yet to market any abalone with our first harvest coming up around April this year. At sale time there is around 2,000 abalone in each cage, with around 18-20kg of 80-100mm abalone per tray. Harvesting will be simple; the abalone will be chipped, shucked and either canned or frozen.”

The Fosters are keen to move from their pilot lease to full commercial production but there have been some holdups.

“We have seen full production leases given to another company which has spent less than 5% of the time and money we have put into our leases. It can be a bit disappointing to have to keep fighting the government to keep things we have worked so long for.

“On the positive side the community has in general been very supportive and we have had no trouble with people doing the wrong thing. I have met a lot of helpful people. We have hosted some international visitors and enjoyed the experience very much. In February 2006 I went to Chile for the 6th World Abalone Symposium. The locals from

Industry sources suggested that the farm gate prices for the larger (120g, 100mm) animals are expected to be higher than those for the smaller animals (80g, 80mm) by around 10% for every 10g increase over 80g. Significant premium prices are attracted by 150g+ animals. The enhanced flesh colour the caged abalone get from eating algae means they are more like the wild abalone and this also adds to their value.

By Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Andrew Foster, H.J. Foster & Co, Mob: 0402 254-124, email: andcarm@absatsea.com.au Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 7

FARM PROFILE

Free range Murray cod culture the key for southern inland farms Water is a precious commodity in country NSW so maximising on a reliable water supply was what Ken Drane and partner Carol Barley had in mind when the couple established an extensive Murray cod operation in southern NSW a bit over a year ago.

F

ollowing the stocking density philosophy (stocking low and early) of their Shorthorn cattle farm Ken and Carol are expected to produce about 400kgs (about 700 fish) of Murray Cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii) this summer from one hectare of extensively stocked ponds.

The 408 hectare property, Hillside via Wymah, some 50km upstream of Albury in southeast NSW ranges from steep hills and amphitheatres to Murray River flats.

Ken says the farm has five kilometres of river frontage at Lake Hume and around half of the property lies beneath the high water level of the lake, which provides excellent grazing during autumn when the water level receded.

Free range Despite hot summer periods, the winter temperatures are cool in southern Australia. Commonly, the first question that comes to mind of an aquaculturist is therefore: What happens to the fish in the cooler months? These low seasonal

Top: The reservoir and grow-out ponds with the aquaduct following the contour of hill to collect run-off in the foreground.

Bottom: All the ponds are covered in a bird netting to protect them from pelicans and shags. They are also aerated daily to maintain water quality.

temperatures must result in reduced growth rates. How can I grow Murray cod profitably?

The answer lies in the extensive farming style and natural conditions found at the Albury property. Ken and Carol are one of the few modern aquaculturists growing Murray cod in an open pond system. The trend towards recirculated systems, particularly in the cooler states, did not appeal to Ken. Instead, the Murray cod are grown in shallow open ponds and allowed to forage for themselves. “Philosophically we are opposed to the idea of battery farming (in high density tanks) and want the fish to be free-range. “We are licensed to have one hectare of grow-out ponds and currently have one hectare in operation, which includes two ponds. Each pond is 50m long, 25m wide and 1.5m deep and has an outlet drain through a 250 cm diameter stand pipe. We also have a reservoir

8 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

FARM PROFILE

holding 40 megalitres of water for water exchange.”

to the top of the pond, clogging gills in fish stock.”

The ponds were stocked in late December last year with one thousand 17mm long fry purchased from a hatchery near Wagga Wagga (NSW). Ken says he wanted to get the fingerlings as early as possible to extend the period of warm water temperatures for optimal growth.

“The fish doubled in size each month until the water temperatures begin to drop away in April.”

The ponds are kept topped up with a groundwater right (spring) of 15 megalitres as well as a harvestable water-right of 10 per cent of the run-off to a total of 35 megalitres. The combined entitlement ensures NSW Fisheries’ requirement for 40 megalitres of storage for each hectare of grow-out ponds is satisfied.

Given the shallowness of the ponds the sun heats them by day and they slightly cool overnight. Ken says the hot and prolonged summers in the area keep water temperature at 20-25°C until April. While winter temperatures can drop to 10°C, by keeping the ponds shallow Ken says they make the most of the natural heater, the sun.

“The depth of 1.5 metres is also designed to avoid ‘roll-over’. This occurs if the water is deep enough to stratify. In the event of frost, the warm or top strata changes places with normally colder bottom strata. This action, known as roll-over, can bring sediment

Each of the ponds had been stocked with 500 cod. Ken says he considered carefully the number of fish that were stocked into each pond. “As with any animal, stocking rate drives the amount of care and management time needed as well as the risk of disease. We decided to give ourselves the best chance of success in the initial trial by having a low stocking rate. We do the same thing with our cattle, so I guess it was just a carry over of current animal management philosophy.”

12 months to 500g Extensive farming also reduces the likelihood of disease. Usually the stress of high stocking densities in a culture system results in high parasite numbers,

which cause mortalities. Growth rates should also be good with low stocking densities.

“We estimate we will get a seven month growing period and the fish will reach 500g in 12 months. Optimum water temperature is 25°C. When the water drops to below 15°C native finfish stop growing and eating.”

Ken says having a low stocking density means water flow rates in the ponds are also kept low. It is however enough to ensure the ponds provide adequate dissolved oxygen levels for the fish while keeping waste and toxin concentrations to a minimum. The low flow rate enables the fish to focus on putting energy consumed into growth while the other aquatic life, that is potential feed, is not swept out of the ponds.

Ken plans to increase the stocking rate to 1,000 fish per pond if the initial trial is successful. He says the figure is designed to ensure they do not get too intensive. “This will allow the fish a good deal of natural food so as to retain a natural flavour in the fish rather than just pellet feeding.”

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 9

FARM PROFILE

“A person on each bank will pull the net through the water, ensuring the lead line does not lift off the bottom and the float line does not submerge. Murray cod are smart fish and will take advantage of any small gap in the netting.

Since the ponds are purpose built and relatively new, the pond bottom is smooth which reduces the chances of the net skipping over any fish.

Ken Drane adjusting the water supply valve between reservoir and ponds.

The fish are fed barramundi pellets through the use of an automatic feeder controlled by a 12- hour timer. “The amount of feed added varies from summer to winter; as the temperatures increase the fish metabolism increases and they require more food. Feed rates vary from one per cent of biomass when water temperature is below 14°C to three per cent of biomass when water temperature is above 24°C.” Ken says that whilst he adds pellets to ensure there is sufficient food in the ponds at all times, the fish are largely left to forage for their own food from a natural menu that includes tadpoles, insects, frogs and water snails.

The ponds are aerated between 5-6am every morning with a time switch. A 17kVa generator turns on the floating pump type aerators. “Aeration is required during the early morning because of all the organisms in the ponds producing carbon dioxide during the night (algae produce oxygen during the day, however consume oxygen also during the night). By aerating the water we have been able to maintain a dissolved oxygen level of seventy per cent.”

The effluent water is collected in a large pond and then recycled onto irrigated fodder crops for the cattle. The nutrient rich water aids production of quality 10 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

fodder for the cattle with reduced use of chemical fertilizers.

Ken has covered all of the ponds with bird netting. “We have a number of pelicans and shags in the area. A pelican is able to eat an entire pond in one sitting.”

Water quality parameters – ammonia, oxygen, temperature and pH levels – are monitored each week and some fish removed for health checks. “At this stage we have not had any difficulties with parasites; however, the low stocking densities generally reduce the occurrence of parasitic outbreaks within our fish stocks. Even where parasites may exist the numbers present are low, avoiding deaths.

“The only difficulty we have found in the ponds at this stage is the occurrence of algal blooms. We have reduced the size of the blooms to a level the ponds are able to sustain by adding bales of barley straw to the edges of the ponds.”

Harvesting At this stage Ken plans that all of the produce will go to market at the same time. “This summer will be our first harvest. We will initially use a seine net to remove the fish.”

Ken says a lead line and a float line will allow the netting to form a wall across the pond.

“We have a ten inch (25 mm) outlet pipe from the bottom of the stand pipe (which controls the water level) out through the wall of each pond. Final harvest will be to pull the stand-pipe out and drain the pond into a tank with netting around the top. The netting ensures no fish escape while enabling the excess water to exit the tank. This process should minimise labour required to harvest the ponds and stress on the fish.”

While studying for a Certificate of Aquaculture, Ken says he discovered (through one of the teachers who had managed a fish farm where this happened) that fish break their spine if harvested through a right angle bend. “So we have two 45 degree bends between the base of the standpipe and the final outlet.”

Ken says he was not grading the Murray cod once they were stocked into the ponds. “When ordering the fingerlings we asked that the fish be graded according to growth rate. This has been done to ensure the fish growth rate is fairly uniform to minimize cannibalism. I expect the undersize fish will be eaten by others and research literature indicates that we should expect about 30 per cent loss through cannibalism.”

Ken says the couple planned to market to local businesses. “At this stage we are in discussions as to who we believe our target markets should be. I would like to focus on restaurants but Carol believes the target should be the fish shops and butchers. So far all the businesses that we have approached have been keen to take the entire product we are able to produce. The question may in fact not be who should we supply but how are we able to ensure we can meet our market demand.”

FARM PROFILE

Ken says he’s already planning next year’s crop. “We are thinking that we will stock all the ponds as soon as we can source fingerlings so as to get the longest possible growing season.”

Future and further learning The farm is expected to expand to incorporate a further six ponds enabling larger markets to be approached. The extensive stocking densities of the ponds will ensure it remains manageable, despite the anticipated growth in area and production.

Ken studied for a Certificate in Aquaculture by distance learning through NSW Northern Rivers TAFE while proceeding with licensing and earthworks.

MANAGEMENT METRICS Key Management Decisions for Hillside via Wymah include: • Use of extensive culture with supplementary feeding to ensure sufficient food levels exist year round.

• The shallow ponds allow the water temperatures to heat up during spring.

• Bird netting to reduce losses from pelicans and shags.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture system utilised: 0.25ha drainable ponds with bird netting.

• Growth rate (from stocking to market): zero to 500g over 12 months • Survival rate: 70% from first stocking to sale size • Av. stocking density: low • Annual harvest: 400kg this year, will expand • Production rate: 4kg per 1,000m3 (growout system volume) per year • Water use: Yet to be established • Power use: self generated (15 to 20 litres of diesel per week)

as the soil is granite based which made

“The entire process took around six years to complete. It took three years to obtain approval for our development application and the aquaculture license which allow us to produce Murray cod, silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus), golden perch (Macquaria ambiqua), catfish (Tandanus tandanus) and yabbies (Cherax destructor).

water retention difficult. We succeeded

“The earthworks to produce the ponds and reservoir took a further three years

extending their own farming enterprise

eventually by lining the earthworks with clay mined from the property.”

The farm also employs a staff member to help with general farm duties. Ken

By Jennifer Savage and Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Ken Drane, Hillside via Wymah, PO Box 206, Holbrook, NSW 2644.

Tel: 02 6020-2070, Fax: 02 6020-2071, email: hillsidewymah@optusnet.com.au

and his family operate a sheep and cattle farm nearby and are considering to include aquaculture production.

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Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 11

FARM PROFILE

Vic hatchery would kickstart Vic mussel expansion M

artin John has had a lifelong passion for growing things ... from plants to seafood. Much of his aquaculture life has been spent with shellfish, notably atTasmania’s Shellfish Culture Ltd, one of the nation’s most successful aquaculture enterprises. More recently his talents have seen him consulting overseas and producing mussel spat for Victoria producers.

local mussel growers to gauge their interest in hatchery produced spat. He then canvassed existing land-based aquaculture operations around Port Phillip Bay, subsequently setting up a mussel hatchery (in 2002) in conjunction with local abalone producer Great Southern Waters (AA 20-4 & 16-3). In the five years since he has spawned and settled millions of mussel spat.

During nearly 15 years at Shellfish Culture, Martin oversaw its growth from a small private operation to the largest and most advanced shellfish hatchery in the Southern Hemisphere, a cornerstone of the successful oyster industry in not only its home state but also South Australia. In both states, oysters are huge earners on the export and domestic markets.

Mussel spawning Mussel broodstock, collected in conjunction with mussel farmers, are selected for desirable characteristics such as shape, growth rate and size.

Placed in a shallow tray they are induced to spawn using temperature shock. Each mussel is removed immediately it begins to release gametes, with the males and females placed in separate containers to continue spawning.

Following controlled fertilisation, the eggs are transferred to an incubation tank, where they will hatch in 20-30 hours at 20°C.

Martin believes the same success story can be written for the poor man’s oyster: the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis).

Family connexions with the Bellarine Peninsular have seen him return to the heartland of Victoria’s mussel growing region. The industry had been experiencing unreliable spat settlement at its primary collection zone at Werribee. In the interests of providing another option, Martin first approached the

Mussel larvae can be produced in both a high volume / low density regime (ie large tanks with fewer larvae) or, if space is limited, a low volume / high density system. After 2-3 weeks of intensive larvae culture – a diet of cul-

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tured algae, constant temperature and regular water changes – the larvae will be showing signs of impending settlement. Ropes are either hung in tanks or continuous length spools are suspended in tanks ready to receive newly settled spat. The type of rope, its condition and handling all contribute to the success or failure of the settlement process.

The settled spat are fed a diet of nutrient-rich algae for a further couple of weeks to a size of approximately 1mm in shell length. The density of spat on ropes is determined before the mussel farmer takes possession of the ropes and carefully places them on his farm.

The Future Based on his own experience and observation of the local and international shellfish industry, Martin has well founded views on how industry growth can be achieved and sustained. “The Victorian government is releasing extra farming water in Port Phillip Bay, primarily for mussel production. There is an opportunity to make this a world class industry. We’ve done it with oysters in Australia but this didn’t happen overnight and followed improvements in shell shape and thickness, feeding and conversion ability and meat quality and quantity.

“Australian oysters amongst the most highly sought after in the region, particularly the growing markets in the affluent quarters of eastern and southern Asia.

“When it comes to mussels, we’re an importer. We are unable to produce enough mussels in this country for our own consumption. This can be put down to lack of water, the absence of private investment and government initiative plus the question mark over where seedstock is sourced from.

“We import frozen green shell mussels from New Zealand, a product that possesses the flavour and texture of an old

FARM PROFILE

sock. To regain this lost market we have to concentrate our efforts on improving the product and increasing the animal’s efficiency at the production level. I don’t see it happening with mussels”.

Martin feels the waters of Port Phillip Bay and Westernport are better for mussels – and even scallops – than those in Tasmania. But before investment can be made with confidence there needs to be a few things in place.

“Investors need to know that they can get seedstock. The markets are there but spat collection from the wild is hit and miss. It may be cheaper to harvest the wild spat but how do you quantify a settlement failure? You just can’t afford that uncertainty when you’re making a large investment. There needs to be a private and government push to establish a reliable supply of mussel spat.”

Improved seedstock A shellfish hatchery in Victoria would do more than just remove uncertainty.

Genetic selection for growth and quality, especially the ability to increase meat yields, is likewise an industry advantage.

“They have done some great work in Tassy: hatchery techniques such as better conditioning of the target animal for spawning and producing algae. All this work is funded in Tasmania because they have the facilities. To attract some of that FRDC funding we need a hatchery in Victoria. Then we can have a world’s best practice shellfish hatchery to boost the local industry. We’re going to need that sort of investment to attract serious-minded investors”.

A shellfish hatchery would also support the development of other bivalves. Martin can’t see a future for the native flat oyster (Ostrea angasi) in competition with the Sydney rock (Saccostrea glomerata).and Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas). His preference instead is for muyssels first followed by oysters then scallops. Current regulations prohibited the farming of Pacific oyster in Victoria because of a concern over establishment of feral populations. The establishment of techniques to breed triploid Pacific oyster could cancel out those concerns.

For example, NSW are importing trip-

Above: Martin’s love of growing things is reflected in his other passion – horticulture Right: Mussel spawning tanks. The growing ropes are hung in them to allow the larvae to settle.

loid Pacific oysters and growing them commercially in conjunction with the Sydney Rock Oyster.

Martin says the hatchery techniques for doughboy scallops (Annachlamys flabellate) are reasonably well established.

However, the commercial scallop (Pecton fumatus) is not so easy to breed in sustainable numbers. These are all matters that could be examined at a Victorian shellfish hatchery and research facility.

Economic benefits Martin reckons the economic benefits of a viable mussel industry in Victoria to be manifold. Although a low value product, the industry is labour intensive. Martin believes that, dollar for investment dollar, mussels would create more jobs than any other Victorian

aquaculture sector.

Mussels also lend themselves to valueadding, boosting. employment in the food processing sector.

“Victoria has excellent areas suitable for passive shellfish culture,” Martin continues. “Filter feeding bi-valves help clean up the water. On top of that, the water quality program that is part and parcel of shellfish farming provides a monitoring service for other stakeholders.

There’s no drought in the ocean. The time to act is now.”

By John Mosig Martin John can be contacted by phone on (03) 5250 5154, or by email on swanbay@tpg.com.au Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 13

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Queensland hatchery moves with the market to focus on ornamentals growout. The markets were too undependable. It was only in July and August that you could make enough money out of it. The rest of the time you were barely covering costs. Now we’re concentrating on being a hatchery and importing/distributing ornamental fish. We’re breeding goldfish and guppies as well as keeping a few lines of natives going.”

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Dru has a marine science degree from Central Queensland University and a diploma in aquaculture from Grafton TAFE. The hatchery has a summer (breeding season) staff of eight but this cuts back to four once the labour-intensive hatchery and harvesting work is completed.

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ne of the secrets of survival in aquaculture is to find a niche that that suits the available resources and management capabilities. Given that this niche is unlikely to be immune to the march of time and marketplace, adaptability and/or re-invention is likewise a key attribute.

South East Queensland Hatcheries is a prime example of such durability. Originally part of Queensland’s short lived (1980s) marron boom, it has had several incarnations since – as a redclaw farm, an eel farm and a native fish farm (AA 19-5). Now it has morphed into an ornamental breeder and distributor.

1: Fertile silver perch eggs nearing hatching.

2: Dru injecting golden perch to trigger the spawning process.

14 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

Current manager, Dru Absalom, has been through two of those incarnations.

“We were doing up to 80 tonnes a year with the eels but when the SARS epidemic hit the bottom dropped out of the market. Growing eels in ponds is labour intensive and we were never really able to recover even when the market picked up”, he says. “There wasn’t enough money in the native fish

Demonstrating its commitment to the ornamental sector, the hatchery has a 450 x 120mm tank Quarantine Approved Premises (QAP) for both tropical species and goldfish. The insulated temperature controlled room is run at 22oC for goldfish and 27oC for the tropical imports. Another 800 tanks are in the holding room – a near-doubling of capacity by building a new 1,600 tank facility is planned. Each tank has its own bio-filter.

Whilst preferring to deal with local product, what the operation can’t breed itself or source in Australia, it imports.

Fish come from the South Pacific, South East Asian and southern Asian regions.

“We can get fish from Indonesia and Vanuatu that we can’t get anywhere else,” Dru explains. “We breed some of the goldfish and the live bearers here: the guppies, platys and swordtails”. So too are Barcoo and sooty grunter, silver perch, eel tailed catfish and redclaw.

The hatchery even breeds tortoises – long and short necked – for the pet trade.

The hatchery distributes as far a field as Cairns and Sydney, and is looking to extend its territory to Melbourne and

FARM PROFILE

beyond, across to Western Australia.

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Over its several lives, the farm has accumulated an eclectic mixture of ponds and indoor facilities, all of which have a place in the new operation. There are 30 x 0.25ha ponds, ten 500m2 and 400m2 ponds, hatchery facilities, green rooms and holding tanks.

Tortoise breeding Tortoise breeding is a new field and Dru’s team is just feeling their way. Last year was their first attempt with a number of eggs collected and hatched together with the harvesting of juveniles bred naturally in the ponds.

Dru says there’s no secret to it other than setting up the habitat the right way. A 0.25ha pond is divided down the middle to separate the long necks from the short necks. The whole area is surrounded by a 600mm high steel fence. Adequate nutrition is vital. Silver perch pellets have been a mainstay so far, mainly to use up remnants of the feed left over from the days when the operation ran as a growout farm.

1: A male silver perch running ripe prior to injection.

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2: Dru ands Matt selecting potential silver perch broodstock for injection.

Tortoise eggs are about the size of a 20c piece and each female has between ten

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 15

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1: They make their own filters at SEQ Hatcheries. Shown here with red platys. The medium is filter wool, bio balls and gravel to weigh them down. The exchange rate is 800L/hr.

2: Andrew Sauer (R) and Assistant Manager Matt Johnson load ornamental species for transportation to the retail trade.

and 25 twice a year. A small quail incubator takes 8-10 weeks to hatch the juveniles. Temperature and humidity is a bit of guesswork at this stage. It takes another 17 days for the soft membrane of the shells to harden. Dru says these may not be the optimum conditions: the whole project is a work in progress.

as ponds are not fed heavily, plankton blooms are well balanced and easily managed – pH during production swings between 7.5 and 9.5, but is generally 8.5. Aeration is provided by two and four blade 3-phase paddlewheels and the farm supported by a 32Kva generator.

The water Water comes onto the property via a secured pumping license from the Albert River. The water is pumped up to an 8,000m2 header dam. There’s also a 2ha storage dam plus a 1.5ha settlement pond from recycled water is drawn. Given its current incarnation as a hatchery, the property’s water demands are well-satisfied. Evaporation is minimal due to high summer rainfall and just two to three megalitres need to be pumped from the river each month.

This is a big power saving as the lift from the river requires a 185Kwt motor to drive the pump.

Located not far from the coast, the required marine water is delivered; the freshwater on the farm is so good it is used in the hatchery as a flow-through system. Hatchery water is exchanged three to four times a day.

At 100ppm, the water has good carbonate hardness for aquaculture. The ponds are scraped each season to give a firm clean bottom. Lime is not needed and 16 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

Being elevated from the coastal plain, winter temperatures can be cool. Whilst a low of 8°C has been recorded, 10°C is more the norm. This year the ponds didn’t drop below 14°C. In any case, the low temperatures only hold for a month.

At the other end of the scale, summer peaks can be frighteningly high. Last season pond temperatures hovered in the 30s for a few weeks with a high of 34°C. Dru says this was historically exceptional although global warming might make it more frequent.

Jade perch (aka Barcoo grunter) Once pond temperatures approach 24°C the eggs of the female jade perch are monitored for maturation. When ready, a breeding team of two males and a female are – after checking the males’ spermatozoa for motility – injected (the females with 1,000iu/kg of hormone and the males with 500iu/kg) and water temperature in the 1,000L tank boosted to 28°C to 30°C. Spawning takes between 15 and 24 hours; incubation between 10 and 24 hours. Dru says that they’ve had batches through, from injection to hatching, in 24 hours. The broodstock are removed from the tanks once the eggs have hardened – about four hours. The larvae remain in the hatchery for another three days before they are liberated in the plankton pond.

During this time the temperatures are gradually lowered to match those in the ponds. All perch larvae are stocked at 100/m2.

The ponds are filled from the bottom dam with water screened down to 250µm. This keeps out the aquatic insects but allows enough rotifers, cope-

FARM PROFILE

pods and daphnia through to seed the plankton ponds the pond. The freshette of water also helps trigger a healthy phytoplankton bloom.

A 0.25 pond is freshly flooded and fertilized with a bag of lucerne chaff, 12kg of single super, 2kg of sulphate of ammonia and 2kg of sulphate of potash. Dru likes to use the lucerne chaff because it breaks down quicker. He adds fertilizer as needed to maintain a plankton bloom when required. .

Twice-daily (morning and evening) feeding of the ponds begins on day 10 with Growbest 45% protein dust, 0.5mm and 1mm crumbles. The fry grow to 30mm to 35mm in three weeks and 50mm and 2g to 3g in five weeks (Dru’s growout experience says that from then on the shooters will reach 600g in five months with the rest up to that mark in 7-8 months). Both Skretting Barramundi SS Classic floating pellets and Ridley’s Aquafeed Native Fish diet have been used with equal effectiveness.

The newly commissioned quarantine room at SEQ Hatcheries.

A view of part of the pond layout at SEQ Hatcheries.

Silver perch Silver perch and jade perch complement each other in the hatchery: silvers are monitored from the time the brood pond temperatures reach 18°C. That early start allows 1g fry to be available by the 2nd week of October, enabling growers, particularly those in the southern regions, to get a flying start to the growing season.

For this species the hatchery is run at 22°C to 26°C. Once the eggs are maturated, breeding teams of two males and one female are selected; the procedure is the same as for the jade perch. The broodstock is removed and the larvae are stocked at 100/m2 after being held in the hatchery for three days.

The fry grow to 35mm after four weeks.

Harvesting gets under way after five to six weeks by which time the fish are averaging 40mm.

Dru has grown silvers up to market size in recirculation units. He says it took around 12 months to get them up to 600g. “The market prefers the bigger fish – up around the kilo mark. They grew well to 300g.

After that they plateaued out,” he says.

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 17

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rearing.

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The live bearer’s breeding ponds are covered by low-level netting. Around 3,000 breeders are stocked per 500m2 pond. The fish breed naturally as long as the nutrition is kept up to them. Dru uses the same crumble diets that he feeds the perch fry. Once the temperature gets up around 20°C each female will have 50-60 young every four to five weeks, continuing until the autumn. A fine seine net is run through the ponds whenever there’s a need to replenish the stockpile in the holding tanks.

Dru feeds in the ponds from the beginning of week 3 with Ridley’s Native Fish Starter.

Golden perch SEQ Hatcheries carry the Murray Darling strain of golden perch as Dru feels they are less aggressive in the ponds.

Egg condition is monitored once the pond temperatures reach 20°C with spawning slated for hatchery water temperatures of 23-24°C. Hormone doses are the same as for silvers and jades.

Golden perch spawn within 36 to 40 hours of injection and hatch within another 36 hours. Four days later they’re ready to start feeding and are liberated into fertilized ponds. They don’t take a dry food in the ponds so plankton management is part of the protocol. In six to seven weeks they average 40mm and are ready for harvesting and distribution.

Expected survival in the fry ponds is 50% for golden and silver perch but well above 80% for jade perch.

1: Ornamental distribution requires the carrying of a large range of species and sizes. Just a glimpse of what’s involved.

2: A typical fry production pond. Note the aerator and low level bird netting.

3: Plants are a growing segment of the oriental market. Here Dru is packing off elodea (Elodea canadensis).

18 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

Ornamentals Around 50,000 goldfish a year and another 50,000 live bearers are bred each year. Goldfish eggs are collected from floating breeding mops, brought up to the hatchery and (after hatching and metamorphosis) are reared in flowthrough tanks. Dru says it would be too costly to cover all the ponds for in pond

Another native species with a good following in the aquarium trade is eel tailed catfish. These are bred in the ponds and harvested in fish traps for storage in the tanks for distribution.

Health management is a crucial part of any operation, even more so for an operation geared to send its product as far as ornamental species travel.

Markets SEQ Hatcheries have developed a good market spread. The silvers are mainly sold to growers. Ninety percent of the golden perch go to restocking groups.

The market for jades is overseas. The catfish go to the ornamental trade. “We aim to send out a million of the native species we breed each season”, says Dru. “It depends on what the market wants. We manage to place half a million easy.”

It is easy to see that, with the right resources and management, aquaculture can be anything you want to make it.

South East Queensland Hatcheries has found the market niche to match its physical resources and ensure it had the right management team in place to make it work. With an expansion plan mapped out and an eye to the markets, it looks as if the right formula has been found.

By John Mosig South East Queensland Hatcheries can be contacted by phone on (07) 5546 4462, or by email on sales@seqfish.com.au

FARM PROFILE

Early retirement upscales ornamentals hobby into diverse breeding factory 1

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1: A cuckoo catfish (the spotted fish) lurking amongst its unsuspecting foster fish.

2: John with a sword plant (Echinodorus horemanni) from the Amazon Basin. It’s doing very well in an outer Melbourne wetland display 3: Shown here are some 10 day old cichlids with their yolk sacks still attached.

They are fast growing and will be free swimming in six days.

J

ohn Cousins’ first fish tank was an 18 inch one with a green galvanized frame housing a couple of goldfish. He can still smell the aquarium putty of those days before the creation of aquatic silicone.

This birthday present sparked a lifelong love affair with aquarium keeping.

Following an early retirement at 55, John’s hobby has evolved into a 150 tank, 10m x 6m fish room growing a range of animals and plants, including a dabble with red rams horn snails. Like so many breeders and collectors, he has a strong leaning to the Rift Valley species but since retirement rainbow fish have been added to the list. Being a naturalist by nature, planted tanks are also part of the catalogue. In fact his planted tanks have taken the Eastern District Aquarium Society prize in six of the last 18 years.

A tour of the fish room reveals a fascinating potpourri of mouth brooders (eg Labidochromis hongi, Paracyprichromis nigripinnis & Pseudotrphuseus. crabro), egg scatterers (Australian & New Guinea rainbows), cave spawners (eg desert gobies & Apistogramma sps), bubble nest builders (most gouramis) anda cuckoo catfish that mixes her fertilized eggs with those of the mouthbrooders, typically Astatotilapia calliptera. But the fish room is more than just a breeding factory. John’s natural feeling for the aquatic environment is reflected in the harmonious habitat set-up in each tank.

The shed is built on a concrete slab and drains to an external water storage. The fish room has two taps; one for topping up the fish tanks and the other at the sink/bench working area. Melbourne

tap water is naturally soft and ideal for rainforest species. The Rift Valley species prefer a more alkaline environment, however. Coming from deep tropical lakes, they are less tolerant of temperature variations. John has allowed plenty of space to move tanks and equipment around. The main aisle is 1.2m and the leads are 900mm wide. The walkways can also accommodate a mobile bench that can be wheeled to each working site rather than taking everything back to the sink area. Experience can be seen in the design. The entrance opens directly into an aisle so space is saved by having tanks right up to the door.

Heating & insulation Insulation is a compromise between the light requirements of the plants and the Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 19

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1: This clump of adhesive eggs will hatch approximately 40 mystery snails that will take four months to reach maturity.

2: John & Janet Cousins beside their prize winning planted tank.

3: Cave breeding bristle nose catfish exposed here in their breeding nest – a reptile house. A magnetically attached cover has been removed for the photo.

4: A golden mystery snail, (Ampullaria cuprina). They are handy for cleaning up detritus from the substrate.

5: Removing the hatching eggs from the mouth brooding cichlids is one of the on going tasks in the fish room.

John removing the hatching eggs from a female L. hongi

20 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

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heating demands of a Melbourne winter. John uses a natural gas Rinnai Energysaver. Its main benefits are that it is small, easy to maintain and is efficient.

It has a thermostatically controlled range of 17°C to 26°C. The heater has been installed away from the entrance to prevent it switching on needlessly whenever the door is opened, especially in the cooler months. Insulation is via 150mm cool store panelling in the roof and 75mm in the walls.

While having natural light for the plants can generate unwanted algal growth, John has opted for a skylight area at the entrance end of the shed and a feature window on the northern side of the same end. He has used polygal for the skylights and the window. The effect provides an airy feel to what is traditionally a gloomy, artificially lit work area, more than compensating for the condensation experienced during times of external and internal temperature variations.

There is also shelving space to store

equipment and breed some of the live diets integral to ornamental fish breeding and keeping. John’s fodder species includes grindal worms, vinegar eels, microworms, algal cultures, white worms, paramecium and brine shrimp.

Aeration is by a Hiblow 60 airpump distributed via a 19mm polypipe. This unit runs 24 hours a day and is serviced twice a year. It has proved to be very reliable and is still running on the original diaphragm after five years.

Rainbows One group of species gaining in popularity is the rainbow fish. Native to Australia and New Guinea, rainbow fish provide a wide range of options to enthusiasts around the world. Unfortunately, since the 1970s, importation has been restricted and, while they can be bred in captivity, the gene pool is relatively narrow. John is a member of Australian and New Guinea Fishes Association (ANGFA). Through networking Association members try to maintain

diversity in the gene pool and the number of species available. Reds (Glossolepis. incisus and the Goyder River rainbow ), blue and orange (Melanotaenia boesmanni) are well known in the ornamental trade. However it is through the efforts of ANGFA members that viable populations of the less well distributed species are maintained.

ANGFA is an environmentally-aware group and in Victoria has been using its scientific skills in field work monitoring and recording of fish populations in the wild. Working with officers from the Department of Sustainability and Energy (DSE) in Gippsland stream systems, a major achievement has been the establishment of a sanctuary for Galaxiella pusilla in the Narre Warren area east of Melbourne. This species is threatened by the expansion of the city in this direction.

Rainbow fish are prolific breeders. As long as conditions are right – typically that’s soft water at temperatures of 25°C – breeding will continue on a daily

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 21

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1: An example of John’s working environment.

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2: John in his well planned and airy fish room.

3: Plants are a growing part of John’s output. Here he inspects the bloom of an Echinodorus macrophyllus, or largely sword plant.

by all of John’s fish.

Vinegar eels are simply produced by introducing a culture to a container with 50% Skipping Girl cider vinegar and 50% aged water. Some people add a teaspoon of white sugar per two litres and some a 1cm cube of apple, but John’s happy with the 50-50 mix. The vinegar eels are harvested by immersing a stainless steel or nylon coffee filter in the culture and then rinsing it in a container of tank water. basis. In the wild they lay adhesive eggs on aquatic vegetation. In the hatchery breeding mops substitute. As a rule of thumb, the smaller the fish the larger the egg and the longer the incubation cycle. The 2cm to 3cm blue eye (Pseudomugil gertrudae) lays two to three 2mm eggs daily that take around 18 days to hatch. A 10cm rainbow (Melanotaenia lacustris) may lay as many as sixty 1mm eggs a day that can hatch in six days, while the 15cm Splendida rainbows (eg the Flat Rock Creek rainbow) can spawn up to 200 <1mm eggs that will also take six days to hatch.

Although this makes them an extremely productive fish in ornamental terms, they still take six to nine months to reach marketable size. A drawback is that they 22 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

are a plain fish until they reach maturity and their full colouration. John says the Glossolepis wannamensis has a striking green body with jet black fins but this doesn’t show until they’re 4cm to 5cm long.

Nutrition Like all ornamental fish keepers, growing fish food is part of the fun. John produces vinegar eels (Turbatrix aceti) and micro worms (Panagrillus silusiae) for the larvae. He says that many rainbow fish require a good deal of vegetable matter in their diet to prevent them breaking out in ulcers. A frozen mix of prawns, peas and zucchini (the proportions aren’t that important) held together by gelatine is very readily taken

Micro worms are cultured in a porridgebased meal. Both are very prolific and very good food for any larvae, but the cultures must be continuously maintained to prevent a smelly collapse.

The larvae are fast growing and ready for brine shrimp after a fortnight.

John feeds them thrice daily. They could take more, but it’s a matter of time. He keeps detritus eating snails and bristle nose catfish in the larvae rearing tanks to clean up surplus food that settles on the substrate.

John says there are manufactured feeds available, but they tend to be expensive and he feels they may not take into account the individual dietary requirements of the nearly 50 species he handles.

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Mouth brooders Mouth brooders bring out the mothering instinct in anyone John says. “In their natural conditions they find a quiet nook in which to incubate the eggs in some degree of peace and quiet.

In the confines of the fish tank things are a bit different. Timing is everything.

The fry will take a week in the mouth to hatch completely. Two weeks and they’re free swimming. After three weeks the brooding female will eat them if she’s so inclined.”

John removes the eggs a few days after laying, ideally about 10 days later.

These are placed in a sieve over a gently bubbling airstone and given a methylene blue bath to remove any fungus.

Once hatched, the methylene blue treatment is withheld. Incubation takes a week and it’s another week before they have consumed their yolk sacks and become free swimmers.

Removal is necessary to ensure maximum results. “There are a few things that can go wrong”, John says. “The female can pick up a stone with the eggs which will roll around their mouth and crush the eggs. Or she can pick up

the eggs before some or all are fertilized.

Infertile eggs will develop fungus and she can finish up with a huge ball of fungus in her mouth. She can also get low in condition – they don’t eat during incubation – which will interrupt their breeding cycle.

“I can also get a breed once a fortnight instead of once a month”.

Cichlids John reckons there isn’t a more interesting group than the cichlids to keep and study, particularly in terms of their breeding behaviour. “You get those that breed on rocks, those that breed in caves, bi-parental mouth brooders, and single parent mouth brooders. Their parental behaviour too is fascinating.

Some look after their young and take them into the community as part of the group; others let their young fend for themselves very early on, even cannibalizing them under certain circumstances.”

This leads him to comment on those hobbyists who attempt a ‘Noah’s Ark’ display with as many pairs of fish as they can fit into a given space. John

reckons the secret of a good display is to establish a habitat harmonious to the preferred species and to favour colonies of fish that have an amicable relationship in their natural environment.

Cuckoo catfish The cuckoo catfish (Synodontis multipunctatus) comes from Lake Tanganyika.

The catfish will pick up on when the cichlids are spawning and lay their eggs amongst those of the mouth brooding cichlid species. These are smaller (about 2mm) than those of the cichlid and nearly translucent. There is a wide range of mouthbrooders that the cuckoo cats will breed with, just as long as the cichlids spawn close to the bottom of the tank, not mid-water as some of the mouth-brooding cichlids do.

When the cichlid picks up its own eggs in its mouth it collects some of those spawned by the Synodontis catfish. They hatch much quicker than cichlid eggs and like a true cuckoo, the fry start eating their foster parent’s eggs. Eventually, the foster parent finishes up with a mouth full of cuckoo catfish.

“They’re a very attractive aquarium spe-

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 23

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cies in their own right”, John says.

“They’re active and have dark spots against pale cream background. You wonder how in an evolutionary sense they survived relying on the mothering instincts of the cichlids. The maximum number of catfish to come out a cichlid’s mouth has been 22. The most I’ve had in my short time at it has been seven”.

Desert goby A rare species is the desert goby (Chlamydogobius eremius). Found in the mound springs of northern South Australia, these species are in danger from the lowering of the water table in the aquifers brought about through mining activity in the region. They lay their eggs in caves and the male fans them to

keep them clean from detritus. Generally speaking they don’t eat the fry although it’s not unknown. In captivity the fish are bred in pipes or specially made rock caves; the eggs can be artificially hatched.

Australia has a range of native species that would meet the criteria for commercialisation in the aquarium trade.

Asked whether Australian breeders might be selling themselves short, John says that overseas’ breeders visiting Australia for conferences often take native ornamental species home with them.

“They’re so potentially productive that once they’re in the country there’s little we can do. One of the highly coloured rainbow fish (M praecox) is a case in point. It has brilliant electric blue body colouration with red fins. The male

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even more so. When they were first discovered they were bred up in great numbers, but the story goes that for several years only males were exported.

You’ve got to do that sort of thing to maximize profit.”

Discus One group that particularly fascinates John is the discus of the Amazon Basin.

Apart from being a colourful fish to enjoy, its nurturing behaviour is intriguing. They lay their eggs, often upwards of 200, on a firm almost vertical surface. Breeders often use slate, strips of glass, or if you like the more natural approach, leaves of Aspidistra for the discus to spawn on. Once hatched, the fry feed off the mucus of both parents’ bodies for the first 10 days or so and are herded like sheep to keep them in a tight bunch through their juvenile stage.

They also present quite a challenge to the breeder and as yet – although not from lack of trying – John hasn’t entirely cracked the code. Temperature, pH and diet are all on his check list to improve breeding conditions.

Snails At retirement John was looking around for something meaningful to do. He was offered Nirvana by a promoter pushing red rams horn snails (Planorbis corneus).

The promoter would buy all he could produce but therein lay the barb. It was not possible to produce commercial quantities and he let the project slide.

He still has a few and breeds giant trumpet snails (Lymnaea stagnalis).

These are easy enough to breed; however it takes too long to get them up to a commercial size.

Like most hobbyists, John offsets some of his outlays by selling surplus fish to wholesalers. John says however, that financial outcomes specify that it’s mostly a labour of love.

By John Mosig John can be contacted by email on jco22266@bigpond.net.au

24 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

FARM PROFILE

Asier and Maria from Spain check larvae development

Expansion into Asia for Jade Perch larvae With more than 30 years experience in the ornamental trade and farming a mixture of native fish and ornamentals it, Ausyfish proprietor Bruce Sambell’s latest venture into larval export builds on his reputation as a pioneer in his field.

B

ruce’s interest in the ‘fishy’ business spawned in 1976 when he was employed as a sales representative for a pet and aquarium wholesaler/importer.

But it was his work as manager of a large aquarium retail outlet in Melbourne that really ignited Bruce’s passion and led to him establishing a chain of three retail aquarium shops.

own fish farm. Australian native fish came to Bruce’s attention when he visited Queensland and was introduced to some of Queensland’s beautiful rainbow fish. Bruce says it was love at first sight.

“I knew I just had to breed these gems.”

The dream finally came true when he moved his family to Queensland in 1988 and established Ausyfish Pty Ltd.

In his spare time Bruce would be out in the bush fishing or visiting farms; this too sparked a dream ... of owning his

Ausyfish has 127 ponds and three storage dams. Bruce quickly became a major supplier of swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri),

platys (Xiphophorus maculatus), mollies (Poecilia latipinna), guppies (Poecilia reticulata), gouramis (Trichogaster spp., Colisa spp), Danios (Brachydanio spp), rosey barbs (Genus species) and a wide range of Australian and New Guinea rainbow fish (Melanotaenia spp) and other native fish suitable for aquariums.

In 1995 Ausyfish began diversifying into the edible fish market and to the growing of fingerlings for the freshwater finfish grow-out industry. Fifty per cent Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 25

FARM PROFILE

government’s Stock Impoundment

Recreational fishing Bruce says the introduction of the SIPS on July 12, 2000 gave the state fingerling market a massive boost. Working to raise funds to increase the number of native fish available and the quality of fishing areas to recreational anglers SIPS has been a huge success for both the angler and the fingerling market.

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of the farm specialises in golden (Macquaria ambiqua), silver (Bidyanus bidyanus) and jade perch (Scortum barcoo) and sleepy cod (Oxyeleotris lineolatus) production. Involvement in the fingerling market became more attractive by the introduction of the Queensland

of Primary Industries and Fisheries distributing money from permits purchased to the state’s stocking groups, who then raise or buy fingerlings to stock dams (impoundments) with native fish. Bruce says the angler can even indicate at the time of purchase which dam they want their fee spent.

A total of $485,000 was collected for the period of July 1, 2005 to March 31

The hatchery facility at Childers includes 36 spawning/hatching tanks.

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2006. The cost of administration amounted to $114,000 (23.4 per cent) and $371,000 went towards the benefit of the fish stock. There are a total of 30 dams listed as impoundment areas (another dam was added to the list after March 2006).

Bruce, an industry member of the Queensland Government’s Freshwater Management Advisory Committee, which oversees the funding allocations, is pleased with support it has offered the fingerling market. “It has been a huge success. While the majority of funds collected are responsible for the purchasing of fish, we can also make improvements to fishing areas. For example, for Lake Tanaroo we made money available for the purchase of heavy duty mesh netting for the dam and to help pay for public liability insurance.”

Bruce says the demand SIPS has created for fingerlings has pressured the aquaculture industry to achieve the required numbers. However, he believes that the market for fingerlings will swing in favour of buyers’ as more and more hatcheries compete for the sales.

Larval sales With increased competition forecast, Bruce has decided diversification will benefit his farm’s future and has begun research on the raising of larvae (usually less than five mm long) for the export market.

2,000L to 300L. These tanks are temperature-regulated although heating is unnecessary in summer when ambient air temperatures provides perfect conditions. The pH and oxygen levels are regularly checked while other water quality parameters remain stable throughout the year. A Hitachi VB004 air blower supplies air to most tanks; a few diaphragm pumps cater to the 2,000L tanks.

An alarm system is used to warn of decreasing air pressure in the system or power failure. The hatchery also doubles as the purging and packing centre for the native fish fingerlings and ornamentals.

Water for the farm and hatchery is collected as overland flow with all originating on the 80-hectare property. Water is then filtered to exclude fish, aquatic insects and plankton to limit the number of predators and possible disease introduction. Effluent is discharged into settlement ponds.

Critical research into feeds Bruce’s research programs on feeding tank-reared larvae before weaning them onto brine shrimp and packing the larvae for transport began four seasons ago. “University work experience students were involved throughout the project with one student working on the breeding program and seven students (over four years) working on the feeding regime,” he says.

“Of primary importance was the ease

MANAGEMENT METRICS Key Management Decisions for Ausyfish Pty Ltd include: • Transfer of research and experience from other market species to jade perch.

• Diversification into larval production to cater for international interests in the fingerling market.

• Commitment to long-term research in appropriate feeding techniques.

Key Performance Indicators: • Culture System utilised: intensive finfish hatchery • Growth rate (from stocking to sale): <7 days for larvae, <10 weeks for fingerlings • Survival rate: 30% from hatch to sale size.

and accuracy of record keeping so that one student could easily understand the work of the previous student, continue with it and then evaluate the results of the food trails.”

To find a cost effective diet the team made a list of all commercially available products and their feasibility before being ruled out, one by one.

“There was not a lot of help available to us from government sources so most of the research was done on the farm itself.”

“This would decrease our dependency on the local fingerling market, allow us to avoid grow-out costs and time (larvae can be produced in seven days versus 75 days for 5cm fingerlings) and also take advantage of the seasonal differences to Asia (their hatcheries mainly produce in Australia’s winter months).

We could be working on larval production in our winter for their summer season. This would also require no added infrastructure costs as our hatchery was already hatching fry.”

The hatchery facility at Childers is 30m long by 15m wide and includes 36 spawning/hatching tanks, made from heavy duty plastic and ranging from Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 27

FARM PROFILE

happy to talk and share information with anyone, but not getting any feedback doesn’t help make our product better. So now we charge for the information in the form of selling a CD which contains all the material that a farmer needs to work with this product.”

1

2

1: Asier and Maria check larvae in the hatchery. The tanks are made from heavy duty plastic and range in size from 2,000L to 300L. 2: Five day old larvae of Jade Perch

Whilst some published work described a process where captured plankton had been frozen into iceblocks – which could then melt during transport and release the plankton to feeding larvae – Bruce questioned the predictability and even distribution of the food throughout the water.

The culture of live feed organisms was another discarded option. “It would have required having a skilled person on site to be involved in reliable rotifer production. We needed something predictable and cheap to make the project worthwhile and last season, we cracked it!”

Bruce is coy on details as to which product was successful in the trials but it has enabled the farm to increase larval sales this year, with a surge of interest coming from South East Asia, where jade perch is seen as a quality eating fish. Bruce has customers in Vietnam who traditionally concentrate on pro28 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

ducing low-priced (about Au$0.60/kg) Bassa (Mekong catfish) but are willing to try high-value (>Au$10/kg). jade perch.

“Many Chinese clients that have taken sleepy cod fingerlings are now also considering growing out jade perch larvae.”

However, Bruce believes only about 10 per cent of these farms will succeed with the perch because of the lack of farm infrastructure and knowledge needed to successfully grow the larvae.

Researchers in Hong Kong have also purchased jade perch eggs to investigate larval production and feeding. “They would often ring and complain that they wanted eggs, not larvae, but we couldn’t help it if the eggs hatched in transit. They have also not been very forthcoming in sharing the findings of their research with us so we don’t know if our results can be replicated under different or similar conditions.

“This can be quite annoying as I’m

Shipping difficulties overcome Despite 30 years experience in shipping live fish, the larval shipments proved initially to be a logistical nightmare as the one-week-old larvae are extremely delicate. “They will tolerate low dissolved oxygen levels, a wide pH range and relatively sudden temperature changes within reason but will die with net use or if they are shaken or dropped (as their yolk sac is easily ruptured).

“For example we had a Taiwanese customer who shared a consignment of 10 boxes with a farm down the road. All the larvae delivered to the first farm survived but, despite only a short extra distance travelled by the other five boxes, the entire shipment was wiped out. All of the water parameters were fine but the farm was off an unsealed road and the drive on the rough road killed them.”

To pack the larvae, a siphoning technique has been developed to allow those packing the larvae to count the amount of fry in 500mls of water and then calculate the amount of water required to fulfil the order.

Specific instructions are given to unpack the larvae once they arrive at their destination. It is necessary to equalise the dissolved oxygen levels between the bag and the pond or tank by adding that water slowly to the bag over a period of time (eg. two to three hours). When this is achieved the bag can be lowered into the water and ‘slipped out’, releasing the larvae.

Customers in Australia have also benefited from this research as larvae purchases release a farm from the responsibilities of broodstock care and breeding strategies. A health certificate may be

FARM PROFILE

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FARM PROFILE

required to allow a shipment; some states, such as Western Australia do not require such certification but do require an inspection of the receiving facility.

This is to ascertain that discharge water is treated to eliminate any risk of disease introduction to local waterways.

Once the larvae are in the ponds or holding tanks, Bruce recommends feeding a high quality hatchery diet. “The larvae are best held in smaller containers with flow through or RAS. This assists in keeping the feed to larvae densities high.”

By day 10-14 the fish have reach a size of about 10mm and can be transferred to larger culture units or ponds. It takes a total of 6-10 weeks to grow the larvae to four to five cm. Bruce says these growth targets are temperature dependent as larvae will grow best at 24-25°C while fingerlings grow faster at 27°C. The amount of food in the ponds when first stocked with larvae is another variable. Bruce suggests that a good population of zooplankton – particularly rotifers – is of primary importance to give

the larvae as good a start as possible. He also recommends passing the water through a 400-micron filter to reduce the number of predators in the pond.

Surface feeding can start at day 20-25 using Ridley Aquafeed Starter Dust which contains 52 per cent crude protein, 12 per cent crude fat and 1.6 per cent crude fibre. The fish are kept on that diet through to day 70.

Bruce has had to introduce a booking system for selling the weaned larvae, because the perch fry are available from late September, with the season ending in December for the silver and golden perch. For the jade perch, the season usually ends in March. The jade and silver perch fetch $1,500 per 100,000 fry and the golden perch are valued at $2,300 per 100,000 fry. To make exporting economically viable a minimum order of 300,000 larvae is available while the minimum domestic order is 100,000 larvae.

Bruce is considering writing a book about in the industry and future developments. “I want it to be a book that

can be picked up and read by anyone, including those not necessarily working in aquaculture.

“I believe the way forward for the industry is to provide as wide range of choices to the consumer. This has been achieved by the marine fish industry. To compete effectively we must replicate it for the freshwater fish industry. We have so many freshwater species in Australia that can be commercialised as food fish; it would be a waste not to explore them.”

Note: After so many years in the business, Bruce is now looking to retire, or well at least slow down. He is keen to speak to any people interested in taking over the business and his dream. Why not call and have a chat with him?

By Louise Willis and Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Bruce Sambell, Ausyfish Pty Ltd, PO Box 324, Childers, QLD Tel: 07 4126-2226, Fax: 07 4126-2221, Email: bruce@ausyfish.com Web: www.ausyfish.com.au

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Export business for Sydney rock oysters In a first for Sydney rock oysters, NSW oyster farmer Andy Baker established an export premises for live product last year.

He has the energy and passion to make this oyster another great Aussie export product.

A

ndy Baker and wife Kate have been farming oysters for 14 years at Pambula Lake, some 450km south of Sydney.

Using a mix of youth and experience Andy promotes not only his own produce at Pambula Lake but the Sydney rock oyster industry as a whole. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are proud that Pambula Lake was one of the very first estuaries in the state to get SQAP (Shellfish Quality Assurance Program) approved for direct harvesting of Sydney rock oysters (Saccostrea commercialis) for sale. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now AQIS (Australian Quarantine Inspection Service) has acknowledged those results and has licensed my premises for the export of rock oysters.â&#x20AC;?

Andy says the industry, which has spanned more than 100 years, has a great story to tell. He says the 300 or so farmers spread along the coast have a unique product with superior taste and shelf life.

Keen for the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;beautifulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Sydney rock oyster to have a reputation overseas similar to tuna, abalone and lobster, Andy has been working with AQIS since early 2005 to set up a facility to pack live Sydney rock oysters for export. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have done a lot with other seafood

sectors and meet with many people in the Sydney rock industry. There is no doubt that our seafood industries are in a lot of trouble (inexpensive imports, increased competition in export markets, rising costs) and growers know we must make our oyster more valuable.

Aussie tuna, abalone and lobsters are well received overseas. We want to do that with our beautiful Sydney rock oyster.

when the Hawkesbury River oyster industry tipped over in 2005 (due to mass mortalities of oysters from QX disease), there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much public support. Just about every oyster in the river is gone but there was little public concern. However if a single whale was grounded, there would be a whole lot of public interest and sympathy.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Finding new markets should mean better prices for the growers. And it will give us more reasons to protect and clean up the estuaries in which our oysters are grown. Just look, at the housing development around Merimbula Lake (15 minutes to the north of Pambula Lake). Ten years ago there were few buildings along the northern and western shores. Now there are hundreds of houses, new streets and shops. People move to the area and want to get rid of the oyster farms because they â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;spoil their viewsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Unless we are valued by the community, the increased pressure from more people will push us out.

Andy is promoting the Sydney rock as a unique product oyster for the finest markets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be in the same markets as the Pacific (Crassostrea gigas) because it is quite common. It is a good product but there is too much competition. I was in Singapore recently and there were Pacifics on sale from New Zealand, Canada, China, Scotland and the Philippines. I want to promote our Sydney rock as the Rolls Royce of oyster, not the Mitsubishi, which is where the Pacific is. A unique product like ours is a great start. NSW and southern Queensland are the only areas in the world where it is grown. We want to add to that a reputation for high quality and reliable supply.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We need to lift the oyster industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s profile with the public. For example,

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ers seem to be obsessed with producing the ‘biggest’ oyster. Talk to chefs and you’ll find they know bigger isn’t always better; meat quality is everything not shell size. Over two thirds of my sales are smaller than plate grade (usually 50 to 60g whole weight).”

Exporting product from the Pambula Lake district since December 2005, Andy aims to be shipping 50,000 dozen per year by mid next year.

While his prime focus is on establishing an export market the domestic market is not being forgotten; Andy stands by his motto ‘ignore the local sales at your peril’.

Indeed, he says he’d be ‘a fool’ if he relied entirely on export. “There are discerning people in markets in capital cities around Australia who want quality product. Make it prestigious and a little harder to get (Rolls Royce model); make it the product some people will push through a crowd to get. These are loyal, supportive wholesalers particularly in Sydney, who know the product well and take large quantities.”

Flow on effects While there are signs the Australian market for oysters has been increasing (see Table 1, page 37) the main expansion in production has come from the Pacific oyster. Prices for Pacific oysters have been higher than the smaller Sydney rocks. Andy says Sydney rocks

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 35

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comprise 35-40 per cent of the total Australian market.

“Just think what would happen if only 10 per cent (around 400-500 tonnes) of those Sydney rocks were marketed offshore. First, you’d expect the farmers would be getting more for their product. Local sellers also would see their prices going up.

“The processors need to make their margins also, so of course they will be pushing down the prices they buy at.

However, if a product is keenly sought after and hard to get, its value must rise.

Just look at oil prices at the moment.

We can do this by exporting our (Sydney) rocks.”

With no precedent to follow, Andy says the road forward will be rocky. “I have no-one to get ideas off because this is the first time Sydney rocks are being exported in quantity. I’m very inexperienced and I know I’ll need a couple of seasons to establish the business but I have a great team in place.”

Andy says with spawning affecting product quality, timing is important.

However by sourcing product from different estuaries he should have “fat oysters” on sale for an extended period.

Farming operations Andy catches some seed and buys single seed stock from the Select Oyster Company. “Their single seed is the best to use as they grow fast and have a beautiful shell.”

He says he doesn’t use ‘stick oysters’ because openers refuse to work with them. “They are harder to open. These guys get paid on how many they can do in an hour, so of course they want oysters that are easier to open.

“I am still catching some of my own seed and after twisting them off the catching slats, they go into Stanway Cylinders for around six months. The Stanways give the 5c piece sized oysters a good shape and a good start.

“The next trick is to keep the similar ones together and in the right numbers so there is plenty of food for all of them. I grade my oysters often when they’re young. In their first year I would

FARM PROFILE

grade them up to six times, two to three times in their second year and twice in the third year.”

MANAGEMENT METRICS Key Management Decisions for Baker’s Pambula Rock Oysters include: • Use of intertidal culture to produce oysters with a high shelf life • Using own and other farmers’ oysters to supply quality product for extended periods (not seasonality affected).

• Promoting the uniqueness of the Sydney rock oysters • Talking to many government representatives and other people to get assistance in how to progress the exporting business.

The juvenile oysters are graded with plastic hand sieves (8mm and 12mm mesh) and a shaker grader is used for the larger oysters with 15mm and 20mm mesh. “I hand pick the oysters before their final grade which is done in a converted apple grader. The oysters are sorted by weight. We have three grades – plate (50-60g), bistro (40-50g) and bottle (30-40g).”

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture System utilised: inter-tidal racks and trays • Growth rate (from stocking to market): 36 months (av. 50g) • Survival rate: 20% from first stocking to sale size • Annual harvest: 15 – 20,000 dozen

Andy uses Tooltech Aquatrays for his growout. As Pambula Lake is quite shallow, his is an intertidal culture operation although a couple of other farmers do operate floating baskets or long lines. “I reckon that being under water all the time lowers the shelf life of the oysters. So I have intertidal racks to get a thicker shell and to harden them up (i.e. increase the strength of the adductor muscle which keeps the oyster shut when it is out of the water).”

“Export product is harvested from October to July, packed in polystyrene boxes with an ice pack to keep them cool. Between November last year and April this year we sent out one shipment a week. I didn’t want to say I was going to do any more because I didn’t know how much suitable product I would get.”

The brochures produced for Baker’s Pambula Rock Oyster proclaim: ‘Unique, Sustainable, Fresh, Superior’.

“The AQIS labelling paperwork (for traceability of product) is a bit strong, but the rest of what you need to do in the AQIS Registered Export Premises is good practice. Easily washable and dryable stainless steel working areas keeps things easy.

“My message is that our product is safe to eat, a legitimate point of difference for chefs, and the industry has been around for a long time. Other quality control undertaken includes independent meat testing, which is more stringent than that required by AQIS. All of the oysters exported come from Pambula Lake which has a ‘direct harvest’ classification.”

Sydney rock oysters. I aim to have a successful export product that gives incentives for growers to grow better product.”

By Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Andy Baker, Baker’s Pambula Rock Oysters, PO Box 650, Merimbula, NSW 2548.

Tel/Fax: 02 6495-9861, Mob: 0427 956-957, email: bluecrane@dragnet.com.au

“The world is getting smaller and I want to have people all over in places like Dubai, Guam, Hong Kong and Singapore to all know and want our beautiful

Table 1: Australian Oyster Production (Data from ABARE 2006, Australian Fisheries Statistics, 2005).

State

2002-03 Tonnes $,000

2003-04 Tonnes $,000

2004-05 Tonnes $,000

NSW

5,603

34,700

5,852

37,921

4,727

35,788

QLD

NA

693

NA

730

NA

700

SA

2,706

15,116

4,382

21,152

4,650

19,995

TAS

2,228

11,561

2,456

17,387

2,373

16,804

Total Domestic Production

10,537

62,070

12,690

77,191

11,751

73,287

Plus Imports

792

6,926

749

6,797

910

6,975

Minus Exports

163

1,742

119

1,182

174

1,746

Total Domestic Sales

11,166

67,254

13,320

82,806

12,487

78,516

Notes: In 2004-05, imports represented just over 7% of the total domestic market, worth almost 9% of the value. The majority of those oysters were from New Zealand. Exports were just almost 1.5% of the total domestic oyster production in 2004-05 and almost 2.4% of the value.

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 37

FARM PROFILE

Fish-out and more for Australian Rainbow Trout Farm The Dandenong Ranges are a cool, temperate region one-hour east of Melbourne CBD and ten minutes from Emerald. A salmonid farm is capitalising on this proximity to Melbourne and an increasing number of people wanting to catch their own fish. The operation has been experimenting with a variety of new enterprises to further enhance the tourism experience on their property.

T

he Australian Rainbow Trout Farm was started nearly fifty years ago with the current owners operating the farm for the past 16 years. “We are a retail operation – we do not sell into the market or to restaurants,” explains Bob Malseed. “All our fish are sold either through the farm fishout, to customers who call and buy cleaned fish or as live fish for dam stocking.”

Although the farm mostly grows Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) and Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) are also grown.

Run by Bob, his wife Estelle and son Stephen, it produced in excess of 20 tonnes of fish in 2005. There are also one full time, one permanent part time and five casual staff members.

The farm covers a total of 8.5 ha of which two hectares are underwater in 20 ponds or raceways. The soil is clay, with few rocks or stones. This reduces the amount of erosion in the banks of the ponds. The twelve growout ponds (40m long, 4-5m wide and 1-2m deep) and nine 3,000L tanks are connected by a series of channels. There are also three man-made lakes covering one hectare on the property, offering a more challenging experience for both bait and lure fly fishing.

According to Bob, the main arm of the business is the public fish-out ponds and picnic area. “The farm setting in the bush, with picnic and BBQ facilities makes it a great spot for a day out. The farm is a popular destination for families, with children (and big kids at 38 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

heart) able to have their first fishing experience and for group outings.”

The change of the business direction from an intensive trout farm producing food fish to a tourist attraction is an increasingly popular option for small scale trout farms across Victoria, and has been successful for the Malsteeds.

The farm attracts approximately 30,000 people a year.

Water supply A reliable water supply is vital for salmonid farming. Bob says that positioning a farm as far as upstream as possible ensures that other users are not able to remove too much water, especially in times of low rainfall as in the current climate. Additionally, being located close to the source of the creek reduces the potential for contamination of the water supply by other users.

The farm is a flow-through design with the water coming from a diversion weir on the Woori Yallock creek, which forms one of the boundaries of the farm. The twelve growout ponds are gravity fed in parallel from a header channel. A 1,600 ML/year allocation of water is generally fully utilised each year. Water temperatures vary quite substantially throughout the year, although with winter temperatures falling to around 6°C and a maximum temperature of 23°C in summer, the water is perfect for growing salmonids.

“Like most rural enterprises at this time, our operation is stressed by the drought and the shortage of water,” explains

At 16 days old the trout fry are at the swim up stage.

Bob. “This is largely due to the low rainfall and water flows that generally result in higher than average water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen levels. To help get us through these times we have increased the aeration capability of the farm with additional aerators and installed a large recirc pump and piping system, which enables us to recirculate a portion of the water back through the farm.”

“The water coming into the farm is greatly influenced by rainfall conditions.

After a dry period the water is of good quality and fairly clear. However, after a downpour it can get very muddy, which is primarily due to wash off from the many unsealed roads in the catchment area. Although this does not harm the fish, they will not feed in these conditions and are very hard to catch.”

FARM PROFILE

The effluent water from the farm flows out of the ponds, through a settlement pond and ultimately returns to the Woori Yallock Creek. All water exiting the farm is monitored regularly for concentrations of phosphorus, nitrogen, ammonia, suspended solids and oxygen. Levels are required to be within the limits of the EPA Discharge Licence.

“We operate well within our limits and sometimes the quality of the water leaving the farm is better than that coming in!” Bob says.

Hatchery and juvenile stock Bob is proud of their recent incorporation of hatchery production. “Over the last several years we have built up a hatchery operation and are now almost self-sufficient in Rainbow and Brown Trout. The hatchery can run on water from the creek or the water can be fully recirculated. We have the capability of producing several hundred thousand fish a year.

“About a year ago we introduced Atlantic Salmon as another option for people to catch and these have proved to be extremely popular. They are currently sourced from farms in the Eildon area.

This year we extended the hatchery operation to include Atlantic Salmon.

So far this project is progressing well but it will be next year before we can measure its success.”

“The other recent addition has been the development of a nursery shed to which fry are moved from the hatchery for the next stage of their growth.”

The addition of the nursery shed by the Malseeds has resulted in an increase in the number of juveniles available for stocking into the growout ponds. Bob says that tending to the younger fish within a closed environment for an extended period minimises the effects of predation and losses due to water quality variances and increases their chances of survival.

Hand feeding is undertaken in the hatchery. Bob finds this a vital component of juvenile rearing. “Juvenile fish succumb to a variety of problems more quickly than adults. By hand feeding

Milking one of the farm’s ripe female rainbow trout.

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FARM PROFILE

months. We also have a large customer base for live fish (range in size from 90g to 2kg) including many angling clubs that we supply on a regular basis.”

Feeding Feeding occurs up to four times a day for growout fish and up to 16 times a day for hatchery fish using Skretting’s extruded feed. Feed is stored in 20 or 25kg bags in a vermin proof shed. The feeding of fish is done by hand.

The trout and salmon are generally fed about 1-2% of their body weight per day, although this varies with their size.

“For example,” explains Bob, “the broodstock only need to be fed 0.9% of their body weight, but the 20-30g fish are generally fed at 2% body weight.

This is because the younger fish require more energy for growth. The feed conversion ratio for the growout fish is usually between 0.8:1 - 1.3:1 (feed:growth).”

A young man with his 3 kg monster!

the fish, any changes in their behaviour is able to be noticed quickly. Once fish are weaned onto the pellet (crumble feed), belt feeders may be introduced to reduce the time taken feeding the fish.”

The fry are first held outdoor in juvenile ponds which are covered with bird netting to prevent predation from birds.

“We are currently installing nine 3,000L tanks which will be used for holding and growing small fish after the nursery stage,” explains Bob. “By installing the tanks we greatly reduce the number of fish susceptible to predation before stocking into the growout ponds. In addition, we can increase the pellet size offered to these tank fish resulting in a reduction of wastes from uneaten feed when they are in the ponds (due to the larger pellet size we can use).”

The juveniles are then grown out in open ponds to one of three market sizes - yearlings for dam stockings (usually below 90g), plate size fish (approx. 400 to 500 grams) and large fish (greater than 1kg with an average weight of 1.5 kg). “The fish grow from hatching to plate size within about fourteen 40 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

Bob says that the feeding rates are changed to manage growth rates.

“Sometimes the amount of feed is increased to increase growth – for example if we require more fish quickly for the fishout ponds. At other times we have sufficient pond stock and feed rates are reduced.

“We expect feeding to be reduced to almost nothing over the summer months to help us through the drought”, he continues. This is necessary because dissolved oxygen reduces as water temperatures increase. Oxygen levels also fall as the fish feed.

Grading of fish at the Australian Rainbow Trout Farm occurs in two ways.

The small fish are graded at about 2g and at 60g through the use of a box grader. “This method is employed as it enables large numbers of fish to be graded into standard sizes and performed fairly quickly,” explains Steve.

“The larger fish are graded by hand.

This is because it is easier once the fish are bigger rather than trying to force them through a grader. The new pond the fish are graded into just depends upon what is available at the time. No pond is specifically set aside for a certain size although we do try to keep the

larger ponds for the bigger fish.”

Problems and predators Predators are largely in the form of night herons although cormorants can also cause problems. Given predation risk is primarily at the fingerling stage, holding the fish back in tanks prior to stocking the ponds is beneficial. To protect the fish at this stage the ponds are covered with bird netting. Once the fish are stocked outside the netted ponds, they are too large for predators.

Large numbers of Tubifex worms and freshwater crayfish (Cherax destructor) exist in the ponds and lakes. Whilst the presence of these animals are very good signs for the ‘natural ‘conditions around the farm, freshwater crayfish can burrow into the walls and bottom of the ponds, promoting erosion.

Due to the large amounts of old gum trees near power lines in the region, power losses are a problem in the Dandenong Ranges, especially during the winter and spring months. Blackouts stop the pumps from circulating water around the hatchery and the recirculated recirculated tank systems with subsequent dips in dissolved oxygen concentrations and the buildup of waste products.

That’s why Steve has looked at a variety of methods for controlling the problem including alarm systems to notify him if power losses occur during the night. An auto-start generator (10KVA) has been installed to ensure power losses are not destructive to the farm.

Growout and fish-out operations Trout in the ponds have a variable stocking density up to 10 kg/m3. That’s lower than in previous years due to the reduced water flow brought on by the drought. In times of low water flow paddlewheel and Flublall aerators are used in the ponds to keep dissolved oxygen levels up.

Harvesting of the fish from the farm varies depending upon the demands of the customers. The majority of fish are landed through rod and reel, including fly fishing in the lakes. Some customers

FARM PROFILE

are not interested in the ‘slimy’ pastime of fishing for a meal, so fish can be simply netted out of the ponds for them, and cleaned and ready to be collected.

The fish are replaced in the ponds weekly or as demand requires.

The ability of the farm to sell directly to the public enables good retail prices to be attained. The fish sell for between $10.50 and $19.00 / kg.

“A wide variety of groups find the farm an ideal location for an outing – school groups, holiday programs, groups from organizations caring for people with special needs, work functions and so on. A significant portion of our customers comes from the ethnic communities that make up the very diverse population of Melbourne.”

MANAGEMENT METRICS Key Management Decisions for Australian Rainbow Trout Farm include: • Location close to Melbourne to take advantage of interest in ethic communities for fresh fish.

• Expansion into own hatchery production, including other salmonid species.

• Diversification into fishout operations for a faster cash flow and great profitability due to lack of middle-men.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the farming side include: • Culture System utilised: earthen ponds/raceways with flow-through water and supplementary aeration • Growth rate (from stocking to market): 14 months (0.5g to 500g) • Survival rate: 98% from first stocking to sale size • Av. stocking density: <10kg/m3 • Annual harvest: 30 tonnes, including fishout sales.

• FCR: 0.8 to 1.31:1 (number of kg of food to produce 1kg stock)

Bob says that these ethnic communities see trout as a cheaper alternative to salmon, but very similar in appearance and taste. And for those groups who prefer fresh fish for meals such as sashimi, a trout farm where the fish can be caught, gilled and gutted, prepared and eaten within half an hour is preferable to frozen and thawed product.

Fish need to be able to be caught every few minutes in the fishing ponds as people come to the farm expecting to catch a fish. If they are not catching them relatively easily they can lose interest quickly. This means that the stocking densities must be kept at a moderate level and the fish need to be kept relatively hungry. Many ponds on the farm closely resemble raceways; this feature enables people to catch fish easily and quickly.

For more experienced anglers the manmade lakes are open for fishing. The lakes are lightly stocked and offer more of a challenge. They have become a popular spot for fly-fishers from Melbourne who are unable to get away to enjoy their passion for more than a day trip. Macclesfield is well within reach.

Trout yearlings (around 90g) grown on the farm are also sold for stocking in farm dams. Steve has found that at this size the fish adapt better than the fingerlings. Also the larger the fish the

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Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 41

FARM PROFILE

develop new areas of business they have looked at farming of native fish to expand their fishout operation. At first they thought the aura surrounding the much discussed and admired Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii), would ensure that it was likely to be a popular fish out species. However, difficulties facing this proposition included the species not being native to the Dandenong Ranges, resulting in a series of regulations needing to be met. Other native fish species were also trialled.

“Several years ago we experimented with Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus), Australian Bass (Macquaria novemaculeata) and Murray Cod in a recirculating system,” says Bob. “Whilst we were quite successful in holding and growing the fish, the operation was marginally economic at the time and has been suspended. We may return to this venture in the future.”

Swim up trout fry in a feeding frenzy.

lower the chance of predation from birds and other animals. Fish for stocking are transported in bags or a transport trailer. A maximum of 20 fish per bag are transported for long distances (eg. >4 hours) whilst an oxygen diffuser maintains the dissolved oxygen levels in the trailer during long trips.

The fly fishing lakes have been established on the farm in a natural bush setting. This was undertaken in a naturally low-lying area of the property that was partially cleared, with a variety of large gums being flooded, retaining a small island in the centre of the lake. The lakes are stocked with a variety of different sizes of Rainbow and Brown trout,

up to three kilos. The Malseeds are planning to build a series of small cabins to enable avid fly fishers to experience overnight or short-term stays on the farm.

The type of promotion for the different farm attractions and products varies.

The many field days that are held in country Victoria are an effective selling way for the farm dam stocking side of the business. The fishout profile has been largely established through word of mouth recommendations. “The pride we take in the quality of fish and the service here is very important and is the main source of our continuing success,” Bob proudly says. “We find the most effective value for our marketing dollar is in the various ethnic community newspapers. Most of the customers at the farm come from the greater Melbourne area, attracted by the peaceful bush setting, the thrill of catching a fish and the unrivalled taste of fish straight from the water.”

Native fish and tourism expansions As the Malseeds are constantly on the lookout to improve, innovate and

42 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

Due to the success of the farm, Steve feels it is time the farm undergoes further improvements, through investment into the surrounding area and offering a wider range of fishing and tourism ventures at the site.

“Our latest venture to offer our customers more options is an eighteen-hole mini-golf course,” he says. “This is nearing completion and we expect it to be popular with both our customers and the locals. We have recently acquired a liquor license and in the future will be expanding our customer facilities.”

According to Bob, they are fairly confident of a good future despite the current drought conditions. “The business has been growing steadily over the last several years and with the improvements we are making, we are very hopeful this trend will continue. Our biggest problem is going to be the maintenance of an adequate flow of water, particularly over the coming summer.”

By Jennifer Savage and Dos O’Sullivan For further information contact Steve or Bob Malseed, 26 Mulhalls Road, Macclesfield, Victoria 3782. Tel/Fax: 03 5968-4711.

F E AT U R E

How I very nearly lost my shirt whilst investing in aquaculture AAM prides itself on providing newsworthy and informative articles for Australian aquaculturists.

Often the focus is on successes and expansions. However we recognise that the road to success is strew with many failures and lost dreams. Robin Moseby, an avid reader for more than 10 years tells of the mistake he made.

S

ome years ago one of my customers who was buying some glass to repair an aquarium happened to mention that he was about to start an aquaculture venture and how the industry was poised for a rapid growth. He was building a custom shed to grow sea monkeys (brine shrimp, scientific name Artemia spp.) because these would be needed as a source of live food by the expanding aquaculture industry. He also confidently said there was an existing demand from the ornamental fish pet shops.

Always one to get onto a good thing early I asked if there were any spare seats on board this exciting venture, and was advised that there might be space if the other passengers agreed.

Soon I was immersed in charts and cash flows and satisfied myself that this was quite an opportunity. There was a steady demand for the sea monkeys both live and frozen and the grow out cycle was less than a month (from hatch to harvest) so even if there was a total collapse of a batch, a month later the production could be up and running again.

and siphoned into the sea monkey tank.

What about the customers? – No problem, there seemed to be an unsatisfied demand both in SA and interstate.

What about the juveniles or eggs? No problem, they came in cans from America and a few tins were enough for a year’s supply and there were twelve tins on the shelf just in case.

Naturally like many others I had no spare cash so I went to my bank and applied for a personal loan. As I had an existing business and a house half paid for, the bank thought I was good for the loan. The interest and repayments were a bit steep – but what the heck I was onto a good thing.

So I handed over the cash – nearly $30,000 and waited for the returns to roll in.

Well there were a couple of delays!

The builders were running late on their current job and would not be able to

start for another month. Then the steel work was late and the fixers were somewhere else when the steel turned up.

The generator was proving hard to find and getting the electricity to the shed proved a little more difficult and expensive than first allowed for. Quite quickly a few months slipped by before everything was sort of all together in one shed.

The algae tanks were filled and the algae seeded into them, but the temperature in the shed was a bit low so immersion heaters had to be used.

However, because the electricity supply was marginal the heaters could not work all the tanks at once. Still at least the algae was growing – perhaps a little slower than anticipated – but no problems.

Now for the sea monkeys – the eggs or cysts as they are called were treated and hatched and placed in their tanks. Now there were more heaters required.

Due Diligence Check I checked and double-checked the figures and the risks.

What about electricity failure? – No problems, an electric generator had been allowed for.

What about the water? Plenty of the right salinity right next to the proposed shed location.

What about the food? – No problems, it was to be grown in an adjacent tank Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 43

F E AT U R E

Maybe we should concentrate on three algae tanks and three sea monkey tanks instead of the four and four – just whilst we get going. So we downscaled only a bit. Then a few more months slipped by.

Ah well there does seem to be a little problem – everything goes well until in the middle of the night when no one is there, then the tank ‘crashes’ and we lose most of our nearly ready to harvest sea monkeys.

Tank crashes in the night No problems – at last we have some sea monkeys – at least a few to start showing the customers we can produce. But can we produce on a regular basis?

There is obviously a problem – but no worries we have just employed a real whiz – he’s done his degree and a special aquaculture diploma and he’s coming to work for us.

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I am a little annoyed and make noises about false representations and start looking at how I can recover at least part of my investment. An agreement is reached and I have my original investment returned. I have had to forgo any interest and no reward for all the time and effort put in but at least most of my shirt is back on my back.

The story does not end here. I discovered later that other investors were persuaded to take over my investment and invest even more to build this expanding facility. Anyway the inevitable came to pass and this venture like so many others came to a sticky end.

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The new man comes and we expect a dramatic improvement – unfortunately there still seems to be a problem. And about this time I discover that what the group is trying to do has only been done on a small scale in a laboratory somewhere and nobody has had much experience actually growing these animals in large tanks!!!

A word of caution So why am I telling this story? Aquaculture has lots of running water and the sound seems to soften the brain. If planning an aquaculture enterprise stand back and check and double check both the figures and the people and technology involved. Make sure you are not a pioneer – they usually end up with arrows in their backs!!!

PS: For the technically minded the problem in hindsight was like so many in aquaculture – a water quality issue ... in this case mainly inadequate bio-filtration.

PPS: Fortunately we have travelled some distance from those early days and the aquaculture industry is becoming much more professional and more aware of the requirement to meet key performance indicators.

BUT always remember – caveat emptor (‘let the buyer beware’). If it sounds too good to be true it’s probably not true!!!

By Robin Moseby For more information contact Robin Moseley; rmoseby@powerband.net.au

F E AT U R E

Prawn manual stresses health management for profits An important prawn farming manual focussing on farmers implementing an integrated health management has been released. The manual is a valuable training tool and a source of information for farmers, new entrants to the industry, advisors and government extension staff. Free downloadable copies are now available on the web.

T

he ‘Australian Prawn Framing Manual – Health Management for Profit’ is the outcome of the Australian component of the project ‘Development and delivery of practical disease control programs for small scale shrimp farmers in Indonesia, Thailand and Australia’. The project was funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), NSW Department of Primary Industries and Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F).

According to Co-ordinating Editor Chris Robertson, Senior Aquaculture Development Officer (QDPI&F), the manual has been co-authored by 25 different experts associated with the Australian and international shrimp farming industries, either as prawn farmers, researchers, government extension officers, consultants or training providers – the list of contributors reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the prawn industry (see box, page 46).

“Contributors were invited to provide written sections on their specialised area of expertise,” explained Chris, “And the draft document was collated and edited according to a plan formulated by the Prawn Manual Steering Committee (see box, page 46).”

Key Characteristics of the Industry The manual pulls no punches stating that ‘prawn farming is a high-risk, capital-intensive industry that is site-specific and requires technical expertise’. It warns that it is more difficult to be financially successful in prawn farming compared to conventional farming of livestock or horticulture. Also, it recommends that ‘in addition to concentrating

on production, prawn farmers must have a firm hand on risk management, marketing and liaison with various government bodies’.

Even for people familiar with the Aussie prawn farming industry, the manual is a great read and provides an excellent summary of the key characteristics of the industry, such as: • Three main species – the black tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon), the banana prawn (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis) and the kuruma prawn (Penaeus japonicus).

• Primarily based on Queensland, the bulk of production comes from the coastal region between Ayr and Port Douglas. Other regions include Mackay, Bundaberg, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, also undertaken in Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, near Darwin in Northern Territory and is under development in north-west Western Australia.

• Crops are managed as intensive farms with feeding and aeration to give yields between 2,500 and 10,000 kg/ha.

• Seasonal staging of crops to take advantage of location (climate), marketing strategy, hatchery supply or other issues (such as selling during the high priced Christmas period).

The layout of the manual is in four parts (‘Establishing a prawn farm – what you need to know’, ‘Getting started’, Growing the crop’, and ‘Solving disease problems’) with nine informative chapters: • Prawn farming in Australia; • Site selection and farm management (including an extensive equipment list); • Key issues for a healthy crop; • Pond preparation; • Starting a healthy crop;

• Mid-crop; • Final phase to harvest; • Disease – what causes them and how are they managed; and • Guide to diseases.

Each of these chapters contains a great deal of pertinent information, many recommendations, simple to understand tables and figures and sufficient colour photographs. The Manual also includes practical explanations of various pond management activities such as water quality monitoring and how to use a secchi disk. It is the best ‘how-to-do manual’ this author (Dos) has seen on the subject.

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Distributor enquiries welcome Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 45

FARM PROFILE

KEY SITE SELECTION CRITERIA • Sub-tropical and tropical coastal regions with appropriate water quality - salinities 15 to 25ppt and pH 7.5 to 8.5 are optimal; • Ability to supply water year round and daily; • Flat land, less than one kilometre from access to estuarine or marine water; • Soils with adequate clay to eliminate or reduce loss of water by seepage (seepage rate less than 1 x 10-8 metres/second), pH of 5.5 to 8.5, low organic content, free of potential contaminants; • Elevations of 1-10 metres above highest astronomical tide; • Access to 3-phase mains electricity; • Roads and proximity to regional business community (accommodation, shops, medical and recreational facilities); • Less than 12 hours air freight or road travelling time from hatchery, preferably less than 3 hours; • Farm layout to allow gravity flow of water, including distribution of intake water into a reservoir (approximately 10% of total farm pond volumes) and then through an aquaduct system before drainage to the bioremediation pond (at least 30% of total farm pond volumes) for water treatment before release through licensed outlet by gravity; • Construction of ponds (usually 1ha) with slopping floor (1:100) towards the deepest part where outlet is situated, walls sloped 3 to 2.5:1, roughly square with rounded corners and with one corner including a concrete or gravel ramp for vehicle access, with four or more jetties for access to monitor feed trays and water quality; outlet constructed as a ‘monk’; • Use of recirculation technology to reuse pond water either as a ‘cocktail mix with new intake water or for earlier stages of a crop when salinities are lower.

46 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

BIOSECURITY C H E C K L I S T: • Start with health certified postlarvae or juveniles.

• Monitor and manage the hygiene of new arrivals.

• Identify and keep batches of postlarvae/juveniles separate.

• Record survival rates and production.

• Record mortality and disease events.

• Regularly test prawns’ health in the early, mid and later stages of the growout cycle.

• Cull poorly performing or diseased animals if possible.

• Check and manage pond-to-pond and carrier factors.

• Maintain pond hygiene and disinfection between production runs or prawn batches, or in a mortality event.

• Recycle or disinfect and treat discharge water in a mortality event.

• Management movements of people.

• Report diseases or unusual mortalities to state authority.

Water Quality, Biosecurity and Health Collecting and recording information about the prawn crop is described as being a vital part of a farmer’s day-today work. The manual also advices that analysis of this information can help the farmers in: • Monitoring water quality and prawn health to pre-empt losses; • Predicting water quality trends that may lead towards stress events for the prawns; • Determining prawn growth, survival and feed consumption to maximise profitability; and • Progressive learning about the ponds, the local climate and water quality to make future improvements to their management.

Appropriate water quality parameters for prawns are listed in an informative table to provide farmers with the optimal ranges where growth and feed conversion are not compromised.

Prawn Manual Steering Committee Members: • Dr Richard Callinan, NSW Fisheries (retired) • Derek Foster, QDPI&F (retired) • Alistair Dick, Seafarm Pty Ltd • Chris Robertson (Co-ordinating Editor), QDPI&F Contributors: Ian Anderson, Rachel Bowater, Dr Michele Burford, Dr Richard Callinan, Roger Chong, Joe Coco, Alistair Dick, Derek Foster, Dr Kavita Gosavi, Jeff Harrison, Dr Tiina Hawkesford, Bill Johnston, Matt Kenway, Warren Lewis, Ross Lobegeiger, David McNamara, Associate Professor Leigh Owens, Dr Paul J Palmer, Doug Person, Ben Pohlner, Phil Read, Chris Robertson, Steve Slattery, Serena Zipf.

The manual recommends that a biosecurity program should be implemented as part of the farm’s overall health management program. The biosecurity program aims to protect the prawns and the farm investment from the real threat of diseases.

On the farm this involves applying sets of targeted, science-based procedures to eliminate or reduce the risk of a particular pathogen (disease-causing infectious agent such as a virus) from first entering the farm, and then from spreading within a pond, between ponds, to other farms or to the wider environment.

Farmers should work with a health professional to develop a biosecurity program to suit their particular situation.

Effective implementation of the program also requires long-term commitment from the farmers as well as discipline from the farm workers.

For Aussie prawns, the main disease concern for the biosecurity program is Mid Crop Mortality Syndrome (MCMS) as the farmers have no option but to stock black tiger prawns infected with Gill Associated Virus (GAV) and perhaps other suspect viruses - some ‘spe-

F E AT U R E

cific pathogen free’ (SPF) or ‘specific pathogen resistant’ (SPR) shrimp are available overseas for stocking but not yet in Australia.

Thus the biosecurity program needs to be built around some general principles as well as specific measures which the manual describes: • Stock only postlarvae that have acceptable test results in terms of pathogen prevalence and load – this usually involves the use of PCR tests on samples of PLs or the spawners.

• Do not exceed optimal stocking densities.

• Eliminate or reduce risk from potential ‘vectors’ (infection carrying agents) on the farm – for example, living vectors can include crabs, birds or other prawns, inanimate vectors include vehicles, nets, feed utensils, harvesting equipment, packaging and waste water.

• Use water management principles that prevent or reduce contamination by the pathogen – particularly limiting water movements from an infected pond into a clean pond doesn’t allow the transport of pathogens suspended in the water, via infected prawns or via other carrier crustaceans.

• Reduce the risk of spreading infection between ponds by restricting movements of people, equipment and other possible agents – hatchery should be established on a location separate from a farm, keep feed trays and other equipment in the same pond throughout a crop.

A biosecurity checklist is also provided (see box, page 46). The next level of disease control is the implementation of a Health Management Program (HMP) aiming to minimise stress to prawns by optimising the pond environment. The HMP comprises a number of sound (science-based) management procedures and approaches covering: • • • •

Seasonal factors and crop planning Pond preparation Pond filling and water preparation Postlarvae selection and stocking process • Water quality management

• • • • • •

Pond bottom management Feed management Prawn health monitoring Farm record keeping Dealing with disease outbreaks Treatments and use of chemicals.

A disease emergency plan (DEP) is also recommended. This outlines the steps and actions to be taken by all farm staff in the event of a disease emergency in accordance with the responsibilities and conditions set out in the aquaculture approvals and permits.

A disease emergency is described as an unusual or virulent outbreak of a disease affecting farm stock, or even an outbreak of an exotic disease not seen previously in Australia. The manual says that a disease occurrence is considered an outbreak when an additional 10 dead or sick prawns a day (assessed at first light in the morning) are seen around the edges of a pond on five consecutive days: for example, at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 prawns.

The farm’s disease emergency plan should include written specific protocols to be followed by staff for use in the event of a disease emergency. It should also incorporate planning and implementation procedures to deal with the outbreak and prevent its spread throughout the farm. It is recommended that assistance be sought from veterinary officers at the primary industries, fisheries or aquaculture departments in each state, with linkages to the National ‘Aquavetplan’.

By Dos O’Sullivan To view or download a free copy of the manual, please go to the following weblinks provided by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural research (ACIAR): http://www.aciar.gov.au/web.nsf/doc/ ACIA-6XBTR9 or the Queensland Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries: http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/cps/rde/ xchg/dpi/hs.xsl/28_141_ENA_HTML.htm

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For a range of common diseases, the manual details identifying clinical signs, cause, treatment and prevention, and some information is also provided on significant exotic disease that occur in most other shrimp-farming countries.

Other useful information contained in the manual includes: • Planning for profit – use of PrawnProfit CD, marketing, licences and permits; • Water quality in aquaculture; • Feed tables for prawn juveniles and growout; • Guidelines for submission of aquatic animal specimens; and • Extensive bibliography and glossary.

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TRAINING

The Brazilian seahorse, Hippocampus reidi.

W

ith the expanding demand for marine ornamentals both here and overseas, practical and technically competent staff are required. Since 2005, specialised training in the production of marine ornamentals has been offered at the Broome Aquaculture Centre. Jeff Cooper, a lecturer for six years and a designer of the ornamentals course, believes that it is imperative for the students to get a feel for the jobs they will be doing straight away. “They are thrown into the deep end from the very start but I would rather that happen than them getting to the end of their course not knowing how to handle a fish or finding out that they don’t want to work in the industry after all.”

This philosophy of teaching people how to successfully perform skilled jobs is also shared by aquaculture lecturer, Dr Suresh Job. “Students have to be both competent and confident before they graduate from our courses. Our aim is to ensure that graduates are fully competent 48 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

Marine ornamentals at the Broome Aquaculture Centre when they enter the workforce, otherwise their study program is pointless.”

Industry research projects The full year Diploma of Seafood Industry (Aquaculture) course begins by the students choosing a project identified by the aquaculture industry as being important. Suresh explains, “We work closely with various aquaculture businesses in the region to design projects and experiments that develop protocols and skills that will then become part of that commercial operation.”

For the current year, projects are focused on either marine ornamentals or marine foodfish species such as barramundi.

The marine ornamentals program, for example, has been designed in close collaboration with ‘Manbana’, a multispecies hatchery and discovery centre situated beside the BAC. This enterprise is wholly owned by the Kimberley Aquaculture Aboriginal Corporation.

The student’s project research usually

covers a broad range of topics – including disease management, nutrition, selective breeding programs, production planning, infrastructure design and business management – and can take up to the full academic year to complete. The BAC has many resources to facilitate these developments; a fully equipped algae laboratory, production hatchery and grow out areas as well as diagnostic equipment and access to the fish pathology unit of the Department of Fisheries (Western Australia).

One of the current experiments is centred on designing a set of protocols for the reliable production of tropical seahorses

by Manbana and other industry partners.

The listing of these seahorses in Appendix II of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 2004 has resulted in a reduction in the availability of wild-caught seahorses in the marine ornamentals trade. Thus there is significant demand for aquacultured seahorses both in Australia and abroad.

TRAINING

The work is focused on three main species of seahorses, Hippocampus kuda, H. angustus and H. reidi. The first two species occur naturally in Australian waters while H. reidi originally hails from Brazilian and Caribbean waters.

Students liaise with industry to identify key bottlenecks in the reliable production of these animals and then work on developing protocols for overcoming these bottlenecks. In the case of seahorses, live food production for seahorse larvae and juveniles has been one of the major problems. “Newly-hatched seahorses display far better survival rates if fed on copepods rather than brine shrimp or rotifers,” says Suresh. “To ensure reliable production of seahorses, you need stable and cost-effective production of copepods. This in turn requires production of the microalgae that the copepods depend on. These needs are broken down into small experiments that, over the course of the year, will give the industry partner all the information they need to ensure reliable production of their animals.”

To date, students at the BAC have been able to determine the following about the tropical seahorses that they are working on: • Tropical seahorses require good water conditions and nutrition in order to get them to start spawning. Their diet in particular needs to adequately address their nutritional requirements in order to maintain high fecundity.

Key factors to consider are the highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) and vitamin contents in the diets. Tank conditions can also be important in getting seahorses to spawn successfully in captivity. Tank water depth, for example, has been shown to influence spawning success.

• The spawning behaviour of seahorses involves the male and female seahorses performing an elaborate courtship dance that could last 30 minutes or longer. If well conditioned and maintained under appropriate conditions, seahorses will spawn regularly over the entire year. On average, pairs can be expected to spawn once a month.

The male seahorse has a pouch in

1

which the eggs are incubated until hatching. Brood size varies depending on species and size/age and can range from less than 30 eggs in very young and small seahorses to over 1,200 eggs in larger broodstock.

• Seahorses tend to be fairly resistant to most diseases if maintained under good conditions. Bacterial, protozoan and metazoan diseases tend to be fairly rare unless the animals are stressed by poor nutrition or water quality. The main health issue in seahorses tends to be their tendency to develop gas bubbles either in their pouch or within their bodies. Bubbles in the pouch are fairly easily dealt with. The preferred technique at the BAC is to gently insert a fine injection needle through the mouth of the pouch and to then slowly suck the air out. Internal air bubbles, on the other hand, are far harder to resolve successfully, and the focus is on minimising conditions such as gas supersaturation that are likely to lead to such disorders.

• One of the main challenges in seahorse aquaculture is ensuring reliable and cost-effective larval production.

Newly-hatched seahorses tend have high survival rates if fed on copepods as the first feed; the same cannot be said of other live feeds such as brine shrimp nauplii. Given that collecting wild-caught plankton is unlikely to be feasible or cost-effective in most places, industry efforts have focused

2

3

4

1: The nutritional program developed by the students is designed to develop specialised diets that enhance the colours of marine ornamental fishes such as the orchid dottyback, Pseudochromis fridmani.

2: An aquacultured juvenile seahorse.

3: The percula clownfish, Amphiprion percula.

4: The selective breeding program will evaluate the genetic and environmental factors that influence the development of banding patterns in clownfishes.

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 49

TRAINING

on providing cultured copepods as a first food. The production of tropical copepods is, however, still very much in its infancy and a significant bottleneck in the reliable production of aquacultured seahorses.

Other experiments on marine ornamental fishes have focused on developing diets to enhance the colours of the fishes. One of the complaints about aquacultured marine ornamental fishes in the past has been that they can be less brightly coloured than wild-caught fishes. In order to overcome this issue, students at the BAC have developed a nutrition program that is designed to enhance the colours of their aquacultured fishes. As part of the ornamental fish project, the students have evaluated the levels of astaxanthin and other carotenoids that are required in the diets of ornamental fishes in order to promote vibrant colours. This diet is in the midst of being trialed at Manbana.

Students are also working on designing a selective breeding program for the Manbana multi-species hatchery. The target species for the selective breeding program at the moment are the clownfishes, especially the percula clownfish, Amphiprion percula. The students are currently focusing on increasing the

growth rates of juvenile fishes to market size, and on evaluating the role of genetic and environmental factors on the formation of banding patterns.

Breeding programs will also be developed over time for other species such as the dottybacks, cardinal fishes, royal grammas and seahorses, amongst others.

‘Real work’ environment The production trials are designed by the students with supervision and aid from the lecturers, hatchery manager and technicians. When problems occur, the supervisors may help to identify the design faults or specific cause but it is up to the students to fix them. The relatively small class sizes of between 12 – 16 students (on average) ensures that students receive individual attention and that every student participates fully in the projects and production trials.

Students have been heavily involved with the design, construction and operation of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) at Manbana and are successfully operating a 30-tank system that they constructed at the beginning of the year. The system was designed as a temporary holding system for ornamental broodstock with the objective of minimising capital costs without compro-

Aquacultured juvenile orchid dottybacks (Pseudochromis fridmani).

mising water quality and performance.

The system uses 40L plastic fish bins as holding tanks and integrates these with a 2T sump, Onga 413 centrifugal pump, 2 FSI Bag filters to 25um (serial configuration), fluidised bed biofilters, an Aquahort heater chiller unit, custom made UV sterilizer, and an Aquamedic Turbofloter 5000 protein skimmer. The system turns over the water in the tanks every half an hour. New seawater (from a saline bore) is added to the system at a rate of 1-3 % of the total system volume per day, depending on cleaning strategies.

The system effectively maintains the water temperature at 27.5°C, ammonia at negligible levels, dissolved oxygen (DO) at 5ppm, and salinity at 36-37 ppt. Alkalinity and pH are a little more difficult to control as the system uses low alkalinity saline bore water. For this reason, new water entering the system is kept to a minimum and alkalinity is adjusted as required with the use of sodium bicarbonate.

The new systems being constructed at the BAC will incorporate custom-made components such as a protein skimmer and degasser combo called ‘Black Betty’ to take control of fine suspended solids and dissolved organics, biofiltration and gas issues in the recirculation systems.

Students have engineered these components to meet the specific requirements of their systems with consideration of factors such as stocking density, feed rate, protein content of the diet, assimilation rates, nitrogenous waste production, and the detailed water quality requirements of the species. “When dealing with sensitive species, it is crucial to get all of your components working to their peak efficiency,” says Jeff.

“Water quality is a vital thing to get right when dealing with these species, and your components need to be suited to their requirements.”

Work to maintain the culture stock, including activities such as feeding or water exchange schedules is relegated by a roster system, again devised by the students, with many of the measured parameters being recorded twice a day, regardless of holidays or weekends. This also gives an insight into the ‘real world’

50 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

FARM PROFILE

Algae culturing techniques are an important part of the courses.

for the student, as caring for livestock rarely fits neatly into the 9 to 5, 5 days a week box.

Management training The Diploma course is also designed to have as much participation with the commercial sector as possible. In this one year course the student designs a business production plan but, instead of it all being on paper, the student is expected to physically carry out the plan, meeting all production deadlines and market targets. “Gaining experience in the pressures of the commercial economy is vital to the development of the student,” Suresh explains, “We are hoping to turn out people who will eventually be managers in business. They have to be able to produce the outcomes expected of someone in that position.”

To make the Diploma even more unique, part of a student’s assessment is on how they put the information gained back into their business. Meeting regularly to discuss results and problems, the students are also expected to keep the management of the company fostering the project informed in a professional manner. This may involve sending written reports or holding meetings with company managers who can then discuss the economic feasibility of the experimental design or outcome. Giving the students a view into the commercial consequences of their work allows them to begin to understand the economic pressures of the industry.

The high importance of job competency is reflected in the high retention rate of the BAC graduates in the industry. The college has previously attained an

employment rate of 80% with half of the graduates being employed in commercial aquaculture enterprises and the other half with associated government departments. The planning of projects for next year has already begun (industry people with specific projects they might like to see undertaken should contact the people below).

Marine ornamental shrimp and freshwater ornamental fishes Work is also being planned for the production of tropical shrimp such as the Skunk shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) and the Fire shrimp (Lysmata debelius) destined for the marine ornamental trade. Once again, this will be done in close collaboration with industry partners. These species of ornamental Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 51

TRAINING 1

2

3

4

1: The broodstock nutritional program is designed to increase the fecundity and egg quality of fishes such as the Brazilian seahorse, Hippocampus reidi.

2: Students gain practical experience in axenic techniques for culturing microalgae.

3: Students are trained in techniques such as the use of ozone to sterilise fish eggs.

4: Black Betty, a custom-made protein skimmer and degasser that was designed and built by the students.

shrimp have long been considered some of the more difficult animals to culture in commercially viable numbers. As government regulations do not allow their importation into Australia, the market is currently dependent on locally caught supplies, which can be very constrained. There is, therefore, a reasonably high demand for them in the ornamentals trade, commanding prices of as much as $120 each in retail aquarium shops.

Research may also be expanded into the production of tropical freshwater aquarium fish, concentrating on high value species that are difficult to import. One 52 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

possibility being evaluated is the development of protocols for the farming of Hypostomus plecostomus, otherwise known as the large South American catfish sometimes called the ‘pleco’. This freshwater fish always has a substantial demand but can be challenging to breed in captivity as they must be farmed in outdoor facilities due to their need to build tunnels in the walls of earthen ponds to successfully spawn. Some of these tunnels can reach up to 10 metres long. The tropical climate in the Kimberley region is ideal for investigating breeding protocols for fishes such as these.

The willingness of the staff of the BAC

to participate in such diverse aspects of the industry offers potential students a wide scope of practical experience in commercial aquaculture. The skills gained will be of great benefit for the industry itself for many years to come.

By Louise Willis and Dos O’Sullivan For more information contact Dr Suresh Job or Jeff Cooper, Broome Aquaculture Centre, PO Box 1380, Broome WA 6725.

Tel: 08 9192 9141; Fax: 08 9193 7558; email: SJob@kimtafe.wa.edu.au or Jeffrey_Cooper@westkct.training.wa.gov.au; web: www.kimtafe.wa.edu.au

TECHNOLOGY

Innovative new disinfection system A major Turkish fish farm has significantly reduced its hatchery loses after installing a new Israeli-designed, hydrooptic disinfection (HOD) system. Evaluation both before and after the installation of the HOD yielded impressive results.

Pinar Fish Hatchery is among the top ten aquaculture projects in Europe in terms of production capacity. Primarily producing European sea bass and gilthead sea bream for Turkish, Greek, French, Italian and Spanish markets, it is also expanding into other species.

However, despite these accomplishments, Pinar has suffered continuous outbreaks of diseases in its marine hatchery for several years, causing low survival rates in sea bass and bream fry.

Historically, disease outbreaks in this facility have been primarily due to systemic bacterial and external protozoan infections. Such diseases are not exclusive to Pinar but recognised as being major limiting factors in the development and long term sustainability of Turkey’s marine hatcheries. Many marine aquaculture industries around the world have similar problems.

faces and the consequent interruption to UV. The unique design maximises total internal reflection, thereby maintaining the UV energy for much longer and promoting a higher kill rate (around 1000 times higher than conventional UVs). The system’s sensors provide real time data on the water quality, automatically maintaining the UV dosage in the water according to the UVT or flow meter. Pinar achieved a ROI (return on Investment) after only six months of use.

For any enquiries please contact Aquasonic, 14 Commerce St (PO Box 311), Wauchope, NSW, Australia 2446, Phone 02 6586 4933, Fax 02 6586 4944, sales@aquasonic.com.au, Web Site www.aquasonic.com.au

The various models can disinfect from 25 to 250m3/hr, with Atlantium currently developing larger models for release in mid 2007.

Aquasonic is proud to be able to bring this new technology to Australia and facilitate its inclusion into the aquaculture industry.

To increase fry survival and move away from medicated treatments, Pinar decided to replace its hatchery water disinfection system (conventional UV) with the Atlantium HOD UV which disinfects water without the use of chemicals and at lest cost than ultra-filtration.

Atlanium’s patented system differs from other UV disinfection systems by not placing the UV lamp in the water and instead applying the UV in a unique, patented manner for a higher log kill (disinfection rate).

The improved disinfection – an increase from 1-2.5 log inactivation to 4.5-5 log – boosted revenue (by 50% in the Sea Bass and 100% in the Sea Beam) whilst slashing antibiotic use by 90%.

The other main advantages that the Atlantium HOD’s is that no heat is dissipated from the UV light source into the water, thus virtually eliminating scale deposits or biofouling of internal surAustasia Aquaculture | March 2007 53

TECHNOLOGY

Tooltech’s ‘Aquatray’ celebrates its 11th birthday I

t was a telephone call eleven years ago, back in mid 1995, between Australia’s major oyster farming company, Cameron of Tasmania, and Tooltech Pty. Ltd. (the Brisbane based product design, toolmaking and plastic moulding company) that eventually led to their establishment as a leading designer and manufacturer of plastic moulded products for the shellfish industry – initially in Australia, and later internationally.

At that time, Ian Cameron, Principal of Camerons of Tasmania, was seeking to develop ideas he had for the radical improvement of the oyster grow-out trays his company were using in their extensive subtidal farming culture.

The initial telephone call and then several visits by the two parties between Hobart and Brisbane led to the design and subsequent manufacture of the Aquatray.

In turn, this resulted in what has now become well known as the Aquatray System® – a number of different versions, mesh sizes, features and various accessories designed to adapt the Aquatray to be successfully used in intertidal and subtidal farming of oysters and other shellfish (scallops, abalone, pearl oysters and mussels).

The system later developed to include two types of 1.8m (6ft) grow-out trays and the world’s largest polymer tray – 2.4m (8ft).

A few years later, Tooltech saw a need for a grow-out basket that incorporated a number of essential features – primarily the ability to nest for storage and transportation (eg, when shipping in containers overseas) and no assembly time other than attaching suspension hooks (a labour cost saving).

This became the Aquapurse®. It too developed further with various mesh versions and accessories, making it available for use subtidally. (successfully 54 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

trialled in 40 metres depth). This has now become the internationally well know Aquapurse System®.

Further developments are currently taking place.

With both these Systems, Tooltech have been able to establish markets in many overseas countries, including the United States, Europe and New Zealand, where the products have been able to compete quite successfully.

Marketing and Export Manager, Reg Breakwell , says the company’s involvement and real interest in the wider aquaculture industry has led to a number of other product design and manufacturing opportunities. An example is the specially designed grow-out troughs and bins for a large Australian soft shell crab establishment.

Breakwell added that Tooltech welcome inquiries at all times from companies or individuals who are seeking design and tooling assistance for new product ideas.

Confidentiality agreements are encouraged.

For more information call Reg on 07 3271 1755 or Mobile: 0408 740 883 Email: rbreakwell@tooltechservices.com.au Web: www.ploma.com.au

TECHNOLOGY

Small in size but a technological leader S

does not really do the company’s current capabilities justice.

It is the home and work base for a number of oyster growers, as well as the centre of a thriving lobster, abalone and fishing industry. Also, because it boasts Tasmania’s best all year round climate, it has become the State’s ‘must-go’ holiday resort.

Fishquip Australia’s extraordinary design and manufacturing ability in producing specialized and customized machinery for an extremely wide range of aquaculture farming and processing pursuits has become legendary. It is now also increasingly providing customized machinery in the food and meat industries.

t. Helens is a rather small but very picturesque town on the north eastern coast of Tasmania, just a few hours drive from Hobart.

At the same time St.Helens has another claim to minor fame, certainly to many in the Aquaculture industry, not only in Australia but in overseas countries.

It is where a small (fifteen employee) Company called Fishquip Australia has chosen to set up business, after making a strategic move from the Queensland capital city of Brisbane five years ago, and proving conclusively that a technically based and successful business does not have to be sited in a large city or populous area.

The company billboards itself as “Design and Manufacture of At-Sea Factory Prawn and Fish Processing Equipment”. It is a long title, and perhaps

As Managing Director and entrepreneur Rod Tedman explains, he delights in having a problem or a requirement given to him to solve. He says “you give me your special equipment requirement or need, and I will come up with the solution”. To Fishquip, customer satisfaction is absolutely paramount. As would be expected, R & D plays a large part in the company’s activities.

Such equipment generally requires being customized for its specific site, condition and purpose, is normally constructed in 316 stainless steel or aluminium and most often involves specialised computerization.

A recent example of this is the compu-

terised automatic batch weigher and basket filler – specially designed for use with the Aquapurse oyster grow-out basket – for Moulting Bay Pacific Oyster and Mussel company of Tasmania.

The machine excels by handling one Aquapurse every three to four seconds, saving most significantly on time and labour (see photo above).

Fishquip’s list of specialised and customized machinery is numerous and most varied. It includes a large range of equipment for prawn trawlers and fishing vessels as well as abalone, scallop and oyster graders, tray washers (see photo above), processors, packers and conveyors, freezers, hoppers and floating elevators.

For any assistance and discussion, please contact: Tel (61) 03 6376 1477.

Fax. (61) 03 6376 1474. PO Box 147, St. Helens 7216, Tasmania, Australia.

Email: fishquip@bigpond.com (For information on the Aquapurse system call Reg Breakwell on 07 3271 1755 / 0408 740 883 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 55

TECHNOLOGY

Oyster equipment manufacturer adds spat basket to its range tember last year and farmers’ feedback has been very positive about both the ease of use and growth rates. The release of the product in February once again received encouraging reports from all customers. “We think the 3mm spat basket is cutting edge technology and there will be a high demand worldwide,” says Marketing and Sales Manager, Andy Will.

SEAPA’s development program also has several other projects in the pipeline – the next release being an anti-wear clip

I

n just eight years SEAPA has developed into a thriving aquaculture business that continues to grow, domestically and internationally. With extensive knowledge of the oyster industry and continued product innovation, SEAPA is able to provide quality aquaculture products designed to meet its customers’ requirements whilst providing superior value for money. SEAPA is in the business of designing, manufacturing and marketing oyster baskets versatile enough to be used either sub-tidally or inter-tidally. SEAPA baskets can be used in both long-line and laddered systems.

Developed in association with oyster growers, the SEAPA 6mm, 12mm and 20mm and new 3mm mesh baskets provide a simple to use, versatile and

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secure growing environment for oysters.

Throughout its product range SEAPA has maintained it’s commitment to developing products that facilitate automation with a focus on minimising the costly labour component of oyster farming. With continued labour shortages in Australian industry generally automation is sure to play an increasingly large role in oyster farming.

to handle the increasingly aggressive

SEAPA uses the injection moulding process to manufacture the baskets which guarantees excellent quality across its product range. The highest standard UV stabilized co-polymer polypropylene is used in the production of most of the SEAPA range.

Adelaide’s manufacturing hub, enabling

Over the past 12 months, SEAPA has been working with farmers and developing its latest product - the 3mm spat basket. This basket compliments SEAPA’s existing range and has utilised the best features from these designs whilst introducing several new features. This basket is the first injection-moulded, purpose-built, spat growout basket offering an efficient and manageable alternative to the cumbersome spat trays used by most farms. Prototypes of the 3mm basket hit the water in Sep-

conditions in which the baskets are being used. The anti-wear clip attaches to most mesh baskets – SEAPA or otherwise – and is designed to significantly reduce the wear on the clips that attach the basket to the long-line.

The growth of the company has seen a move to a state-of-the art facility in SEAPA to substantially expand production and stock holding and further develop new products.

The design team at SEAPA intends to leverage its years of experience, knowledge and expertise into many more innovations for the oyster farming industry and the global aquaculture industry.

For more information contact or a product sample contact Andy Will, Seapa Pty Ltd, 24-30 Erudina Ave, Edwardstown SA 5039; Phone: 08 8350-9910; Fax: 08 8376-1487; Email: andy@seapa.com.au; Website: www.seapa.com.au

FARM PROFILE

New multiparameter water quality meter H

I9828 is a multiparameter system that showcases years of experience of Hanna Instruments as a manufacturer of analytical instruments. Waterproof (meter IP67, probe IP68) and easy to use, HI9828 is ideal for field measurements in natural waterways, reservoirs, dams, bore holes or sea water to measure parameters necessary to evaluate water quality. The meter has a 128 x 64 pixel dot matrix backlit LCD that automatically sizes the digits and allows full configuration of each parameter measured, units and language selection and on-screen graphing.

This portable instrument monitors up to 13 different water quality parameters (8 measured, 5 calculated), pH, pH/mV, ORP, % saturation DO, mg/L DO, EC, absolute EC, resistivity, TDS, salinity, seawater specific gravity, atmospheric pressure and temperature. All sensors are incorporated into one probe incorporating built-in microprocessor and amplifiers. A number of probe cable lengths are available. Each parameter is fully supported by the on-screen context sensitive help both in calibration and measurement modes. The quick calibration mode calibrates pH, conductivity and oxygen sensors with one solution. All sensors are field replaceable, are screw type and are colour coded for ease. The meter uses 4 x C size Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, and can be recharged from the mains power supply or car cigarette lighter.

operator can add remarks about measurements. The same data can be plotted graphically on the meter and also downloaded to a PC via the USB connection.

The settings menu can be password protected to prevent unauthorised modifications.

For further information on these exciting new products, please contact Hanna Instruments on tel 03 9769 0666, fax 03 9769 0699 or e-mail hannains@hannainst.com.au

HI9828 is supplied complete with DO/ EC/Temperature probe, quick calibration standard 500mL, probe maintenance kit, 4 rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, power adaptor and cable, cigarette lighter cable, 5 x i-ButtonsŠ with holder, USB interface cable, WindowsŽ compatible software, instruction manual and rugged carrying case.

The logger function memorises the data of all connected sensors. HI9828 has log-on-demand and automatic logging of up to 60,000 samples. Readings can be associated to a precise sampling area using the i-ButtonsŠ system and the Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 57

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FISHENEWS

ABALONE SA REMAINS FREE OF VICTORIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ABALONE DISEASE

An abalone industry spokesperson advises the abalone disease ganglioneuritis apparently spreading in Victorian waters has not been detected In SA waters. Monitoring is ongoing, with divers working in the zone closest to Victoria reporting each day. The stock at the Australian Bight Abalone farm at Elliston is checked each month with no evidence of the infection to date. Ganglioneuritis was discovered on sea-based abalone farms in Victoria more than a year ago, and then was discovered in wildstocks. In more recent news, diseased animals have been found at the breakwater at Warrnambool in Victoria, although reports are the disease appears to have run its course at Port Fairy. People observing evidence of the disease are urged to report this on 1800 675 888 Source: Port Lincoln Times (11/1/2007); Sarah Scopelianos in the Warrnambool Standard (18/1/2007).

EARLY HARVEST FROM THE ABALONE FARM AT ELLISTON

The first harvest from the abalone farm at Elliston could be as soon as March 2007. Andrew Fergusson, chief executive officer of Australian Bight Abalone, advises growth rates are exceeding expectations and the mild winter has allowed the company to concentrate on the stock rather than on equipment maintenance. The first harvest was initially planned for March 2008. However a harvest wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take place until 5 to 10 tonnes of product are ready. The harvest will be exported to Japan and China.

Source: Port Lincoln Times (14/12/2006).

FIGHTING FUND SET UP AFTER ABALONE VIRUS OUTBREAK

Chairman of the Western Abalone Divers Association Len McCall advises the body is establishing a fighting fund to investigate the virus which is devastating the wildcatch industry. The intent is to find out what is causing abalone deaths, the origin of the disease, and how to diminish its effect. He states the need for the fund emerged as a result of government secrecy and slowness to resolve the situation, and consequent to increasing depression and anger in the industry. The Department of Primary Industries released a report on the outbreak in November, in which it was speculated the abalone died from ganglioneuritis, most likely caused by wild broodstock in which the disease was endemic being brought onto a particular abalone farm. The report also described a potential progression of events which resulted in the disease spreading to four farms in Victoria. Mr McCall is not satisfied with the report and has called on the government to release more scientific information on the disease and to Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 59

FISHENEWS

identify the farms mentioned in the report. The farm which has featured most consistently in reports of the progression of the outbreak was destocked and has slowly begun restocking with certified disease-free abalone from a South Australian farm. It’s expected the business will rebuild over the next 18 months. In related news, tourists are being supplied with information about the virus problem in the area between the Crags and Killarney Beach, and told not to take abalone from the coastal waters in the zone.

Source: Angela McFeeters in the Portland Observer (6/12/2006); Monique Crapper in the Warrnambool Standard (4/1/2007).

BAYSIDE ABALONE FARMS PRODUCES HYBRID

The first commercial abalone farm in WA, Bayside Abalone Farms, has crossed greenlip and brownlip abalone, developing a hybrid with some useful characteristics. It’s expected the hybrid will grow 30 per cent more quickly, reducing time to market by at a least a year. Indications are the abalone will retain the larger projecting skirt of the brownlip and produce a slightly darker flesh colour. This should appeal to the Japanese market because of the similarity to the Japanese Discus Hannai strain, which is expensive and in short supply. The hybrid abalone has not yet been named. The farm will continue to produce greenlip abalone to maintain cash flow, in theory gradually progressing to 75 per cent hybrid production, with the remainder greenlips or brownlips. Work will be necessary to develop appropriate farming techniques for the hybrids, as greenlip and brownlip abalone have different behaviours in the wild.

Source: Yasmine Phillips in the Albany Advertiser (2/1/2007).

A STEP FURTHER FOR OPPOSITION TO PINDIMAR FARM

The Pindimar-Bundabah Community Association recently formed an Aquaculture Committee to challenge the Great Lakes Council’s decision to approve development of a land-based abalone farm at Carruthers, South Pindimar. The Environmental Defenders Office is representing the Association at the Land and Environment Court. Barristers have been engaged and the court has appointed experts who will inspect the area. The hearing will take place around the end of March 2007.

Source: Peter Economos in a letter to the editor of the Myall Coast Nota (23/11/2006).

FOREIGN BREEDING RUMOURS DENIED

Rumours that breeding with foreign abalone has resulted in the introduction of a damaging virus have been denied by experts. The rumours claim the virus, which is said to have spread into the ocean from abalone farms, came about as a result of the breeding of Taiwanese or South African abalone to produce better quality stock, at Southern Ocean Mariculture (SAM). Manager Marke Gervis insists the farm has not and never will breed with exotic species. A Fisheries Victoria spokesman states information to date is that wild-bred stock was collected by the farm and may have resulted in the disease emerging, but this is not a definite conclusion. Wild stocks were collected for the farms from various areas of Australia’s 60 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

southern coastlines. The virus was most likely transmitted from farm to farm by movements of stock and other materials. Diseased abalone have not been found at the collection locations.

A small amount of stock has been introduced to the SAM farm to check the results of destocking and disinfection. There’s no evidence of a recurrence of infection on the farm and plans are to continue restocking once permission is given to do so. During the disinfection process, water from the farm was not discharged into the ocean. However, water is now being discharged to the sea. Another farm, Coastal Seafarms, is undergoing a similar procedure. The viral disease, ganglioneuritis, is still being detected on reefs east of Port Fairy towards Killarney and as far west as The Crags. While there are suggestions crayfish are eating infected abalone and not entering craypots, experts believe the virus is species-specific and a spread from abalone to crayfish would be most unlikely. An executive summary report prepared by Fisheries Victoria outlines the events leading to the outbreak but does not offer a solution.

Source: Liz McKinnon in the Warrnambool Standard (14/11/2006); Laura Banks in the Warrnambool Standard (20/11/2006), Everard Himmelreich in the Moyne Gazette (23/11/2006).

BARRAMUNDI BARRAMUNDI BLUE EXPANDS

Bermerside-based Barramundi Blue has built a facility on Jeju Island in South Korea. The award-winning company’s environmentally-friendly recirculative system will be used under the Korean joint venture to produce Australian barramundi and Korean rock bream for the Japanese market. Cynthia Turner and Geoff Orpin are business partners in Barramundi Blue, and produce 60 tonnes of barramundi annually at the Cudmore Road property in Queensland. They aim to produce 1,000 or more tonnes annually at the Korean site, currently under construction. The target is 80 tonnes in the first year.

Barramundi Blue is currently a two-person operation, but this will soon change. There are plans to establish a large freshwater fish farm at Lucinda, starting in May. When fully operational there’ll be employment for up to 30 people. Barramundi Blue is now receiving many enquiries from potential investors and other interested parties.

Source: Dannae Synot in the Herbert River Express (18/1/2007).

BARRAMUNDI FARM FOR SALE

A barramundi farm 15 minutes drive from Mareeba is offered for sale for $800,000. The deal includes a three-bedroom home with office, 25-tonne production the barramundi farm, bore, dam, cut flower production and more. Rogato Brothers Real Estate have the details.

Source: Tablelands Advertiser (17/1/2007).

CELL AQUACULTURE MAKING ITS MARK

Pursuing company expansion plans, some 13,000 young barramundi produced in Cell Aquaculture’s larval rearing systems at James Cook University in Queensland were successfully

FISHENEWS

shipped to the US in 2006. Cell’s US joint venture partner, Delta Aquaculture, is thus now operational, with a production and display facility which will help boost demand in the country. Several other fish species have been identified as appropriate for culture in the facility. Cell has also completed an arrangement with the Bulgarian company Atlantic Ltd to establish a pilot operation growing Australian-produced barramundi juveniles at the company’s existing premises at the port of Bourgass. It becomes operational following January 2007, and expansion is expected to occur in mid to late 2007, resulting in revenues of $1.5 million for Cell Aquaculture. Cell will supply most of the essential equipment, manufactured mainly in WA, with technical support services, installation and training. The Bulgarian development will lead to the second European Cell-based operation, at Tolbert in the Netherlands, commencing barramundi production. Negotiations are in progress for a facility in Spain and another in Malaysia Source: Food Australia (February 2007).

BARRAMUNDI INTO LAKE TINAROO

The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries and the Tableland Fish Stocking Society released some 550 300mm barramundi into Lake Tinaroo in December. They are the first lot of 6000 fish to be released over the next few months. They were cultured at Julatten’s Barramundi Gardens. It’s estimated each dollar spent stocking Lake Tinaroo with barra returns $35 to the Queensland economy.

2006. The operation will be handed over to the Tiwi Land Council. However this proposal has been criticised by the Amateur Fisherman’s Association of the NT. A spokesman advises the company needs to clean up the site before handing it over to the local community, claiming it’s still in a mess following the effects of Cyclone Monica in April. Mr Hubbert advises the farm will be cleaned up prior to the handover.

Source: Northern Territory News (14/11/2006); Ben Langford in the Northern Territory News (15/11/2006).

GULF BARRAMUNDI RESTOCKING ASSOCIATION NEWS

Early in November the Gulf Barramundi Restocking Association (GBRA) had its first spawning for the season. Around four million eggs were produced, of which approximately 65 per cent were fertilised. GBRA now has 300,000 larvae in a rearing pond, with 400,000 in holding tanks. Aided by the Mount Isa Fish Restocking Group, the Association hopes to harvest 100,000 fish from the pond around the end of November/ beginning of December.

Source: North Queensland Register (16/11/2006).

EELS SHORT-FINNED EEL PROJECT FOR SCHOOLS

Having raised $4.5 million, Marine Produce Australia will now expand and commercialise its salt water barramundi farming operations at Cone Bay near Derby. The business currently has six sea cages with 300,000 barramundi. It’s expected that by June there’ll be 12 cages constructed, and predictions are of a 100 tonne harvest.

Funded under round three of the Australian School Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics project, three Millicent Schools will participate in the Limestone Coast Short-finned Eel Aquaculture Project. Millicent North Primary School, Millicent High School and Newbery Primary School will engage in the project. The aim is to provide students with a unique learning opportunity in mathematics, science, technology and literacy through a basic commercial aquaculture operation in which eels are cultivated. The selection of eels also provides a traditional cultural link to the area’s Indigenous communities.

Source: Colin Jacoby in Business News (14/12/2006).

Source: Border Watch (17/11/2006).

Source: Cairns Post (26/12/2006).

MPA BARRAMUNDI FARM TO EXPAND

CELL AQUACULTURE COMPLETES EUROPEAN DEAL

Perth-based Cell Aquaculture has finalised a deal with Bulgarian seafood and fishing processor Atlantic, which could see barramundi becoming available in high-class restaurants in European cities. Cell will airfreight barramundi fingerlings to a growout facility in Bulgaria. The company is expected to realise $1.5 million from the arrangement. Cell has similar ventures in the US and the Netherlands. Shares in Cell Aquaculture were at 21.5 cents on 14 November.

MARKETING EYRE PENINSULA SEAFOODS REACHING COLES SUPERMARKETS

Representatives from Coles supermarkets are in discussion with Eyre Peninsula seafood producers on placing more local product on supermarket shelves. It’s expected that under the new branding ‘Australia’s Seafood Frontier’, Eyre Peninsula seafood will be seen as premium product.

Source: The Australian (15/11/2006).

Source: Port Lincoln Times (21/12/2006).

FARM HANDOVER PLAN CRITICISED

Marine Harvest general manager Lance Hubbard advises the company will not proceed with plans to establish sea cage barramundi farms in the NT because of lack of support, the cost and the time it would take to get the farms up and running.

Marine Harvest will also close down its existing sea cage barramundi farm at Port Hurd on Bathurst Island by the end of

M U R R AY C O D AQUACULTURE AT DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

Deakin University has a state of the art 38-tonne fish production research facility, currently being used mainly for the breeding and growing of Murray Cod. Research is ongoing on Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 61

FISHENEWS

the breeding, palatability, nutritional value and taste of the species. The campus is set on 114ha on the banks of the Hopkins River estuary.

Source: Warrnambool Standard (6/1/2007).

DOING THE RIGHT THING

Steve Grammer, operator of Namoi Aquaculture, has fears of a serious financial loss following the deaths of an estimated 60,000 Murray Cod fingerlings. They were in a breeding dam visited three or more times by a fire-fighting helicopter which collected water, stressing the fish and dropping the level of the dam’s water. The value of the fingerlings was $52,000, although this figure would be much greater once the fish were grown out.

Another complication is that the farm may lose export markets because it may not be able to meet contract requirements. Mr Grammer turned the helicopter away when it returned for more water, and contacted the Rural Fire Service. He states he can appreciate the needs at the time, but still must carry the loss, observing that if the fire authorities had contacted him, they could have used the main storage dam which carries much more water. Mr Grammer has made water available for fire-fighting previously and advises his dams are set up to be used. However, coordination failed and the wrong dam from the 48 on the farm was used. Its understood the Rural Fire Service is preparing a submission for compensation under its insurance provisions.

Source: Narrabri Courier (4/1/2007).

MUSSELS JO-ANNE FEARMAN WINS THE VOTE

Jo-Anne Fearman of Ulverstone has been voted Favourite Young Tassie Scientist of 2006, and been awarded a $10,000 research grant from the Federal Government as part of the 2006 Science and Innovation Awards for Young People In Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. She’s currently researching mussels at the School of Aquaculture at the University of Tasmania, working with Spring bay Seafoods. The thrust is to understand mussel reproduction leading to increasing industry production. The Young Tassie Scientists program intends to raise awareness of the role of young scientists in a range of research areas throughout Tasmania Source: Burnie Advocate (16/1/2007).

LANCE WIFFEN GIVES MUSSELS A BOOST

Lance Wiffen, director of Seabounty, has ambitions to boost the mussel industry in Victoria. He owns 27ha in Port Phillip Bay and plans to set up a mussel hatching facility to overcome the problem of changed natural conditions which have reduced the production of mussel spat in the wild. He’s been working for several years with abalone companies to produce juvenile mussels in hatcheries. The mussels are then placed in the bay to grow out. Mr Wiffen suggests the reduced production of mussel spat in natural conditions could be consequent to a decline in the area of natural beds in Port Phillip Bay, and to invasion by the Japanese star fish.

Source: Rainie Fraser in the Echo - Bellarine Edition (11/1/2007).

62 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

SA MUSSEL INDUSTRY GROWING

The first SA mussel farming licence was granted in 1995 Now six companies farm 15 sites, each around 10ha, in Boston Bay - and there are also leases at Wallaroo. A 10ha site produces around 120 tonnes annually. SA production has quadrupled in the past three to four years. More than 90 per cent of product is sold fresh and chilled, predominantly to the eastern states.

However there’s a move towards value-adding to allow the industry to develop further. The mussels – Mytilus edulis – are known as blue or black mussels and are grown subtidally on ropes.

Source: Sumptuous (1/12/2006).

O T H E R C R U S TA C E A N S CONCERN OVER POSSIBLE CHANGES TO THE ‘YABBY LINE’

John Small is president of the Marron Growers Association of WA. He’s concerned that, if the State’s ‘yabby line’ is reviewed, changes could result in devastation of the native freshwater crayfish industry - marron growing. Currently native stocks are protected since licences to commercially produce yabbies are only issued for areas north and east of the line. The issue is that yabbies are an introduced species breeding faster, more often and at a younger age than do the native marron. The yabbies could take over from the marron, and other native species including the gilgie and koonac. There’s also the possibility of introducing the disease Thelohania, which is found in species east of the current line, but not to the west. There is no known treatment for the disease, which kills freshwater crayfish. Craig Lawrence, principal aquaculture scientist at the Department of Fisheries, has confirmed Mr Small’s concerns. A Department of Fisheries spokesman advises the Department is simply reviewing management of the yabby farming industry to identify issues which may have emerged since introduction of the yabby line, with the intent of improving the management of yabby farming. Any proposed changes will be made in full consultation with industry and other stakeholders.

Source: Bart McGann in the Countryman (11/1/2007).

FEDERAL GRANT FOR FOREST FRESH MARRON

The Federal Government has granted Forest Fresh Marron $44,939 in funds under the Food Processing in Regional Australia Program. This will provide for the cooperative to establish an AQIS-standard commercial kitchen, allowing production of value-added aquaculture products. Forest Fresh Marron is the world’s biggest marketing body for marron.

Source: Jenna Clarke in the Manjimup Bridgetown Times (20/12/2006).

MUD CRABS GROWN AT BROOME AQUACULTURE CENTRE

Mud crabs have been bred and reared at Kimberley TAFE’s Broom Aquaculture Centre. Suresh Job, aquaculture lecturer at the Centre, advises one crab produced in excess of 500,000

MARKET PLACE

eggs. The facility is now anticipating commencing pilot studies and growing crabs out to commercial size at various Kimberley locations.

Source: Kimberley Echo (30/11/2006).

O T H E R F R E S H WAT E R F I S H STUDENTS LEARNING FROM TFSS HATCHERY

Atherton High School students are taking advantage of the Tableland Fish Stocking Society’s new hatchery to further their studies. Ten students have been visiting the facility during recent weeks to observe production of Sooty Grunters and learn about feeding and water quality management Source: Atherton Tablelander (21/11/2006).

DROUGHT MAY AFFECT FISH FARMS

Regional Aquaculture Development Officer with the Department of Primary Industries Fern Hames advises fish farmers will need to take care to maintain their stocks during the drought - especially those farming trout and Atlantic salmon.

Some farms are dependent on releases from the Goulburn River or Lake Eildon. Water drawn from the bottom of Lake Eildon is currently cold. However as the level falls the water temperature will increase. Releases are also uncertain over summer. Water levels in the upper reaches, such as the Acheron River, are already low, with a likelihood the water will

be getting less and warmer. Ms Hames notes some farmers installed aeration devices during the 1981 drought and are better prepared for drought. Farmers should consider aeration and oxygenation systems, water recirculation processes, changed feeding regimes and destocking - for example to frozen storage. An information package is being prepared for distribution to local fish farmers.

Source: The Alexandria Eildon Marysville Standard (15/11/2006).

BLACK BREAM BREEDING PROVING RESTOCKING PRACTICAL

Researcher Greg Jenkins has almost completed a project which suggests it’s practical to restock rivers. In 2001 Mr Jenkins and his Murdoch University team began monitoring black bream populations in Augusta’s Blackwood River estuary. They found stocks were very depleted and removed 100 black bream from the area. These broodstock produced 220,000 juveniles which were used to restock the river. Recfish Australia has presented Mr Jenkin an award for his work on the best recreational enhancement project. He’s a Fremantle-based scientist, and manager of aquaculture development and research at Challenger TAFE. He was employed by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation to research the viability of replenishing fish stocks in Australian rivers.

Source: Greta Burgio in the Busselton Margaret River Times (16/11/2006).

Prawn Grading Machines and systems for the prawn farming industry.

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K.M. Fish Machinery A/S Tel: +45 98 86 46 33 Fax: +45 98 86 46 77 Web Page: www.Km-fish.dk Agent in Australia: Terry Gorman & Associates Tel: (02) 9979 7269 Fax: (02) 9997 4203

OYSTER LEA S E FOR S A LE

• 15 hectares of undeveloped oyster growing water in Robbins Passage near Smithton in Tasmania. (Zone Number 7).

• It is known as Lease Number 251 (It was sub-divided off the southern end of old Lease Number 247).

• The south-western boundary is grid ref 326793.40E and 5488844.21N

Please contact Alan Bird at alanbird@xtra.co.nz or +64 7 823 4405

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190 x 100 wide x 59cm deep Used for oysters – but would suit crabs and scallops etc Priced at just $45 each For more information phone 02 4362 2233 – evenings

Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007 63

MARKET PLACE

SILVERWATER NATIVE FISH Suppliers of Silver Perch, Murray Cod & Perch fingerlings & !Tel: 02 6956Golden 2305 Mobile: 0427 695 662 or Email: silverwater@webfront.net.au

The Big Blue Shellfish Company • • • • •

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• •

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Situated on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria 2 Licences with endorsements for Blue Mussels, Scallops and Native Flat Oyster Three, 3 hectare leases off Clifton Springs and Portarlington 2 seed collecting sites in the Kirks Point Werribee Reserve Recently refitted, purpose- built vessel in 3D survey All infrastructure and equipment including 21 longlines in very good condition Currently producing 80-100t of Blue Mussels with established market at 66% capacity Walk in, Take over and complete the expansion For more information please contact 03 5257 3543 or 0412 238 792

• Suppliers of barramundi, mullet and mangrove jack fingerlings • Quality, disease-free stock • Large order discounts

Lord St, Gladstone, Qld

Ph/fax (07) 4972 9548 • Mobile 0418 984 652

YABBY TRAPS

EMPLOYMENT – AQUACULTURIST / DEVELOPMENT MANAGER The new owners of an established fishfarm (and tourist park) in central NSW are seeking a qualified and experienced person to take over the day to day running of the fish farm. Described as one of Australia’s best fish-breeding operations – the incumbent must have a strong interest in aquaculture, have a flexible and forward-looking and proactive approach to work and the ability to solve technical problems quickly and efficiently.

We are looking for someone who will take the lead in the commercial re-

development and expansion of the farm.

Applicants should have some scientific skills and excellent communication with a focus on continually improving farm production practices and outputs. The farm currently produces Silver Perch.

Accommodation and an attractive salary commensurate with experience is being offered to the right person.

For more information call Tom Ford on 0414 392 312.

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OzBugZz © Biofilter Starter 1-2-3 Fast starts can be routine. Pure fresh-cultured OzBugZz© microbes nitrify & denitrify waste in marine & fresh water recirc. & purge systems. Quality + O.Night Del + Tech Support.

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64 Austasia Aquaculture | March 2007

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Ph: 03 9817 3043 Aquaculture Services Australia Pty Ltd 30 Cecil Street, Kew 3101

E M P L O Y M E N T – H AT C H E RY T E C H N I C I A N S

Cleanseas Tuna is seeking hatchery technicians for their Port Augusta/Arno Bay sites We require enthusiastic and motivated people to fill a variety of roles within our tuna and kingfish hatcheries, including maintenance, algae/rotifer/artemia production and larval/nursery rearing. Tertiary qualifications and/or experience preferred but not essential.

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FISHQUIP AUSTRALIA Fishquip Australia are stainless steel and aluminium fabrication and engineering works. We specialise in design and manufacturing of at-sea fish farming and factory seafood processing and marine handling equipment.

Fishquip Australia is located in St Helens and with its crew of twelve plus a well equipped workshop can handle most engineering tasks.

114 Tully Street, St Helens Tasmnia 7216 Email: fishquip1@bigpond.com Tel: 03 6376 1477 Mobile: 0418 881 548 Fax: 03 6376 1474

Even the fish know where to go

When it comes to selling your seafood, there’s no better place to do it than Sydney Fish Market – after all, we’re the largest working fish market in the southern hemisphere.

We offer much more than just size, though. We pride ourselves on our superior quality systems, as well as the integrity and tranparency of our state of the art auction system and support processes. We have access to a huge buyer base for chilled seafood, with additional market opportunities through SFMLive (our online seafood selling system). We’re perceived as a source of industry knowledge and influence, and keep our suppliers in touch with the latest market conditions. Best of all, with our seven day guaranteed payment system you get paid fast.

So now you know where to go, too.

Bank Street, Pyrmont, Sydney NSW 2009 Tel +61 2 9004 1100 www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au