Summer 2009 by Tim Walker

Volume 24 No 4 – Summer 2009

Buxton Trout’s bushfire recovery Glass eels grow a future Barrier Reef barra farm expands Domesticated tigers stock prawn farm Stable income builds for redclaw Efficiency reduces barra business risk New NSW oyster hatchery Native fish hatchery quality assurance

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

Advertising Megan Farrer Design/typesetting Coalface Production Pty Ltd Prepress & Printing Geon Group 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.

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Buxton Trout leads recovery for bush fire affected farms

Johnny Nielsen’s persistance with glass eels culture finally pays off

Great Barrier Reef barramundi still expanding since cyclone

Gold Coast Prawn fully stocked with domesticated black tiger prawns – a world’s first

Building a stable income from redclaw

NEWS

Paradise Aquafarm leverages efficiency to minimise business risk Cover photo A montage of photos taken from stories contained in this issue. Captions and photo credits as per the details inside.

New oyster hatchery expanding to meet NSW and SA demand

Koi, goldfish and lilies make a stunning combination

NSW Hatchery Quality Assurance Program

Annual Tasmanian oyster industry conference continues to grow

NAC

Industry news from the National Aquaculture Council

Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 1

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Peter ‘Slick’ Lovett with one of the new fry screens.

Buxton Trout leads recovery for bush fire affected farms During the devastating Victorian bushfires, four trout farms were significantly damaged. Mitch MacRae, owner of the Buxton Trout & Salmon Farm, made an early decision to restock his ponds and thanks to the hard work of an ‘army’ of volunteers, his operation is up and running again a mere eight months after the aptly named Black Saturday. He also received valuable support from other trout farms, trout fishing clubs and Victorian Fisheries.

he personal cost of the February bush-

Four trout farms were severely damaged

fires in the Yarra Valley region only one

and, whilst two are being restocked, the

hour north east of Melbourne can never

owners of at least one other are undecided

be estimated. Whole communities have

on what to do. At his Buxton Trout &

been shattered forever. However, just like

Salmon Farm, Mitch MacRae had been

parts of the fire-hardened bush, business

producing Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar),

recovery is underway as locals strive to

Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and

regain some normality in their lives.

Brown Trout (S. trutta) for more than 21

From top: Prime Buxton Trout fillets are again available in the fish markets and retailers. Jars of delicious Buxton salmon caviar. Photo courtesy Buxton Trout.

Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 3

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1. Fire damaged the nursery tanks which all had to be replaced.

2. The farm’s water supply channel had to be cleaned of ash and debris. 3. A sediment slug has got into Mitch’s ponds making the pond water a chocolate colour and the surface froth with 4. Some of the damaged catchment at neighbouring Steavensons Falls. From the bits of greenery it can be seen that the area is slowly starting to recover, although risks for sediment slugs and poor water quality will be around for a few years.

years. In a normal year production was around 100 tonnes with a mixture of sales to wholesalers/shops (80%) and through the farm gate and fishout (20%). Mitch had also introduced a number of speciality items including caviar and smoked trout product. “Over the years we developed a good reputation for the quality of our fish and we sold to a range of wholesalers throughout Victoria. We also sold live fish to other fish farms. Our farm gate sales are important as we are able to draw higher prices for the fishout, fresh fish and smoked product.” 4 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

First commercial trout farm The Buxton Trout & Salmon farm was the first commercial trout farm in Australia opening in the mid 1950s. The first owner was Franks Parkes who built around 2ha of production ponds including nine earthen ponds (eight 25m by 10m & one 20m by 25m). Mitch, who took over the farm in 1988, has boosted production with extra aeration and other improvements Water is sourced from the Little Steavensons River which comes out of the beautiful Steavensons Falls. The water is gravity-fed through the ponds using a

series of sieves, boards and channels. “We could never compete with the huge production of fresh Atlantic salmon coming out of Tasmania, so we chose just to focus on the fishout where we get per kilo prices much higher than we would in the fresh fish market. The Tasmanians can grow, process (gill and gut and pack) and sell salmon to Melbourne wholesalers at a price much cheaper than I could only grow the fish for.” The fishout lakes and streams cover some several hectares and are surrounded in a natural bush setting. “There is a variety

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of different ponds named for the fish they contain including Large Trout (500g-3kg), Medium Trout (300g-500g), Salmon Pond (1kg-4kg), and a Challenge lake, for people who want a higher degree of difficulty. We knew that our quality trout and salmon provide a memorable day out. We gut and gill the catch at no extra charge and our BBQ facilities are at no extra cost, so people can cook their catch for lunch.” Admission (includes rods, bait & bucket) is $3/adult, $1 for kids (under 5yrs free). All fish caught have to be paid for - Rainbow trout at $14.90/kg and Atlantic salmon at $24.00/kg (December 2009 prices). Mitch estimates that he averaged around 30-40,000 visitors a year before the fires. Salmon caviar is also sold with smoked trout as well as trout caviar, a favourite of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars. The Buxton Trout & Salmon Farm brand is also famous for the traditional wood smoked salmon and trout. “We used to have a Dutch bloke that lived over the road who was a third generation eel smoker. Probably the first person to smoke trout in Australia way back in the early 1980s, he taught my step father how to build and use a wood smoker for the trout and salmon. It still works very well and we can do 200kg or 600 fish every 5 hours. We use Mountain Ash as it burns very quickly and doesn’t leave any coals. So it’s no good for heating but great for smoking fish. We need to have the woodcutters specifically supply the Mountain Ash; however, we only use a couple of ‘metres’ per year.” Fire Losses The fire’s path was right through the farm, destroying fences, bush and trees, the hatchery shed and associated equipment. The fact that the MacRae’s house and processing shed/tourist shop were surrounded by the river and the ponds prevented the loss of those buildings. Over 40 tonnes of fish were killed by the lack of oxygen in the ponds. “The

Peter ‘Slick’ Lovett with one of the beautiful fish he was fortunately able to purchase for restocking his farm.

Brown Trout and Atlantic Salmon were the first to die; the Rainbows were a bit tougher. When conditions are good, which hasn’t occurred for a few years, we were able to hold over 300,000 fish on the farm, producing over 100 tonnes. Given the drought we had lower stocking densities but still lost a lot of fish close to market size.” Mitch is rapt that a bunch of locals helped him and his staff remove the 40 tonnes of ‘stinky’ dead fish. These were dumped into a silage pit with lime and covered up within days of the fire. He then took a big gamble. “Immediately after the fire we could have just done nothing but clean up, but instead decided to restock quickly. We knew if we had the fish and were ‘throwing feed at them’ then we would be back on the road to making some money. If we waited it wouldn’t be until the end of the year before we could get some new fish and

by then we’d have been bankrupt.” Mitch knew that the only fish available for purchase were from the Noojee Fish Farm, which was up for sale. So, just 15 days after the fire, he made an offer to the current owners to buy some 230,000 fish. A very brave move! “Many of the roads at that time were still blocked and we had a 300km trip each way to and from Noojee. Our fish transporter was only 3,000L so we could only transport up to 500kg of fish at any one time. There were a range of fish sizes and over 12 tonnes. We had to move quickly. “So we approached the guys at Snobs Creek (Victorian Fisheries) and after some negotiation, they used two of their native fish transporters to assist us. We did 36 truckloads over 20 days. It was a fair hike with the roads closed but we did it. “We are very thankful for the assistance provided by Fisheries.” Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 5

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these problems, especially as the Rainbows are quite tough. “We purchased two tonnes of salmon from Yarra Valley Salmon and also hatched Rainbows and Browns ourselves. We got the eggs from Steve at Australian Rainbow Trout Farm and the Meggits at Goulburn River Trout Farm and the Snobs Creek Fish hatchery (Vic Fisheries) also provided around 30,000 Brown Trout eggs.”

From top: Buxton Trout’s hatchery is up and running again thanks to the hard work of Mitch, his staff and dozens of volunteers. One of the wonderful donations of equipment that Mitch and other bushfire victims received to help them get things going again.

Over the winter there has been some good rainfall and, for the most part, water quality was not too bad. Sometimes flash floods carried mud and debris into the outlets, so Mitch had to make screens to keep most of that out. “We have been fairly lucky. We could have been hit with mud slides producing sediment slugs and ‘black water’ (ash filled). At times the water was a dark chocolate brown; I have never seen it so dark with sediment before. “As we have been holding low stocking levels we have been able to overcome

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Cleanup by volunteers Around three weeks later some of the angling groups – especially the committees and members of the Future Fish Foundation (futurefish.com.au), the Australian Trout Foundation (atfonline. com.au) and the Yarra Valley Fly Fishers (yvff.com.au) – organised a working group of more than 40 people to help clean up the property (burnt trees and fences, pipes, other debris) as well as build sand bag levies to avoid flash floods causing further damage through uncontrolled water flow and sediment deposition. “We would not have been able to get to where we are without the help of so many people,” says Mitch. “It has been fantastic!” The insurance policy was not sufficient to cover the loss of the hatchery and equipment, and Mitch (like many other farmers) thought that the cost of stock insurance were simply too high. “We had to buy or build some new equipment including incubators, hatchery troughs and baskets. However, we are able to run the hatchery again.” Mitch is now selling fish over 0.5kg in size – a remarkable recovery in such a short period of time. “One outcome of the fires and drought has been that the market prices for trout are the highest they have ever been. Only Goulburn River and Eildon Trout Farms have been selling any quantities of fish. We have been ‘flying the flag’ in the market place and the Buxton brand has allowed us to re-establish some sales. “However, whereas the buyer beforehand would have been taking 5 boxes (20kg each) now they are only taking one box.

Some customers have stopped buying freshwater trout altogether and we need to get them back. Hopefully once we do the market price will remain high for a while.” Encouraging tourists back Like many other local businesses, Mitch relies heavily on tourism and fortunately numbers are slowly increasing. “I have a counter on our door and I reckon we are only down 20% on this time last year. But most people are only here for day trips. In Marysville alone more than 2,500 ‘beds’ (accommodation) were lost. We are getting a few bus tours and we are working on a cross promotion program with Marysville businesses. We want to get the message out there – we need people to come back to the area and support our businesses.” Mitch has also had a close look at some of his farming practices. “With the regulations prohibiting us from using some of the traditional chemicals (e.g. Malachite Green or Methylene Blue), we probably will have regular problems with several diseases; for example white spot (Ichthyophthirius multifilis), a disease that affects a wide range of freshwater fish species. “We will have to really lift our husbandry before the summer with the higher water temperatures (and more stress on the fish). We are considering changing our ponds and tanks by lining the floors to get rid of the organic or concrete bottoms which can harbour the disease organisms. Plastic or fibreglass lined bottoms allows better cleaning which can break the disease cycles.” Like all AA readers we wish Mitch, his family and staff and the rest of the people in the region all the best on their recovery. By Dos O’Sullivan. For more information contact Mitch MacRae, Buxton Trout & Salmon Farm, 2118 Maroondah Hwy, Buxton, Vic 3711, Tel: 03 5774 7370 email: buxtontrout@bigpond.com

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9OUR !USTRALIAN SUPPLIER

Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 7

FA R M P R O F I L E Ready for market – sharefarmer Mark Fantin amongst mature eels in the purging tank.

Johnny Nielsen’s persistance with glass eels culture finally pays off Long finned eels (Anguilla reinhardtii) are indigenous to Australia. Johnny Nielsen has been working with them since 1995. The first three years, before he came to understand the glass eel resource, he collected 27 glass eels. Since 1998 he’s harvested enough to sustain a commercial operation providing regular supplies to export clients and reckons the species has sound aquaculture potential.

ased at Kuranda on Far North Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands, Eels Down Under (EDU) harvests the glass eels, weans and rears them and puts them out to contract farmers under a share farming agreement to be grown to market size. “Some growers take them as 200-500g elvers, others at 2g,” he says. “At which point the share farmer enters the chain is dependent on the facilities and their capability.” The farm The farm draws its (soft) water from a bore at a constant 23-24°C. pH is kept low; just enough buffer is added to prevent the biofilter from crashing. Water is recycled from the nursery through the ponds to the settling reservoir (30m x 50m x 9m deep) from where it is either recycled again or used to irrigate the farm surrounds. With an uncapped bore and metres of rainfall a year, water is not a problem. The ponds are lipped and overflow is screened and directed to the settling reservoir. The glass eels are weaned and raised in 10 x 2,000L and 2 x 10,000L tanks connected to a recirculation system. There 8 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

are four outdoor ponds each 625m2 x 4m deep in which the elvers are grown out to the 200-500g mark.

larger animals, of over 3kg, that the market is most attracted to. The trigger for gender determination is unknown.

Water in the re-circulation system is exchanged in the tanks three times per hour. It is screened over a 20µm drum filter. Whilst screening down to 5µm is possible, that would mean the drum filter was working continuously.

Johnny notes that high density stocking in European re-circulation systems results in 95% male dimorphism from immature elvers. “At least we know how to turn them into males,” he says. “It is very important for this industry that a way of turning them into females is also established.”

Biofilters of 7,000L and 5,000L are equipped with bio-balls that give the nitrifying bacteria 3,150m2 and 2,250m2 of surface area respectively. An 02 concentrator injects oxygen through oxygen cones. 0.5hp aerojet aerators move water around the ponds and water is exchanged regularly on an ‘as needed’ basis. The glass eel resource Long finned eels possess all the peculiarities of their short finned cousins and although hatchery-spawned eels are a reality at research level, progress hasn’t gone beyond the larval stage and the industry is still dependent on the glass eel harvest for seedstock. Another factor is sexual dimorphism. The females grow much larger than the males and it is the

Glass eel collection runs from January to May with collection via a mixture of flow traps, fyke nets and scoop nets. Glass eels taken in this period are the industry’s seedstock for the next 12 months. It is a bit of a lottery. Johnny says they are storm chasers. “A (glass eel) run can come anytime in that period. We learn something every year. If the rains are widespread the runs are scattered. If we have big rains in certain areas there’s a concentration of eels. Some years are better than others but we always seem to get enough. One night we might get 50kg, other nights we could only get 300-400g and, on some nights, nothing.” The Queensland Department of Primary

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Industry & Fisheries (DPI&F) are phasing out fishing licenses for adult eels. There are currently 13 licenses and whilst a buyback hasn’t been suggested, they are not transferable. Johnny says eels have extreme longevity. “One (A. anguilla) eel was held in captivity in Denmark for over 100 years and I’d say many of the larger eels taken in Australia could be over 30 years old.” He reckons the older eels – the breeders – should be protected. “Large adult eels tend to dominate a territory in an impoundment. We’ve seen the shooters dominate the feed trays. It might seem like a lot of eels when the professionals take out 15-20t. But the next year they might only get 10t and the year after 5t. This is valuable breeding stock that may take decades to replace. We should be harvesting the juveniles and growing them out under controlled conditions to minimise losses. “It’s the same in the rivers. A 2km reach of river might only support 100kg of adult eels. Then there’s the man-made bottlenecks. If the glass eels are forced to congregate they get hammered. There are tonnes of catfish (Tandanus tandanus) in our rivers and they carve into them. Then there’s the cane toads, – waiting at points where the juveniles are pushing through shallows – as well as night herons”. The preferred minimum size is 3kg, but Johnny gets a premium for the larger animals. If there’s a shortage of seedstock coming through the nursery Johnny says they can hold back stock and grow them on (up to 10kg), thereby increasing the average weight of the crop at harvest. Males only reach a kilo and attract less money.

2g elvers in the nursery tanks at EDU

How big do they get? This whopper is in a photograph on the office wall of an Eastern Victorian eel harvester.

Although varying from season to season, seedstock supply hasn’t been a problem. Johnny said EDU has stock in the ponds and nursery with a 1,000-2,000t potential harvest over the next three years. Production cycle The glass eels are given a fresh water dip when they come onto the farm followed by a salt water dip before finally going into the weaning tanks. This removes all Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 9

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Self feeders maximize feed up take when the eels go out to the ponds.

Looking across two of the four ponds on the farm

Johnny Nielsen has confidence in the future of the eel industry in FNQ.

chance of introducing ectoparasites.

Water on the farm is reticulated through this deep sump.

Once settled down the task of weaning them onto a dry diet begins. Fish roe is used initially, but Johnny says you have to be careful they don’t become finicky and he has a series of dietary changes to bring them around to dry food. “It takes patience, but it’s worth it. They don’t all wean across but we’ve got it down pretty right now. We get more than 90% through. Last season it was 95%,” he says. “They’re a great animal to work with. They’re fast learners, forgiving and friendly, and can handle tough conditions. It takes about a month to wean them across to a dry diet. We’ve found that most fry weaning diets work well.”

Sharefarmer Luke Posma monitoring growth and health by trapping eels in this shade trap.

10 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

Eels grow unevenly across the crop. As they are cannibalistic, grading is essential and ongoing. Pellet sizes are increased to match increasing gape of the growing eels. A variety of diets have

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been trialled; at the moment Skretting salmonoid starter diets are used once the eels have been weaned. It takes 3-4 months to get them up to 2g. Some sharefarmers have facilities that can handle them at this stage. Others take them 12 months later at between 200-500g. They don’t require grading from this size onwards. Once they reach that stage growth is rapid. Within 12 months the leaders will be 5kg and harvesting begins. Anything over 3kg is graded out of the production ponds and sold. The last of the elvers are moved out to EDU’s nursery ponds or off to the sharefarmers’ operations after six months and the nursery tanks cleaned out and readied for the next batch of glass eels. Feed There are no eel diets available in Australia. Johnny has tried a range, of rations from imported eel food from Taiwan and fry weaning diets from Europe but found that as long it’s a high protein, high fat diet it will do the job. Last season one tanks was fed 36kg of food for a 41kg of weight gain. Johnny says he’s still learning. “When we first started we were battling to keep them alive. Now we’re going from 10kg of glass eels to 150kg of elvers in 10 weeks.”

In the growout ponds, food conversions vary from farm to farm. The best has been 1.1:1 (in their own ponds) out to 1.5:1. Generally speaking growers get 1.3:1.

70t of value seafood. The ratio of males to females varies. EDU’s next job is to work out how to determine the sex of the immature elvers.

The eels do much better in the ponds than in the re-circ systems for some reason.

“I can see the industry becoming an absolute boomer. I’ve been in it now for 14 years and I’m just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It can’t be bred so the market can’t be flooded. Having said that, it all hinges on access to the glass eel resource. Harvesting licenses, and how they’re handled and who owns them, will determine the direction the industry takes,” he says. “But I can see long finned eels becoming a very successful aquaculture product.”

Markets Over the years EDU have established a market confidence in their product. The main targets are China and Taiwan where their indigenous large mottled eel (A. marmorata) has been largely fished out and the similarity to the Australian reinhardtii was acceptable. “They don’t really want little eels. From a cultural point of view the big eels represent age and wisdom,” Johnny explains. “But apart from that, this industry’s big mistake has been to send over 2kg eels. They’ve been selling themselves short. Driven by the need for cash flow they were harvested too early. In three to six months those 2kg eels would have been 6kg. You would only need a third of the glass eels to achieve the same result by holding them for the extra time.” Potential Long finned glass eels average 6-7,000/ kg with each females having the potential to grow into a 5-10kg product. That means, in simple terms, a kilo of glass eels can be grown into between 35t and

Johnny reckons that many of Far North Queensland’s aquaculture farms are, for one reason or another, under-utilised. EDU holds three glass eel collection licenses and they has established the market for the Australian product. The two bookends are in place and they are building up their production capacity through share farming agreements. The potential for growth is there. By John Mosig Johnny Nielsen can be contacted by phone on (07) 4093 9166, or by email on eelsdownunderptyltd@ozemail.com.au

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Great Barrier Reef barramundi still expanding since cyclone Great Barrier Reef Barramundi was one of the farms badly damaged by Tropical Cyclone Larry in March 2006 (Vol 20.5 issue of Austasia Aquaculture). Owner Bob Lamason and his staff have worked hard to get the farm producing again – Bob expects to harvest around 450 tonnes of top quality Barramundi in 2010/11.

An excavator is used to lift the Barramundi and place them in blue plastic bins each part filled with a salt-ice slurry to quickly kill them.

everal Australian companies have made the move from farming Black Tiger prawns (Penaeus monodon) to barramundi (Lates calcarifer) over the past 5-6 years. One of these is Great Barrier Reef Barramundi (GBRB) owned by Bob Lamason. “We changed from prawns to barra in 2004,” Bob explains. “We made this decision as barra is less labour intensive. Also, due to cheaper imports of seafood, we were looking for a product we could regulate when we harvested. Once prawns reach a certain size you have to harvest them. With barra we can hold onto them for a few months 12 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

until market conditions improve.”

drainage. The plastic is buried into the ground to prevent it being shifted during harvesting or blown away when the ponds are empty.”

There are 23 one hectare ponds and twenty 0.3ha ponds – giving GBRB over 30ha of production ponds – plus a 2ha water storage pond and 8ha of remediation ponds.

All the walls are also plastic lined to reduce erosion and sediment build-up.

“Our ponds are 2m deep in the centre, so they are fine for barra,” Bob continues. “Most are square, although we have some odd-shaped ponds to suit the property layout. All ponds have central outlet standpipes which are surrounded by a 20m2 plastic covering (1mm HDPE). This central area assists in quick

Bob says that the design makes for easy pond maintenance between crops. “We dry out for around six weeks. The organic wastes and sediment on the central sheet dry out very quickly and these can be brushed to the earthen pond bottoms and scraped up with the tractor with the other wastes for removal. We are stock

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piling this sediment which can be used as fertiliser or land fill.” Water is pumped in from the Mourilyan Estuary. “We had installed a series of river pumps for the prawns so we didn’t have to change anything for the barra. However, whilst we can pump a tonne of water per second the barra don’t need that much. All we need is to pump at the top of the tides ‘once in a blue moon’ to top up the storage ponds.” GBRB can also recycle their water. “We have four submersible pumps in the remediation ponds which we can also use for filling the ponds via our header tank (20m3). The water is piped underground to the ponds in 600mm down to 300mm PVC pipes. The inlets have a 450mm valve whilst the discharge outlets are also operated with 450mm values. Paddlewheels are used exclusively on the farm. Bob says they use a number of brands and types. “We had tried the Aero2s and other types of aerators but found that the paddlewheels gave the best dissolved oxygen levels and good circulation. We start with two in the ponds next to the nursery areas. As the stock increase in size we can put in up to three more paddlewheels. All are simply

staked in with star pickets and run 24 hours a day. When the pond is drained we simply place the paddlewheels on the banks until they are needed again. They are very tough, being able to handle the salty water and exposure.” Two-stage nursery Barramundi fingerlings (20-25mm) are purchased two-to-four times a year from a number of hatcheries, up to around 50,000 fingerlings at a time. These are stocked into ten 19-tonne fibreglass/ plastic tanks in an undercover nursery supplied with bore water. After 2-3 months the fingerlings reach 80-100mm and are released into designated pond nurseries; the transfer from tank to pond occurs via ex-prawn transporters Each pond’s nursery – occupying around 5% of the pond area – is fenced off with star pickets and galvanised mesh netting and covered by bird netting like that used on orchards. “With the fences extending up the banks we have placed feed bags filled with a cement-sand mixture along the bottom of the wire netting to keep the fish in,” Bob adds. “I have just adapted things I learnt when I was livestock

The weekly harvest begins with a drag net being towed through the culture pond.

farming. The idea is to keep things simple.” After 2-3months the fish have reached 300mm and can be released into the main part of the pond by cutting two openings in the mesh. Bob prefers to use floating feed so he can control the feeding which is undertaken in the mornings and early evenings. “We mostly uses Ridley’s but do get some Growbest as they have a smaller floating (3mm) pellet) for the smaller fish.” He uses a truck-mounted blower equipped with a 250kg hopper. “We can hold 2-3 different sizes of pellets and the truck drives to a certain part of each pond and blows in the feed. The operator watches the feeding activity of the barra. If it is slow, for example on cold day, it might only be a short feed. The fish can keep going for up to 10 minutes at other times. The floating pellets make it very easy to know what is happening.” 18-month production cycle Currently GBRB harvest their fish at an average size of 2kg although, with no grading, there can be a wide size range. Bob estimates that 10% is 1.5kg or smaller whilst 20% or so are over 2.5kg. “The market is changing a bit now. I have just

Some of the water treatment systems for the onland tank nursery.

Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 13

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Management Metrics Key Management Decisions for Great Barrier Reef Barramundi include: • Change from prawns to barramundi to allow increased flexibility of harvesting times and product sizes • Focus on gut-in product which has been purged for 4 days before harvest, providing it is kept chilled (0-5°C) it will have a long shelf life Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture System utilised: part plastic lined ponds with central outlets • Growth rate (from stocking to market): 18 months (1g to 2kg) • Survival rate: 75% from first stocking to sale size • Annual harvest: 450 tonnes (2010/11) • Production rate: 25-30 tonnes per ha • FCR: 1.4 (number of kg of food to produce 1kg stock) • Productivity: 50 tonnes per Effective Fulltime Unit (240 days, 48wk x 40hr), approximately $1.20/kg

This can range between 200kg to a tonne a week, year round.” The soluble lime, mixed with water and spread over the pond surface, is very useful in controlling pH fluctuations as well as algal blooms. “We also find that it stops us getting hydrogen sulphide releases from the organic and sediment build-ups on dirty pond bottoms,” Bob continues. “We know that even the seacage guys (Salmon, Tuna and Yellowtail Kingfish) need to keep moving their cages around. We can’t do that so we need to stay on top of things as, whilst we can scrape off the sediment between crops, we have to keep the bottoms clean during the production cycle.” Whole fish sales

been down to Melbourne and they want some plate size (400-800g) fish as well as larger ones around 3-4kg.” This will mean some modification of Bob’s production schedule. “It takes us around 18 months to get the fish to our 2kg average, so we could need to keep them going for another 5-6 months to get the additional kilo (depending on water temperatures). Although the fish do slow down a little in winter, we are next to the coast and grow in salt water (1034ppt) so our water temperatures are generally warmer than for the guys growing in freshwater. We may get one or two days of 19°C in the early morning (7am) but mostly it’s around 22°C.

Summer temperatures can be up around 32°C and the barra just love it (and the paddlewheels ensure there is still plenty of oxygen in the water). “We had a few problems with Streptococcus (a bacterium which has caused mass mortalities of barra on some farms) after Cyclone Larry. But it wasn’t bad enough to justify the extra cost of innoculating our fingerlings before stocking. We have learnt to control the disease in our ponds based on pond management principles we learnt with prawn farming.” The secret is really quite simple. “Like the prawn farmers, we add a lot of lime.

A weekly harvest is undertaken using a drag net operated by a tractor pulling the sides of the net through pulleys on the banks, much like a trawler. “We catch up to 4 tonnes of fish at a time,” Bob explains. “When we get to the banks we pull the cod end up by hand and then use an excavator to lift the net up and spill the barra into 4 or 5 blue bins (1 tonne) filled with a salty ice slurry. This kills and chills them very quickly.” Having been involved in fishing for more than 20 years, most recently in sashimi tuna, he is a very good judge of fish quality. “I have been eating some of the best ocean-caught fish in the world, so I know when a fish doesn’t taste right.

A drained pond showing the plastic –lined walls and the netting for the nursery enclosures used to hold fish from 80mm until they reach around 300mm in length.

The nursery area in each pond is fenced off and bird nets strung across it to reduce predation.

14 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

FA R M P R O F I L E

The drag net is pulled in by hand to reduce damage to the Barramundi.

Our pond-reared fish are purged for four days before harvest and they swim a lot in the ponds so they are in good shape – I can’t fault the quality. There are no off-flavour organisms in the ponds although we taste test each pond of fish to be sure.” The bins of harvested barramundi are topped up with more ice, then have their lids hooked on and trucked an hour into Cairns for grading and packing. “We have our own processing plant for my other business, Great Barrier Reef Tuna, which airfreights longline caught tuna (Yellowfin Thunnus albacares and Bigeye T. obesus) to Japan. We also use other processors for packing our barra. “All our sales of barra are for gut-in fish; very little gilled-and-gutted fish are now sold. The barra are washed, graded for size, weighed and packed in polybags inside foam boxes, either 20kg seafood boxes or the 80-90kg ‘coffins’ used for tuna and larger fish. We use Charter Freight Lines to transport pallets of fish to Sydney and Melbourne. The trucks are refrigerated at 0°C so the shelf life for the fish is around 21 days (post harvest). “Along with other farms in the Australian Barramundi Farmers’ Association we are having our fish tested for residue as part of a program run by SARDI for fish to be certified acceptable for the EU. It costs us around $1,800 per year although we don’t really need it as we aren’t exporting.

But it is good to know that our fish are clean. We are also AQIS-certified for export of fish.” Bob sees his priority as steadily increasing the number of ponds in production. “We have around 45% of them producing this year. Given just five staff, 450 tonnes will be a good effort.” However, he is very worried about the way the Federal Government is heading with the taxing of carbon emissions. “I don’t believe in the global warming scare campaign. I think we are in a normal variation that occurs every 2-3,000 years. I don’t understand what the problem is with carbon dioxide. It is not a pollutant, it is very necessary for plant production (photosynthesis) – for example, there

Preparing the bins with ice slurries for the harvested Barramundi. Note the plastic lined pond banks.

are greenhouses in Europe which inject extra CO2 for increased plant growth. The Government is going to increase the costs of electricity and diesel, both of which we use a lot on our barra farm and these higher costs in turn will be passed onto our customers. “It will be like another GST, everyone will end up paying for it. All the consumers will have to cope with even higher food prices.” By Dos O’Sullivan. For more information contact Bob Lamason, Great Barrier Reef Barramundi, 27 Aumuller St, Portsmith Cairns Qld 4870. Tel: 07 4035-2633, Email: bob@gbrt.com.au

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Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 15

FA R M P R O F I L E

Gold Coast Prawn fully stocked with domesticated black tiger prawns – a world’s first Almost every species of farmed prawn in the world is stocked from domesticated progeny; the exception is the Black Tiger (Penaeus monodon) where most postlarvae have originated from wild caught Black Tiger broodstock. That is until this year when Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture stocked all 53 of its ponds with eighth generation domesticated Black Tiger progeny. A fine batch of cooked Gold Coast Tiger Prawns ready for grading and packing for sales along the east coast of Australia.

he Herbst family has been running the Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture (GCMA) prawn farm since 1986 when Noel Herbst converted cane land adjacent to the Logan River. The farm is about an hours drive south of Brisbane. In addition to five Herbst family members the farm now employs 35 staff to manage its output of over 500 tonnes of Black Tiger Prawns each year.

Their brand Gold Coast Tiger Prawns is a favourite amongst discerning buyers due to the product’s consistent quality and size. The main sales are to wholesalers, retailers (including Coles) and restaurants in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. To stay in touch with consumers the business also still sells product direct to the public via a farm gate shop. The 50ha of ponds are stocked with selectively-bred post larvae (PL15) from the farm’s two hatcheries (kept separate as a biosecurity measure). The main stocking period is over 3-4 weeks in September/October. The first commercial harvests begin in January and can continue until April or May (depending on pond water temperatures). Thus fresh prawns can be sold over the first five months of the year, whilst frozen are usually available year round. Samples of Gold Coast Tiger Prawns are a favourite at any function.

Environmental needs According to General Manager Nick Moore, Black Tiger prawns remain the most farmed prawn in Australia and the industry relies on wild-caught broodstock. “Being a seasonal and finite resource seriously limits the industry’s expansion; hence the need to domesticated stocks for the future,” he explained. “Globally, all other farmed (prawn) species are domesticated but this is yet to be achieved commercially for Black Tigers. In 1999 GCMA commenced investigations into an on-site domestication program that now is recognised as the most advanced in the world. “While profitability is crucial to the ability of an operation to continue to trade, equally important is sustainability. Any primary industry that relies on wild caught progeny can never make that claim.”

Gold Coast Marine Aqua’s team (from left) Nick Moore, Brian Murphy, Brett Swan, Noel Herbst and Darrell Herbst have worked very hard to achieve a fully domesticated stocking.

16 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

With the invaluable help of the CSIRO, QDPI&F, AIMS and with funding from FRDC a domestication program was commenced through the Australian Prawn Farmers Association

FA R M P R O F I L E

involving GCMA and a second large prawn farm in FNQ. Initial efforts into domestication were largely not commercial and produced low numbers of stock at a much increased cost. After several years the other farm dropped out and GCMA was left to go it alone (CSIRO is still a major part). Now the benefits are forthcoming. GCMA has seventh generation broodstock housed in raceways that are temperature controlled and with fully recycled water. It has been Noel’s long term courage and foresight that made this breakthrough possible. Increase to 100% domestic stock In 2008 GCMA stocked around 30% of its ponds with domesticated PLs which were harvested in early to mid 2009. Cooler water temperatures (below 20°C) do not allow a winter crop. “With survival rates of 75-90% and fast growth, the 30-35g prawns were harvested at an average yield of 11t/ha; the highest was 15.5t/ha. This meant we were obtaining over 3-5t/ha higher production rates than we did with the progeny from wild caught breeders,” Nick says.

The 10 year breeding program has resulted in beautiful and healthy Black Tiger Prawns.

A shipment of Gold Coast Tiger Prawns being loaded

Significant infrastructure expansion occurred over winter in preparation for the new growing season. “With four new ponds just finished being built, we stocked our 53 ponds with 40PLs/ m2 in September and October 2009. These are 8th generation hatchery spawned PLs – none of the progeny were from wild caught broodstock. To be able to stock over 20 million PLs in a three week period is a fantastic achievement. “We understand that CP (Thailand’s huge prawn farming company) is experimenting with Black Tiger domestication. However, we are the first in the world to stock 100% of a farm with domesticated Black Tiger PLs. “We don’t have any intention to grow more than 10-11t/ha/year. It just puts too much stress on the growing and harvesting infrastructure and quality not quantity is our primary concern. At 10t/ha/yr we have both good profitability and high quality at the end. We undertake thinning harvests over an 8-10 week period to keep the quality high.” Nick explains that hatchery manager Brian Murphy and his staff undertook selection program over the past nine years, expertly supported CSIRO’s Dr Nigel Preston and his research team at Cleveland.

These green prawns are on ice ready for fresh sales.

“The CSIRO scientists were able to use DNA tracking of individual prawn to allow us to avoid inbreeding amongst our spawners. When you think that we have around 15 to 20 thousand original spawners to keep track of, that is a lot of work. Our people did a tremendous job taking care of so many prawns every day of the week all year round. It is a nonstop work but it has paid great dividends!” Nick notes a number of environmental benefits to this research program: • Reduction of wild caught dependence that allows the wild population to grow unchallenged.

All of Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture’s 53 ponds were fully stocked with domesticated Black Tiger Prawns.

Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 17

FA R M P R O F I L E

Management Metrics Key Management Decisions for Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture include: • Selection for domesticated stock to give less stressed, easier to handle prawns with faster growth rates and higher survival • Focus on producing larger size prawns (30-35g, some up to 45g) – last season some prawns reached 45g at an average of 5g/week • Selective harvest of ponds over 6-8 week period to ensure all prawns reach minimum size • Processing plant expanded to include 1t/hr IQF freezer, auto weighing and an 8 tonne -30oC blast freezer with 250 tonnes of storage freezer • Selling more fresh prawns, increasing from 20% up to 30% of total sales and even higher by stocking earlier with selected stocking densities and faster growing PLs (future plans to harvest before Christmas) • Third party accreditation: HACCP, AQIS Export, SQF200, Coles Supplier. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture System utilised: 53 ponds, 50ha, average 1ha ponds with paddlewheels • Growth rate (from stocking to market): <6 months (0.1g to 35g) • Survival rate: 75-90% from first stocking to sale size (depends on batches, domesticated stock have higher survival than wild broodstock progeny) • Av. stocking density: less than 1kg/m3 • Annual harvest: 500tonnes (main grade is 10-15/lb or 22-33/kg) • Production rate: >10t/ha/year • FCR: 1:142 and falling due to higher % of domesticated stock (higher survival to market) • Productivity: 15 tonnes per Effective Fulltime Unit (240 days, 48wk x 40hr) • Products: Raw or cooked Black Tiger Prawns, sold as fresh or frozen U10/lb (U22/kg), 10-15/lb (22-33/kg) and 16-20lb (33-44/kg).

• Ability to stock ponds on time every time without an eye on the season or weather. • Faster product growth and more cost effective than ever before. • Use of genetics to create stud lines and use true farming practices in product development. • Control over the health status of the farm at all times by not bringing in wild untested populations. • Able to stock less to achieve the same yield. • Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as less time requires less power Over the past few years GCMA has invested huge amounts of capital into upgrading broodstock holding and maturing facilities. “This year we improved and recovered our plastic-lined 18 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

raceways (40m x 10m x 1.2m deep), each with its own biofiltration and heating (both diesel and electricity) systems. We also have two more broodstock sheds so that now we have 22 tanks, each holding around 40 tonnes of water in temperature controlled tunnels.” Nick says significantly improvements in water treatment capacity ensure the best conditions for maturation, spawning and growth. A pressure bag system filters out suspended solids to 25µm, whilst biofilters maintain almost 100% recirculation of water. “The tanks are indoors so we don’t lose water to evaporation and need only to top up with a few litres daily. “We keep a very close eye on uneaten food and other organic wastes in the water (any moults are quickly eaten or dissolve in the system). This assists in maintaining water quality.” Water temperatures are maintained around 25-26°C during the winter to allow maturation and, as spring approaches, temperatures are increased to the preferred 28°C. To further assist spawning, size and age of the spawners, diet and photoperiod are also manipulated. “Whilst the fecundity of the domesticated Black Tigers is lower than their wild cousins we’ve found fecundity improving with each generation. This year it doubled, probably due to the domesticated stocks becoming more docile with each generation. Our prawns are so much easier to handle; the difference to the wild animals is like chalk and cheese!” The 15-20,000 domesticated broodstock are held in low densities and culled through a rigorous selection process to around 5,000 breeders;. These in turn are all assessed until GCMA have a core group of around 500 prawns. Those selected are genotyped and then individually marked with moult tags or coloured plastic rings around their eyestalks to distinguish between different family lines. “We need to ensure we have the right number of fertilised eggs to produce the 20 million PL15s we need to stock our ponds. “Our PLs are super strong and aren’t stressed like those from wild-caught broodstock. They are bigger and more uniform in size, grow very quickly with low mortalities and cope a lot better with the aquaculture conditions, especially changes in salinity or temperature. We have never had any disease problems and so never used medicated feeds. No additives or preservatives are added to our prawns. “Last year we had an average FCR of 1.42. We used both CP Feeds (Thai) and Ridley’s (Qld) pellets and kept providing the same brand to the prawns throughout the pond cycle. We believe we now have the right mix of Australian and overseas feeds to ensure we don’t have all our ‘eggs in one basket’ (two suppliers reduces supply risks).” At present GCMA is only producing domesticated stock for its own ponds. But with research into triploidy underway, there may be sterile domesticated PLs for sale to other farms in 2010/11.

FA R M P R O F I L E Checking prawns in the hatchery where 8th generation selective bred post larvae were produced for stocking GCMA’s ponds.

Fantastic end product The Australian prawn farming industry underwent a resurgence with production in 2008/09 lifting from 2,900 to over 4,000 tonnes – a further production boost is expected for 2009/10. With the high Australian Dollar, exports are not an option so there will be an increasingly competitive market in Australia exacaberated by the cheaper imports of Asian farmed product. Nick and Noel are sure that the domestication program has positioned them well to face these challenges, particularly falling prices. Their domesticated prawns show great traits for aquaculture (fast growth, high survival, low FCRs) so the production rates are higher and profit margins improved. What is further exciting is that they also harvest a beautifully coloured and healthy adult prawn. “People think that our end product is fantastic,” reports Nick. “This year we won four Gold Medals at the Sydney Easter Show and also were nominated for the highly prestigious President’s medal, the first time this has been achieved by a seafood product. “The colour of our prawns is a function of the appropriate environmental and good feeding so they look fantastic. We also selectively harvest larger prawns with our trap nets and these are transferred into insulate bins to keep them alive until they get to the onsite processing plant.” This state-of-the-art processing facility is 100m2 in size is equipped with an impressive collection of grading, cooking, chilling and freezing facilities including IQF (1t/hr) and a -30°C blast freezer. “Gold Coast Tigers have always received a premium price due to the quality and reliability of our grading

A stack of chilled Gold Coast Tiger Prawns waiting for chilling before shipment from the company’s state-ofthe-art processing plant.

and packaging. Already one-third of our next crop (2010 harvest) has been allocated (presold) at set prices. “With the successes from our domestication we have certainly reaped the benefits of a good production season last year and there will very exciting times this year with the 100% domesticated stock. Still we have a long way to go to keep improving the process to ensure routine production.” By Dos O’Sullivan. For more information contact Nick Moore, General Manager Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture, 148 Marks Rd, Woongoolba, Qld 4207 Tel: 07 5546-1361, email: nickmoore1@bigpond.com, Web: www.goldcoasttigerprawns.com.au

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Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 19

FA R M P R O F I L E

Building a stable income from redclaw John and Val Jennings have been farming redclaw freshwater crayfish at Mareeba since 1995. In that time they have seen many changes in the industry but none as exciting as the breeding program of which they are now participants.

Birds, water rats, tortoises and eels are held at bay by total enclosure.

A mixture of hides. The netting becomes suspended in the water when the pond is flooded.

A close-up look at the pond hides

The farm The farm consists of ten 50m x 20m (1,000m2) ponds ranging from 1.5-2m in depth, all covered by 50mm square knitted bird netting and surrounded by a 50cm fence to keep water rats out and the crayfish in. Aeration is provided ‘around the clock ‘ by a line of ten airlifters down the centre of each pond. Following DPI recommendations, all ponds have a 4:1 batter on side and front banks and 3:1 on the back bank. John says he’d do a few things 20 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

differently if starting again. Firstly, he’d make the batter four or five to one. Secondly, they’d be shallower. “Crayfish don’t need a lot of depth, just enough for the body of water to be temperature and water quality stable,” he says. “Make them deep enough to walk around in without being out of your depth. And they need to be well drained so they can be dried out thoroughly.” The farm started with five airlifters, but this wasn’t enough. A 4kw 3-phase belt driven Elektor air blower gave sufficient

airflow to double up to ten. So whilst dissolved oxygen (DO) levels have been as low as 4-5mg/L on a few early mornings, they’re generally at saturation. Water temperatures Daily water temperature fluctuation is minimal: usually just 2-3°C. On a clear day and a cloudy night it hardly varies at all. The water can get to 17°C for a few weeks in the depth of winter with a summer high of 28 - 30°C for several months (highest recorded 34°C).

FA R M P R O F I L E

John’s found that crayfish can withstand short periods of low temperatures. “I’ve come down some mornings and found them around the edge of the trap when it’s been just a few degrees above a frost. They’ve been curled up and apparently on their last legs. But when you put them back in the water they come good.

A 130g redclaw is worth $2.60 delivered to local restaurants.

“Although it’s not something I’d recommend”, he hastily adds. “They don’t always recover.” Initial stocking The first stocking occured in September with two of the ponds filled with berried females and two with males. The ponds were harvested in January. In hindsight the berried female ponds should have harvested in December as a second recruitment of 1-2g juveniles was mixed in with the original (now > 8g) animals. Over 93,000 crayfish were collected and graded into average 15g and 8g cohorts; many were in the 15-30g range. Selected broodstock were graded into three ponds, whilst the > 8g redclaw were stocked in six ponds (at 10/m2) and there were enough of the larger juveniles to stock the final pond at the same density. Some of the largest crays were up to 80g. Any animals over 60g went to market. Harvesting commenced the next August and continued till September. Some were selected as broodstock and were stocked in the breeding ponds. The balance went to market

DO is maintained by airlift pumps.

Flow trapping dramatically reduces labour costs and makes grading more feasible.

Production cycle The farming cycle has pretty much settled down to the above routine. Each year, coming out of winter, the faster growing crayfish are selected as breeders for the next season. John takes females over 80g and males over 140g and stocks them in the breeding ponds at four females to one male at the rate of 400-500 females per 0.1ha pond. By the end of August this is all in place. The stock spawn and the juveniles harvested from November through to May. Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 21

FA R M P R O F I L E

The fruits of labour waiting to go to market.

A breeding female (not berried). Note the clean belly plate indicating clean ponds and good growth.

Although John has historically recorded little to no breeding during the colder months, he did find 5kg of berried females in a mid-July harvest this year. He’s found that some larger (over 150gm) females do not care for their eggs as well and smaller females are similarly rejected as breeders. “If we find a small female in berry we just brush them off,” he says. Stock management Stock are continually managed and graded during the production cycle. John’s experience is that graded stock in freshly flooded ponds – in “new conditions” as he puts it – do better than those just left to their own devices. Breeding ponds are harvested 3-4 months after stocking. The juveniles are graded – if John has enough spare ponds to split them – into < 12g and > 12g cohorts and stocked in freshly flooded ponds at 100kg/pond. Growth rates are variable with some of the > 12g cohort over 30g. If the count per pond exceeds 10,000 as is sometimes the case with a run of late hatching juveniles – that cohort is harvested, graded and split into two ponds. The < 12g animals will be ready to take off a crop in nine months; the > 12g will 22 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

be ready in six. Any undersize crayfish will be split into < 30g and 30-60g and stocked in a fresh pond. These will be ready for market in six and three months respectively. Yields vary slightly with the seasons. The best crop recorded was 3.1t. But John says production has settled down since the early days with a yearly average of 2-2.5t a year (not including juvenile production). Whilst the tonnage could be increased by selling smaller animals, the price falls away. John has tried to grow large crayfish but attrition reduced the output and the premium price didn’t compensate for the reduced yield. He now markets the crayfish of 60-200g.

“Drop it a metre and you’ll get 150200kg. Manageable traps only hold 200kg so you have to harvest in three or four stages, dropping and topping up the water each time.” Winter growth Much has been made of freshwater crayfish’s winter hibernation. John was part of a DPI trial to debunk the myth. The Department, using a line of ‘super stock’ developed at the nearby Walkamin Research Station, stocked a pond in May. Using a marker dye, they identified their redclaw and John provided a randomly selected line of his own stock. The size range in the trial was 22-25g with the odd 30g animal.

Harvesting

When the pond was harvested in October some of the crays were 90g – a better than 300% increase in size. Both lines had the same growth rate and survival. No average weight for the pond was made available from Walkamin who had the complete figures.

Flow trapping has reduced the normally costly operation of harvesting and made it possible to manipulate stock to maximise production . John says the secret is to lower pond levels to stimulate the redclaws’ extremely sensitive migratory instincts. “If you don’t drop the water level you might only get 30kg” he says.

The Jennings use a a steam pressed, wheat based pellet – a 20% protein diet – put together by the local miller Top Stock that costs $600-800/tonne (depending on grain costs). It’s fed at 8kg per pond every second day. When

The largest redclaw John has pulled out of the ponds has been 430g. Other growers have recorded monsters of 590g and DPI has picked up a 595g redclaw from nearby Tinaroo Dam.

Feeding

FA R M P R O F I L E

wheat was hard to get during the drought, the mill switched to maize. Whilst that tended to break down in the ponds more readily, John notes that it all became detritus in the end, from which the redclaw benefited. Some growers uses hay as a detritus base. But with high organic loads encouraging epistylus and temnocaphela outbreaks, John’s found it more economical in the long run to feed pellets. Pond maintenance The ponds are drained and dried regularly. John uses dolomite at the rate of 126kg/ pond to maintain calcium and magnesium levels and buffer pH swings. He reckons that dolomite provides a better natural balance in the pond’s ecology than straight agricultural ground limestone.

Tadpoles in a freshly flooded pond make good crayfish feed.

Hides are considered essential. Configurations of extruded yabby hides and netting suspended in the water have proven to be more beneficial than tyres.

John and Val are part of the North Queensland Branch of the Queensland Crayfish Farmer’s Association (QCFA) breeding program (AA 22-4). One benefit has been the developoing relationship with James Cook University (JCU) at Townsville leading to the identification of many of the pathogens limiting crayfish production. When first farmed, redclaw crayfish were extremely resilient. However, over time growers have noted increased mortalities for which a number of pathogens have proven responsible, including viruses, bacteria, protozoans and fungi. One such pathogen is rickettsia, a ubiquitous disease of the hepatopancreas. Not clinical until the crayfish are under stress, this disease is suspected of being responsible for the previously (to the industry) unexplained mortalities in live redclaw transported to market and in those restocked.

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The only way to establish the presence Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 23

FA R M P R O F I L E

the project reported an 85% survival. Because of the spread of the breeding, stocking was over two months giving a growing season of seven to eight months. The average size at harvest was 45g. Whilst there was still the size variation present from pond reared juveniles, the yields were better. John stocked a pond with berried females at the same time and harvested it a month later to allow for the natural incubation. The S3J pond yielded a 30% greater growth rate. One advantage was in the juvenile count. The mean juvenile count per female at the hatchery is 300. From experience, John allows 80 juveniles per female in breeding ponds. Once these advanced juveniles are stocked in growout ponds the survival will range from 60-80%, reducing the production per female to between 48 to 64 animals. At 45% survival for the 300 x S3Js the yield per female is 135 crayfish, a 2-3 times improvement.

A fine speciment

The corollary is an increase in production space. With breeding stock reduced by a third, the space normally dedicated to broodstock and breeding becomes freed up. Once the program is producing enough S3Js to stock the whole farm, it is feasible breeders will be selected at harvest and go straight to the hatchery’s breeding cages to produce the next crop of seedstock.

The fence keeps the redclaw in and eels and water rats out.

of the pathogen is to kill the crayfish and examine the hepatopancreas under the microscope. There is no cure, but it can be minimised by good farm hygiene, drying ponds regularly and removing any dead crayfish from the ponds. The project The Jennings are into the second year of a selective breeding project. Whilst early days, the results have been encouraging. One unexpected improvement is increased domesticity of hatchery-reared redclaw. John says they trap really well. “We usually have to go into the pond and get the last 40kg to 70kg out of the mud. There was none of that; they 24 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

nearly all walked up into the flow trap”. That’s possibly because the crayfish are healthier, no disease being passed from the broodstock to the juveniles. The 20mg (0.02gm) Stage Three Juveniles (S3J) are stocked from December to January depending on the timing of the spawning. That timing puts the farm at the mercy of the weather: if spawning is late in the season, the juveniles will be late into the ponds. So steps are being taken to fine tune the husbandry to ensure a more synchronised spawning. Harvesting is in late August. The Jennings stocked 13,000 S3Js in a pond and had a 45% recovery. One farm involved in

Markets FNQ is only an airflight from the southern capitals. However, even when growers have put in a joint effort, they have had trouble breaking into those markets. Promising starts have petered out. The Jennings have established a relationship built on quality with a local restaurant who’ll take all they can produce. Prices are for 60-90g crayfish are $17/kg and for 90-130g $20/kg. By John Mosig John and Val Jennings can be contacted by phone on (07) 4092 2855, or by email jvj@activ8.net.au

FA R M P R O F I L E

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Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 25

FA R M P R O F I L E

Paradise Aquafarm leverages efficiency to minimise business risk Dave Mcilvenie and Lynnell Williams started Paradise Aquafarm at Little Mulgrave, near Cairns in Queensland’s far north in 2003. Dave’s background as a plumbing and gasfitting contractor shows in this ergonomically efficient, two-person operation. It’s a belts and braces operation ... nothing is left to chance. water goes into a settling pond and then re-used in the two grow out ponds or irrigated onto the extensive lawn and gardens. Saltwater prefiltered to 1µm is delivered by a contractor. Dave and Lynnell chlorinate over night and then de-chlorinate before filtering again to 1µm; saltwater used for algae production is UV-filtered before use.

Paradise Aquafarm takes after its name. The broodstock spelling pond in the foreground with the bird netted growout ponds in the background.

Open green water tanks

There are ventilation panels in the roof to allow the summer heat to escape and the broodstock, spawning and larval rearing tanks are all temperature controlled at 28-30°C. Flow-through nursery tanks run at 26°C in the winter and up to 30°C in the summer. Broodstock A dozen broodstock – 3.5k-5kg males and females >10kg – are held with females used once every 4-6 months. After introducing freshwater-raised stock into the hatchery and acclimating across to saltwater, all are conditioned up in 8-12 weeks. Any new fish are quarantined for 4-6 weeks before being added. Broodstock are fed a 24mm maturation diet from Primo Aquaculture. With an eye to the future, Dave and Lynnell are keen to work with growers to improve the genetic make up of their stock.

The farm Water quality is superb. Originally set up as a domestic supply and drawn from a shallow aquifer of the pristine Little Mulgrave River, it comes from a 6m x 900mm well at 26-26.5°C, a carbonate hardness of 15mg/L, at pH 7-7.5 26 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

and with 25mg/L of calcium. With the wet season’s first flush loaded with humic acid from rainforest leaf mould, pH can drop to 4.5 which Dave balances by injecting a wet soda ash slurry into the water supply line. They can pump up to 0.5ML/day. The discharge

They’re also looking to run a back up broodstock tank to reduce the risk of gaps in production. Dave has sourced the tank and filtration components and just needs some spare time to put it all together. As Lynnell says: “We don’t like letting people down.” The 14,000L marine broodstock system

FA R M P R O F I L E

On farm fish grading and transport trailer

Algae cultures. Above: Fry can be graded down to 20mm and up to 50mm using these stacking graders Dave has designed and makes himself. He said they have had many enquiries about them.

consists of a 10,000L spawning tank and 4,000L sump tank. Water from the sump passes a fluidized sand bed biofilter , a degassing column, protein skimmer, and a 4 x 40Wt UV unit. There is also a pressurised sand filter for solids removal but, because of the trouble it causes, Dave is thinking of pulling it out. He has picked up a couple of Aquasonic drum filters at a clearing sale and is looking for a gap in the traffic to install one. Larval rearing system The hatchery holds two separate rearing systems: the original two 3,000L and four 2,000L flow-through marine tanks plus two new 3,000L tanks on a marine recirculating system. This system overflows through superwool mat that sifts down to 10袖m into a 500 litre sump. From there it runs through a fluidized sand bed bio-filter, a protein skimmer and 2 x 40Wt UV tubes before returning to the tanks through de-gassing columns. Lynnell says the bio-filter is rated for a stock load of 350kg and, with only two tanks of larvae in the system at any one time, ammonia is never a problem. As marine nitrifying bacteria can take 6-8 weeks to fire up, the system is fed and kept

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Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 27

FA R M P R O F I L E

Tagged barramundi broodstock.

Ammonia is controlled by a submerged airlift driven bio-tower with 1.7km of 40mm bio-tube. Pond water temperatures are mainly above 29°C, but can occasionally drop to 19°C after a few overcast days in the depth of winter. Below 21°C feeding is only every second day. Temperatures peak at 33°C in summer. Half a bag of sodium carbonate is added every week to maintain alkalinity above 70ppm. At the end of each half yearly cycle the ponds are dried and sludge removed from the sump. Dave is looking at installing a plastic liner in the sump so sludge can be pumped out as slurry during the growing period rather than waiting till the end of the season.

Artemia hatching tank with harvesting light.

The Cairns area re-stocking group raises funds and receives grants from the government to stock the Mulgrave, Barron and Russell rivers and Trinity inlet as well as the Tinnaroo Dam impoundment. These waters carry stocks of larger barramundi, catfish and eels. The re-stockers reason that anything under 300mm doesn’t stand much of a chance. Fisheries carry out electro fishing surveys and found one school of 30 barra in the Johnston at Innisfail that had been released in the Mulgrave, a distance of 65km from estuary to estuary!

Part of the recirculating larval system.

running through the sump even between batches. The recirculating larval system is still being trailed but results are good so far and, if proven successful, the whole hatchery will be refitted for recirculation. One thing to watch in this marine system is the natural carbonate hardness with sodium bicarbonate added if alkalinity becomes too low. The nursery consists of six 5,000 litre and four 14,000 litre fibreglass tanks operating on a flow through system 28 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

from the well, allowing for extended production during winter as the water is a constant 26.5°C and clean pathogen free-water reduces the risk of disease outbreaks.

Production cycle Breeding is scheduled on either the full or new moon. Egg and milt samples are taken and a female chosen for the run is accompanied in the spawning tank by 3-4 males. The females are injected with LHRH at the rate of 30iu/kg.

Specializing in fingerling production, Paradise Aquafarm has just two small ponds for growing fish for restocking to 300mm .

Spawning commences 32-38 hours after injection. The eggs from early spawnings tend to be larger. The average size is 500µm and 85-90% are fertile. Any spawnings with low fertility rates – around (say) 50% – are dumped. Hatching commences 12-17 hours after spawning.

The 0.015ha x 2.5m deep ponds can carry 3,500-5,000 fish up to 500g.

The eggs are airlifted into a floating mesh bag in the spawning tank and given a

Grow Out

FA R M P R O F I L E

1% iodine dip for 60 seconds during transfer to hatching tanks.

500 litre bag culture used in the wet to extend the life of the algae bloom.

Barramundi are extremely fecund. Dave remembers a 10kg female that released three million eggs one night and a million the next for a return of 2.3 million larvae.

Floating egg collector

They inject to achieve a 6pm spawning. Like many Australian native species barramundi like to commence spawning in the late afternoon when the sun is off the water. The eggs are collected after 11pm and shifted across to hatching tanks. Once the spawning tank water has been through its cleansing cycle, some of it is diverted through a 1µm cartridge filter and given another blast of UV before it passes through the hatching tank on its way back to the sump. After hatching and on the morning of day 1 and day 2, the air and water flow is turned off for a short while. The weaker larvae, egg shells and un-hatched eggs drop out of the water column and are syphoned off the bottom. Dave says

The airlift bio-filter keeps ammonia in the ponds to a negligible level.

Broodstock sump and filtration showing fluidized sand bed filter .

Under instruction from Receivers & Managers, Andrew Fielding and David Whyte, BDO Kendalls Business Recovery & Insolvency (QLD)

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The Auction will be conducted as follows: Auction 1: 3 Titles (If reserve not met, separate auctions will be held immediately) Auction 2: Lot 21 – 13.17ha (32.5 acres) Auction 3: Lot 22 – 12.55ha (31 acres) Auction 4: Lot 23 – 4.23ha (10.4 acres)

For more information contact: Alf on 0418 774 849 or Manuela on 0428 835 994 Whilst care has been taken in the preparation of this advertisement, and information has been derived from sources believed to be reliable, the Vendors and/or the Agent (AA Realty) expressly disclaim responsibility for any errors or omissions and do not warrant the accuracy of the details contained herein. All interested parties should make their own enquiries, searches and inspections.

Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 29

FA R M P R O F I L E

Air blowers play an important roll in the operation of the hatchery’s aeration and bio-filtration system.

Left: Dave with the submersible pump and u-tube used to re-invigorate the fluid bed bio-filters.

done over two days from day 15 in the flow through tanks and day 24 in the recirc tanks. Fry are graded at 20mm and moved to the nursery. In the tougher conditions experienced over winter they are held back in the hatchery until they have grown to 25mm.

Rotifer tank flock filters drying.

Fingerlings are graded every four days until most are sold at 30mm to growout farmers. Fish kept for stocking into ponds are then graded every week until they are 100mm and stocked into the ponds. Feed Weaning onto a dry Proton and NRD micro diet from Primo Aquaculture at 400µm up to 1.4mm - commences at day 18.

The discharge/settlement pond – Paradise Aquafarm is well named

very few larvae will drop out in a really good spawning. Mouths of the larvae begin to open at day 2 and they are placed in larval rearing tanks run as a green water system. Selco® enriched marine rotifers are introduced to a nannochloropsis bloom created earlier. A new product called sanolife alg from Primo Aquaculture is used in the recirc larval tanks which completely replaces the use of live algae in this system. Dave says this product provides shading in 30 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

the tanks and maintains the nutritional profile of the rotifers without the need to culture live algae. Rotifer counts are conducted twice daily and more are added should the count fall below 15-20/ml. Larvae stay on that diet for 8-10 days. Newly hatched artemia are added day 8. Enriched artemia are introduced from day 11 and the rotifers are allowed to be eaten out. Artemia feeding continues to day 22 to 25. The change from salt water to fresh is

When the fish are moved to the nursery they are fed a Growbest 1mm and 2mm pellet. A switch to Ridleys 3-4mm barramundi grower ration occurs at 100mm followed by a 5-10mm pellet when they go out into the ponds. Feed costs have been driven up by two factors: the cost of transport and the cost of ingredients. It costs just over $2,200/t for Ridleys grower pellets to be delivered from Brisbane. Algae seeding cultures are held in a temperature controlled culture cabinet all year round. During the wet the fungal spores generated by the high humidity reduces the life of a bloom in the open green water tanks to seven days. Dave uses 500 litre bag culture during these times and has found he can more than double the life of a bloom. Rotifers are

FA R M P R O F I L E

produced intensively in two 1000 litre, deep vee culture tanks using batch culture and continuously fed chilled culture selco plus from Primo Aquaculture via peristaltic pump from a small fridge, this greatly reduces their reliance on live algae for rotifer production and reduces their use of salt water. Growth rates In optimum conditions the fry will reach 30mm in six weeks. Most are sold to growers at this stage. After another eight weeks they reach 100mm and are transferred to the ponds. Another four months takes them to 350-400g, ready to be liberated in open waters. Economics While costs have escalated, the price of fry has remained at 1Â˘/mm, just as it was 20 years ago. However, Lynnell says they get them through quicker â&#x20AC;&#x201C; reducing labour costs per unit â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and with a greater throughput, the fish space cost had also declined. Winter runs carry a higher cost due to slower growtha and needing more attention. The water takes more to heat and power is an items that seems to â&#x20AC;&#x153;rise every time you get a billâ&#x20AC;?, says Lynnell. With farmers doing it tough, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been difficult to raise the price for winter runs but if costs keep rising it may have to be considered.

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Markets The hatchery sells to local farmers and re-stocking groups that want advanced sized fish, turning off 600,000 fry a year plus another 20,000 as advanced (300mm) juveniles. Farmers growing in open systems like to take their juveniles between September and May. Paradise Aquafarm has been well designed and is sure to play an important role in the supply of seedstock to the local industry for years to come. By John Mosig Dave & Lynnell can be contacted by phone on (07) 4056 2100, or by email on pahatchery@petos.com.au Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 31

FA R M P R O F I L E

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32 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

FA R M P R O F I L E Greg swirling algal stock cultures – a daily task; some of the 20L carboys are in the background. Photo courtesy Ian Duthie.

New oyster hatchery expanding to meet NSW and SA demand Whilst hatchery production of Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) has been underway in Tasmania for almost 30 years, it is only in the past five or more years that commercial hatchery production has been possible in NSW. Before then the industry caught Sydney Rock Oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) on sticks placed in specific settlement areas resulting from wild oyster spawning. A commercial hatchery on the NSW central coast is now in its second year of production and demand is high for its selectively bred oysters.

reg Kent and his wife Adele have been living and breathing oysters since the early 1990s when they started as research technicians in a Pacific Oyster (PO) triploidy program at the University of Tasmania. The idea was to produce a sterile oyster which had fast growth characteristics for the then Tasmanian oyster industry. Now, with Greg all but finished his Master of Science dissertation (Manipulating genetic variation in the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas), the Kent family has moved interstate to venture into a commercial enterprise producing a range of oyster species and varieties. Greg and three other partners have formed a company Southern Cross Shellfish which is working in collaboration with NSW Fisheries on the

production of a number of lines of disease-resistant Sydney Rock Oysters (SROs) as well as triploid SROs and POs. Operating out of a hatchery at Tomaree head on the southern side of the outlet of Nelson Bay, they have recently also been producing Flat Oysters (FOs, Ostrea angasi). “We are here to make it work,” Greg says. “We have a collaborative research agreement with NSW Fisheries. The synergies of being so close to a world class bivalve research station (at nearby Salamander Bay) is fantastic. “A second reason for us being here is the huge potential for growth in the NSW oyster industry. The early figures show production of thousands of bags (100 dozen) of oysters a year (production peaked at over 13 million Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 33

FA R M P R O F I L E

Management Metrics Key Management Decisions for Southern Cross Shellfish include: • Revamping existing site means no time lost for applications for leases, main paperwork is for agreement with Fisheries. • Collaborative research agreement with NSW Fisheries – this is potentially mutually beneficial for leveraging research and infrastructure funding. • Multi-species, triploids/diploids and family lines provides an attractive suite of end products. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include: • Culture System utilised: carboy and bag culture of algae, tank and upweller culture of larvae and seed • Growth rate (from stocking to market): <6 months (4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 7mm & 8mm seed) • Av. stocking density: preset larvae 2/ml for extensive, intensive 50/ml • Annual harvest: plan on 20M SRO and 4M PO (diploids).

From top: Part of the carboy production of Southern Cross Shellfish. Photo courtesy Ian Duthie. One of the 200L tanks for intensive larval culture. Photo courtesy Ian Duthie.

Greg with an upweller pot of 1mm oyster spat. Photo courtesy Ian Duthie.

Stackable screens means grading of larvae can be achieved during water changes. Photo courtesy Ian Duthie.

dozen in the mid 1970s). I anticipate that the NSW industry will continue to recover and the demand for our hatcheryproduced seed will be more than 80 million a year in the near future.” The partners have been able to take advantage of some ground breaking work undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s. “Back then Dr John Nell started a breeding program to grow oysters that were resistant to disease which caused mass deaths on SRO farms; specifically QX (a microscopic parasite Marteilia sydneyi) and winter mortality (another parasite Bonamia roughleyi). “Originally Dr Nell’s concentrated on 34 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

stock they sell. New Tech Aquaculture Pty Ltd run by Nik Doust produces the majority of this seed (see AA 18/1 – February-March 2004) with the NSW Fisheries R&D hatchery acting as a backup. However, the scientists recently opted recently to focus on research and leave ‘commercial’ production to another party – hence the opportunity for Greg’s company to step in.

breeding a faster growing oyster; however, disease outbreaks meant that he lost much of his research stock. Those that remained were found to be disease resistant and NSW Fisheries have been selecting lines for this over a number of years. Now their oysters show a 90% higher survival for QX compared to controls, and 40-50% for winter mortality. Both are very significant achievements.”

“We have a couple of disease resistant lines which we can get from SOCO as a number of farms are located in the Hawkesbury River and Georges River, estuaries where these diseases have caused significant problems for farmers,” Greg says.

This work, and the production of a number of other family lines, was carried on by the Select Oyster Company (SOCO) who manage selectively-bred broodstock for hatcheries who pay a royalty on the

“However, as found elsewhere in Australia, some growers don’t like the diseaseresistant oysters as they say the oysters don’t condition (fatten) as well and their shell shapes are not as good. We are

FA R M P R O F I L E

Typical spat upweller system with centre drain. Photo courtesy Ian Duthie.

Greg with larvae ready for settlement which have been harvested on a micromesh screen.

encouraging the farmers to be patient with the selected stock, as experience has shown that it will take some time for a breeding program to deliver a product that has overwhelming farmer support.

Nutrients are mostly a premix Cell Hi F2P supplied by Aquasonic whilst Metasilicate is added for the diatom culture. “This is a good quality premix and great to use. We have a Grundfos dosing pump and don’t need to have a whole range of different nutrients which have to be measured and then mixed.”

Photo courtesy Ian Duthie.

“In Tassie the oyster farmers rave about the excellent growth characteristics of some of the ‘thoroughbred’ selectively bred lines produced by ASI (Australian Seafood Industries) hatcheries which select and produce stock for commercial purposes.” Greg is confident they can achieve similar success in NSW. “We used the old facilities last season but recently have undertaken a significant rebuilding program and hope to be able to produce around 20 million seed (4+mm) this year.” A 9m x 30m Colourbond shed has been installed holding the admin/office rooms, algal constant temperature rooms, water treatment, larval room and a small nursery with upwellers. Water treatment Twin 3” (7.6cm) water intake lines are connected to a low power pump and, with just a 10m head, 500L/minute can be pumped through each pipe. For now, each pipe is used alternatively. As production grows, both intakes will need to be used at the same time. The primary intake problem is the ocean

surge. A hydroclone for settlement of sand particles and other debris has been the answer. Water is then pumped to either the indoor nursery or for further water treatment and storage. The flowthrough nursery has in excess of 40 upwellers capable of holding up to10,000,000 seed. Water for here first passes through a 25µm bag filter. The other water is pumped through a 1µm bag filter and held in two 25tonne water holding poly-tanks which sit above the site. From here water gravity feeds into the shed through 1µm filter bags and used used in the algal culture room or in the larval room. Algal and larval culture The main species grown in the algal room are fairly standard for shellfish hatcheries – Tahitian Isochrysis, Pavlova lutheri, Tetraselmis chuii, Chaetoceros calcitrans and C. muelleri – grown from isolates sourced from CSIRO’s Marine Laboratories in Hobart. We may look at some other species as supplements later on.” The 6m by 6m algal room is insulated with Bondall Walls and reverse cycle airconditioning keeps the temperatures at around 22°C. Broad spectrum lights (50 watt) are on an 18hr light : 6hr dark regime which is controlled by an auto-timer.

Greg undertakes the main algal production for the larval tanks in 20L carboys. The batch culture process starts with cottonstoppered 500ml flasks that inoculate 5L flasks supplied with air through a 0.2µm air filter (CO2 is added also). These flasks inoculate, in turn, ten 20L carboys that are cropped one week later. “We harvest around ten carboys a day at present but that will double soon.” Semi-continuous 200L bags are used for the eyed larvae and recently settled (post-set) spat – these are partially harvested about a week after inoculation and then refilled. “These are OK to use for a couple of weeks; then we start new bags. For spat production, continuous flow bags are used. The water for these bags is first pumped through a 0.45µm filter before ultraviolet light sterilisation and then a 0.2µm absolute filter. Standard oyster conditioning, spawning and fertilisation techniques are employed with larvae produced in either 1000L polytanks, 5000L fibreglass tanks or 200L Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 35

FA R M P R O F I L E

conical tanks. More 5000L tanks are on order to increase production to around 40 million larvae at set. During the 10-14 days larvae swim prior to settlement they need to be fed at least twice daily. “The larvae are held at low densities, resulting in around 2/ml at settlement. The larval tanks are first filled with treated water, the food added and then finally the larvae. Water changes are undertaken every second day (through filters to retain the larvae), food is supplied from the carboys and water ‘bucketed’ in as a replacement.” There is also flow-through 200L intensive tank culture, including high larval density (50 spat/ml) batch culture, flow through water and continuous feeding. Demand for different lines Greg says that some of his clients prefer to have seed produced from wild broodstock as they result in a good shaped oyster and condition well. Others want the disease-resistant lines or the selectively-bred oysters. Some want Pacific oysters (PO) although in NSW this

demand is low as these are only able to be legally stocked in Nelson Bay. “This year we would like to sell around 20M SRO and 4M PO diploids. Other estuaries can use triploid POs but the demand is currently not high. We think it will lift and we are also working on producing triploid SROs.” In addition to selling seed to NSW farmers, Greg and his partners have completed translocation protocols for sales of POs and FOs into South Australia. “We have sufficient room to triple our production. So at present we are very happy with our arrangement with Fisheries. It gives us time to commercialise a number of processes (such as the triploid SRO) as well as expand the selectively bred lines for disease resistance, fast growth or other traits wanted by the industry. “We are currently selling the majority of our seed at 1mm to nurseries for growout around the coast. The risk and heartache is in the hatchery side of the business, the ‘jam’ is in the nursery culture; for example 1mm seed sell for

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around $10/1,000, and after 6-12 weeks (depending on food and water temperatures) they reach 4mm and can be sold to $20-25/1,000. As there aren’t many losses or huge risks during that phase we want to do more of that. “So we are now producing larger seed and have a range from 4mm up to 8mm. Contract ongrowers currently take the seed to 8mm in soft mesh bags but we will vertically integrate all this ourselves in the future. “At Tommare Head we are in a fairly exposed area to people traffic with lots of people passing by or calling in for a look. We are continually telling them about our research work to commercialise these lines and the high chances of success due to our great relationship with Fisheries.” By Dos O’Sullivan. For more information contact Greg Kent, Southern Cross Shellfish, 56 Boronia Dr, Salamander Bay NSW 2317. Tel: 0488 224-927, Email: greg.kent@utas.edu.au

PRESS RELEASE

Extended Range Dissolved Oxygen Meter Taking dissolved oxygen measurements in the field can sometimes subject instrumentation to the inclemency of the weather and the occasional dunking, both of which may cause damage to some meters. HI9147 waterproof dissolved oxygen meter has been designed with a waterproof casing (IP67) to avoid this problem, and is specially designed for aquaculture applications. This unit is unique among our family of DO meters in that it comes with a galvanic probe. Unlike polarographic probes, galvanic DO probes require no conditioning time. HI9147 measures and displays dissolved oxygen from 0.00 to 50.0 mg/L or 0 to 600% saturation. Temperature is

Reseller enquiries welcome

measured in the range -5 to 50.0ºC. HI 9147 is equipped with automatic temperature compensation plus user adjustable altitude and salinity compensations for the most accurate measurements. This unit is supplied with galvanic DO probe with built-in temperature sensor, 2 spare membranes with O-rings, electrolyte solution, protective rubber boot, rechargeable battery,

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Designed specifically for aquaculture Backlit LCD Automatic temperature compensation Automatic salinity and altitude compensation, user adjustable • Water-resistant • Protective rubber boot included

screwdriver and instructions. Inductive charger purchased separately. HI 9147 is a must have for DO sensitive organisms or high bio-load environments.

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For more information call 03 9769 0666 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 37

FA R M P R O F I L E

Koi, goldfish and lilies make a stunning combination Koi are a popular ornamental fish around the world. Due to quarantine restrictions they can only be farmed and kept as pets in Western Australia and New South Wales. Hobbyists in those states are indeed fortunate as Koi make colourful and attractive pets. To their beautiful Koi the Swan Valley Fish and Lily Farm has added a huge variety of lilies and other water plants to make a truly stunning array of produce.

oi, the national ornamental pond fish of Japan – where they are called Nishikigoi (literally “brocaded carp”) – are domesticated varieties of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Although relatives of the Goldfish (C. auratus), they are far more colourful, grow a great deal larger – sometimes up to 90cm in garden ponds – and can live for more than 100 years; the oldest recorded in China was well over 250 years old. Koi originate back in 800AD where they were bred for food by isolated farmers in what is now the Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. Eventually, colourful specimens were noticed in the early farmers’ ponds and, from the 1800s,

breeding for colour became a highly competitive pastime among the Japanese peasant farming community. These magnificent fish came to be referred to as ‘living jewels’ and are now enjoyed as much loved (and long lived) companion pets in garden ponds all over the world. Stunning range of fish The 2ha Swan Valley Fish and Lily Farm is located amongst the wineries and restaurants of the Swan Valley, one of Perth’s premier tourist regions. Husband and wife team of Tim and Tracy Hoffman have developed an extensive array of display ponds showcasing Perth’s best selection of water lilies and a stunning range of Koi and goldfish.

“We stock everything you need for your water garden including pond pumps, filters, ponds, pond liner, zeolite, Koi, Goldfish and over 50 varieties of water lilies,” says Tracy. “Whether you are setting up a Koi pond, frog pond or a special water feature, we can also provide expert advice on how you can establish a low maintenance, chemical free set up. We pride ourselves on our superior customer service and expert advice.” Before opening in February 2008, Tim and Tracy worked hard over a two year period to convert a degraded horse property into a lush and pretty tourist attraction. Their family has a 20 year history in this industry and much of the

Red coloured concrete walkways surround the plastic lined ponds enabling customers to move around easily (even in wheelchairs) and observe the fish and water plants.

38 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

FA R M P R O F I L E

fish and plant stock was supplied to the new operation from family sources. The Hoffman’s water comes from a deep bore. “This water has no iron in it; it tastes better than scheme water so we can pump straight into our concrete panel plant filter. This has been established with a water depth of 40cm (the same depth as ponds on the rest of the farm) with a freeboard of another 20cm. The plant filter has a large surface with six 1.5m wide by 30m long canals that run backwards and forwards.” Tracy says that they add a range of species such as edible water plants, iris and tarrow which can form interwoven mesh balls on the bottoms of the canals or free floating surface plants such as water cress or Lebanese cress. “Their bare roots suck up the nutrients. Small jutting out walls create areas to slow down water flow and allow some sediments to settle out.” The plant filters are quite easy to maintain with gravity water flow through the canals. Tracy says that they just needed to trim plants away from pumps. The filter serves multiple purposes; not only does it keep the pond system clean, water plants are harvested from the filter for retail sale and excess plants are used as mulch in the garden. Tracy reckons their pond design and layout to be unique in Australia. “It allows customers to view the ponds from above, maximising the visual impact of the water lilies and Koi. All the concrete panels for the ponds and walkways were poured on site and positioned with the help of a bobcat. We estimate that over 1,000 panels were constructed over a two year period, meaning that most of our friends and relatives were talked into helping us at some stage.” Two 55,000L/hr submersible AquaPro pumps are kept going for 24 hours a day pumping water through a network of 10cm storm water pipes into the 76 ponds. Made from concrete these ponds have a 0.5mm thick PVC liner to hold the water. Black liners make the algae less visible .

Schools of active and colourful Koi plating in the plastic lined fish ponds that are 8.8m long and 1.5m wide

Conditions for keeping Koi Koi are very hardy but can become stressed if water quality isn’t correct, best parameter ranges include: • • • • • •

Temperature 15-25°C pH 6-8 Oxygen 3-5ppm Salinity <2ppt Hardness variable No rapid changes which can cause problems

Food: Omnivorous, so can use peas, lettuce or watermelon, although a range of formulated pellets are available - best to use floating feed to get them to come to surface as this allows them to be checked for parasites and injuries; they will get to recognise the person feeding them Protection from predators: Birds are the main ones so deep ponds with overhead brush or trees; high overhangs to keep out land predators Main diseases: White spot, others, all of which can be treated with chemicals available from pet shops

A beautiful water lily ready for sale.

The red coloured walkways are 1m wide to allow wheelchair access. The 56 lily ponds are 2.4m square (each around 2,500L) and the water flow needs to be turned down to prevent damage to the lilies. Small Koi or Goldfish are stocked into these ponds to eat insect larvae such as caddis fly which could harm the lilies. But if the Koi are too large they can eat the lilies. The fish held keep some sediment from settling on the pond floor which is a 10cm thick layer of small (3mm) pea gravel. When the water lillies are split, some sludge is removed off the top of the pea gravel. The 20 fish ponds, each 8.8m long by 1.5m wide (5,280L) are well flushed; water flow is turned up to 5,000L/hr. After leaving these ponds the water flows back into the plant filter canals for Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 39

FA R M P R O F I L E

Management Metrics

Sandstone blocks are used to hold up the walkways between the ponds.

Key Management Decisions for Swan Valley Fish and Lily Farm include: • Wide range of product (lilies, water plants, Koi, Goldfish), equipment and services = close to a one stop shop • Focus on outdoor pets and garden water features; generally people spend more money on these and they are designed and built to last longer. • Started with bought stock, now moving into own breeding and production lines. Over 1,000 concrete panels were used to build 76 ponds. Four rows of 2.4m square lily ponds are under construction to provide customers with a unique viewing experience.

more treatment. In all the farm contains 200,000L . “In the beginning, each pond was then planted with a different variety of water lily and we waited in anticipation for flowering to begin,” Tracy recalls. “Finally in October 2007 our first water lily flower bloomed, this was the white hardy water lily Gladstone. Since then we have had 55 varieties blooming including hardy, tropical, night flowering and miniature varieties (box insert). “We also stock a massive range of water plants including Australian natives,

edibles, flowering and non-flowering marginals and floating and full aquatics. The most popular for outside ponds or water gardens/features are edibles such as water cress and water parsley plus the Australian native reeds and sedge for marginal shallow areas. In addition the floating water fringe and nardoo full aquatics are also good.” Beautiful fish Tracy says that nothing makes a pond more relaxing than the inclusion of display fish. “Fish are also an important part of the pond ecosystem eating algae

and insect pests such as mosquito larvae as well as helping to keep pond bottoms clean. We sell a range of Koi and goldfish which are easy to keep outdoors (see box insert) and we invite people to enjoy the fun of catching their own fish; buckets and nets are provided. Kids are also welcome to feed the fish free of charge.” The farm uses Goldfish /Koi floating pellets or dried shrimp which the Koi love; sometimes sinking silver perch pellets are added to encourage the fish to turn the bottom of the pond over. In summer feeding occurs 2-3 times/day at a rate determined by how much they can eat in about five minutes. Less is fed in winter. For variety, food scraps from kitchen – such as peas, lettuce, pumpkin, water melon – may be included. “It is important to remove any uneaten food to minimise water pollution,” Tracy notes. There are thousands of Koi for customers to choose from including the ever

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popular standard Koi or the graceful Butterfly Koi. The choice includes the very popular Ogon (bright yellow/gold metallic) or Sanke (white, black and red), as well as other varieties such as Kahaku (white and red) and Showa (black, white and red). “Our Koi are available in a selection of sizes priced from $4 to several hundred dollars. We also have special buy five get one free offers on a range of sizes.” The Hoffmans plan to extend with more ponds so they can do their own breeding. “At present we buy the majority of our Koi from reputable breeders within Western Australia. It is usually the increasing water temperatures in spring which trigger the Koi to breed. They are like goldfish and each female can lay a lot of eggs (around 25,000 in a three year old fish) which are fertilised by the males. After 3-4 days the fish hatch.”

Nearing completion, the larger fish ponds are in the foreground, whilst the lily ponds extend behind them.

With such a large number of shallow ponds with a smorgasbord of fish, predatory birds such as herons and kookaburras are a problem. Bird netting covers the entire pond area raised on 3m high steel poles with a network of suspension wires allowing people to freely walk around the ponds. The farm has few health or parasite problems. Koi generally suffer from the same sorts of bacterial and parasite infections as goldfish, such as fin rot and white spot; these can all be treated with commercial products. “We can maintain fairly high stocking densities; our stocking levels and water quality are improved by using zeolite powder to take out ammonia. Overall we have very low mortality rates.” Tracy and Tim are careful to explain to customers that they should never release unwanted fish into waterways. “We will swap big fish for smaller ones or will take fish when people are draining their ponds.” Goldfish are also popular. “Customers can also choose from the standard goldfish, Comets, and Shubunkins to gorgeous Fantails in a range of sizes.” Tracy and Tim were very happy with

progress so far. “But we always will have plenty more work to be done. Landscape works are due to commence this spring with additional ponds to be built so that we can expand our range of Koi and Sacred Lotus varieties. We will be always be kept busy.”

The plant filter was built to provide 30m long canals. Under construction when this photo was taken the filter now consists of six interconnected canals each of which are filled with water plants which suck out nutrients.

By Dos O’Sullivan. For more information contact Tracy and Tim Hoffman, Swan Valley Fish and Lily Farm, 130 Haddrill Road, Baskerville WA 6056. Tel: 08 9296 0229, E: tracy@fishandlily.com.au For more information on Koi try the Koi Society of Australia web site www.ksakoi.com/faq.htm

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Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 41

NEWS

NSW Hatchery Quality Assurance Program N

SW Fisheries developed techniques for commercial-scale production of Australian warmwater native species found in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) at their Narrandera facility in the early 1980s, and around 30 private sector hatcheries now operate in NSW, Victoria and Queensland. Between them they produce between five and eight million fish annually. Clients include recreational re-stocking groups, government agencies and commercial growout farms. A further 2.5 million are bred by government hatcheries for conservation and stock enhancement (AA 19-4).

As the hatchery sector grew in size and importance, it became apparent that there was a need to introduce quality assurance protocols so buyers could be confident they were getting what they paid for, and only what they paid for. NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI; now incorporating NSW Fisheries) under the direction of Dr. Stuart Rowland at the Grafton Aquaculture Centre took the lead. The result is the Hatchery Quality Assurance Program (HQAP) that will apply to government and private hatcheries in NSW. The Program covers Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii), golden perch (Macquaria ambigua) and silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus). These species make up the bulk of the inland recreational bag and almost the entire commercial crop of farmed native fish . In the past, poor hatchery practices have in some cases caused problems. Contaminated hatchery stocks have resulted in the translocation of banded grunter (Amniataba percoids), from northern Australian waters to coastal catchments

in southern Queensland and northern NSW: a wholly undesirable outcome from a conservation point of view.

In addition, transfer of pathogens and disease, though mainly confined to manageable common ectoparasites, has been an issue in the industry. An exception has been Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS or red spot), which is due to infection by the fungus Aphanomyces invadans and is an extremely difficult disease to treat. It is thought to be endemic only to coastal drainage systems, and has caused the quarantining of one Victorian silver perch farm at the peak of the growing season after the disease was discovered in stock purchased from coastal NSW. Murray cod, golden perch and silver perch are all indigenous to the MurrayDarling Basin (MDB). While – in the dreamtime before the alteration of river flows to accommodate agricultural development, flood mitigation and electricity generation, the Basin used to become like an inland sea in extremely wet seasons – it still possessed particular reaches of habitat with their own ecological peculiarities. Each species is now known to consist of more than one distinct population (or strain), and the differences between populations are thought to reflect natural selection and adaptation to local ecological conditions. Since the introduction of water regulation measures these populations may have become even more isolated. To conserve the genetically-distinct strains found in these species, the HQAP outlines that broodstock must be obtained only from catchments where fingerlings are to be liberated.

Healthy Stock = Healthy Profits

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42 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

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Bio Filtration

Recent studies* have found ‘low levels of genetic diversity in some populations and species’ and ‘low levels of genetic variation in some hatchery stocks’. While it could be argued that the low levels of genetic diversity in wild populations has been caused by declining populations and habitat degradation, hatcheries, thanks to the studies carried out and the guidelines in the HQAP, are now able to manage and improve their genetic strains.

The NSW DPI is developing a broodstock collection and management policy. Under the HQAP, all broodstock must be tagged with a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) and details of their source, strain and performance recorded. To protect the genetic integrity of the various species and populations, the policy is conservative. While some growers may find this an added administrative and management burden, most operators see having clear guidelines for broodstock collection as an advantage. Bruce Malcolm of Urarah Fisheries at Grong Grong in southern NSW is one of the country’s leading hatchery operators and was a major industry contributor to the development of the HQAP. His comments however are pertinent: “If the government is serious about the HQAP it will have to guarantee private hatcheries the same level of access to broodstock as the DPI hatcheries or, quite simply, the Program will not work.” The HQAP, along with industry consultation, will be used as a basis to develop a statutory Hatchery Accreditation Scheme. Until this has been completed the HQAP is a voluntary best practice guideline but one that will be used by DPI in its ‘dollar-

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key features of native fish hatcheries and identifies Essential Criteria for site selection, design and operation, and management of broodstock, breeding programs, water quality management and fish health’. Essential Criteria, as the name implies, are prerequisites for accreditation of native fish hatcheries by the NSW DPI.

for-dollar’ stock enhancement scheme and other stock purchases. The response of the industry has been philosophical. The usual grumbling about the added cost and in some cases, onerous procedures have been tempered with the widely accepted knowledge that the HQAP will – by eliminating poor practices from the industry – lift the sector’s profile and ensure that seedstock leaving hatcheries is of the highest possible standard.

It also identifies Recommended Criteria for crucial, although not enforceable, inputs such as site selection, system design and operation and management procedures.

Growout farms will be able to breed their own stock, as before, without going to the extra cost of complying with the standards set in the document. However, they will not be able to sell their seedstock as coming from an accredited establishment under the Scheme.

A measure considered long overdue in some quarters, DPI sees the document as a model for the development of protocols for other species not included in the current Program. In particular, it provides a basis for breeding programs for threatened species such as trout cod, eastern freshwater cod, Mary River cod and Macquarie perch.

The document is more than just a list of regulations. Dr Rowland, assisted by Patrick Tully of the Port Stephens Fisheries Centre and numerous industry and government people have put together a manual that can be used by established and incoming hatchery operators to improve the efficiency of their operation. In its own words, the HQAP ‘describes

More than that, the HQAP, by removing unprofessional practices from the hatchery sector, has opened the way for some serious sector and industry growth. The longest lever in the pig and poultry

industries has long been recognized as genetics. By introducing genetic management, albeit at this stage for stock enhancement, the HQAP opens the door for genetic improvement of commercial growout strains. Some improvements have already been demonstrated through the NSW DPI breeding program for silver perch. Once the private sector has the tools and infrastructure in place to track broodstock and progeny, a wider base for genetic improvement is expected, with the whole industry – from seedstock producers to consumers – benefiting. By John Mosig *Rowland (1985, 1993); Musyl & Keenan (1992); Keenan et al. (1995); Bearlin & Tikel (2003) and Nock et al. (2003). Copies of the HQAP are available through NSW DPI. Dr Stuart Rowland can be contacted at the Grafton Aquaculture Centre (02) 6640 1691 or by email on Stuart.Rowland@fisheries.nsw.gov.au

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Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 43

Dimpleflo new ultra-deep Dimples Australia’s leading Heat Transfer Solutions provider has released a new DEEP Dimple evolution of their proven Dimpleflo Heat Exchanger range.

The attached photograph depicts a viscous food product exiting a DEEP Dimple Heat Transfer tube. Dimpleflo Heat Exchangers generate levels turbulence similar to a scraped-surface without the high capital or maintenance costs.

The DEEP Dimple design results in the Australian designed and produced, Dimpleflo Heat Exchanger, achieving unprecedented heat transfer co-efficients when processing, slurries and viscous products or waste streams.

The new DEEP Dimple design can be incorporated into most of the existing of ‘Dimpleflo’ range and retains features such as: • Designed and manufactured in Australia for over 20 Years. • Flexibility in heat transfer design to meet specific dimensional or functional requirements. • Unique Dimple profiled Monotube enables a self-draining, high efficiency heat exchanger that is virtually unblockable. • Dimple Profile to promote a highly turbulent flow and thus maximize heat transfer coefficients. • Can be constructed using corrosionresistant alloys such as 2205 Duplex and Titanium. • Short lead times. • Requires minimal maintenance.

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44 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

NEWS

ASI oyster demonstration

Annual Tasmanian oyster industry conference continues to grow Introduction The idyllic coastal setting of Freycinet National Park, on Tasmania’s east coast, was the site of the 2009 edition of the annual Tasmanian oyster industry conference shellfish futures. The conference was held at the superb Freycinet Lodge and attracted over 100 delegates, growing participation significantly from previous years. shellfish futures is an initiative of the Tasmanian Shellfish Executive Council (TSEC) and the Tasmanian

Oyster Research Council (TORC) and for the first time was coordinated by the newly formed industry body Oysters Tasmania. The theme of shellfish futures 2009 was ‘Growing with Collaboration’. The varied and challenging program had something for everyone and was designed to demonstrate how different strategies can create new opportunities, help the industry become globally competitive and ultimately improve farm profitability.

Program – Speakers and highlights The program began with project updates by Rachel King from the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre’s Oyster Consortium including a summary of how the Oyster Consortium is prioritising and allocating research funds. Rachel gave an overview of the range of CRC projects currently addressing marketing, breeding and a critical review of oyster cool supply chains. Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 45

NEWS

for their ungraded size, uniformity and appearance and elicited significant interest from the growers. The second day of shellfish futures 2009 took a different tack, with presentations from two recent Nuffield Scholars, Jane Bennett of Ashgrove Cheese and Lester Marshall of Coffin Bay Oysters, enthralling the conference with their industry learnings from their Nuffield-related travels. Jane spoke about the role of provenance and regionality in the marketing and branding of food, with a particular emphasis on the relevance to Tasmania. A key message from Jane was the importance of local consumers: “No one has greater loyalty to regional products than the people who live within the region. Failure to focus on the local market for any product featuring regionality is a failure to capitalise on the most profitable market.”

Mori tastes local product

Education and training was a feature of the Oyster Consortium presentation with industry bursaries, and examples of the Seafood CRC’s Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Marketing Master Classes presented. Shane Comiskey (of CDI Pinnacle) presented preliminary results from the CRC’s Australian Edible Oyster Industry Benchmarking project, in which 47 growers were interviewed and asked a range of quantitative and qualitative questions about their farm’s performance, with data entered into a specialised software package. While grower confidentiality is maintained, the benchmarking process allows participating growers to identify how their business is performing against other growers and the issues that are really important for running a profitable business. This presentation was well received and sparked enthusiastic and prolonged questioning from the audience. Shane again captured the attention of those gathered at the conference when he presented the Australian National Oyster Strategic Plan, emphasising the need for a National Plan to help the industry understand the focus, 46 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

structuring and resourcing necessary to meet all grower needs. Shane spoke of the frustration expressed by government in dealing with multiple State peak bodies and proposed the formation of a unifying organisation ‘Oysters Australia’ to further the National Plan. He concluded with a summary of the Australian Oyster Industry Supply Chain Analysis project which provided a better understanding of how the oyster chain works and how the chain may be improved for the future. The final Seafood CRC presentation was presented by Matt Cunningham of Australian Seafood Industries’ (ASI) Thoroughbred Oyster program. Matt spoke about how ASI had learnt from their early breeding work to develop (in conjunction with Peter Cube, CSIRO) an economic weight model which allows ASI to target traits which deliver financial benefit to the grower. The model allows ASI to compare performance of family lines based on economic potential using families with the highest economic values as parents. Matt was happy to ‘let the oysters do the talking’ when it came to demonstrating the success of the program so far. A stock demonstration of oysters spawned in January 2008 was impressive

Lester provided a whirlwind summary of his study tour into developing a regional brand using company-branded products to drive consumer awareness and market pull. Lester spoke about regional foods and agriculture from his experiences in New Zealand, Ireland, France, the US, China and Japan, and how he was helping his local industry to rebrand the Eyre Peninsula as ‘Australia’s seafood frontier’. “A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer,” said Lester, adding that “some people believe that the most valuable real estate in the world is the corner of a consumer’s mind!” President of the World Oyster Society Conference participants were honoured to be able to welcome Dr Katsuyoshi Mori (President of the World Oyster Society and Professor Emeritus, Tohoku University, Japan) to shellfish futures 2009. Professor Mori was able to visit Tasmania prior to chairing the 3rd International Oyster Symposium (IOS3) being held in Taipei, Taiwan in early November. While in Tasmania, Professor Mori and his delightful wife Yoshi toured the Shellfish Culture Limited hatchery and an oyster farm

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owned by Marine Culture at Pipe Clay Lagoon, near Hobart. On the way to the conference at Coles Bay, Professor Mori was able to observe oyster farms at Pitt Water, Spring Bay and Little Swanport, all on Tasmania’s east coast. During the conference Professor Mori was interviewed for the ABC Landline program and asked about his impressions of the Australian oyster industry, including its export potential and reputation overseas. “The Australian oyster industry has a very good reputation overseas, with great export potential”, he said. To prove his point he flourished copies of the Grand Menus for the two Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurants (Shinagawa & Marunouchi) in Tokyo listing raw oysters from Tasmania (Pitt Water, Woody Island and St. Helens) and South Australia (Franklin Harbor and Coffin Bay). Industry Presentations and Sponsors shellfish futures is an industry conference designed for industry and, as such, presentations by equipment manufacturers and trade representatives are always encouraged. This year we saw an especially relevant presentation from the National Australia Bank’s Agribusiness management group on an analysis of interest rates during the past 10 years and the implications of the recent global financial crisis to industry. Participants was then treated to a presentation of the latest offerings in basket and longline technologies from both SEAPA and BST. A particularly interesting presentation was made by AMCOR Fibre Packaging on their innovative new oyster packaging system. With the cooperation of the oyster industry, AMCOR has developed robust, 98% recyclable packaging to replace EPS foam packaging (polystyrene boxes). The new boxes save on pack-out space and get the product to the end consumer in optimum condition. The success and continued growth of shellfish futures was made possible by the generous support of the conference

conference participants

sponsors (in alphabetical order): AMCOR Fibre packaging; ASI; Ashmore’s Foods Tasmania; Austasia Aquaculture; BST & Primaq; Cameron of Tasmania; Colquhoun’s Adelaide Bag Company ; NAB – Agribusiness; Hexcyl Systems & Plastic Fabrications; RackOff; Rural Development Services; Seafood

Training Tasmania; SEAPA; SED Shellfish Equipment; Shellfish Culture; Shellfish Data Management; Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council; and TTP Plastic by Design. Introducing ‘Oysters Tasmania’ A recent initiative within the Tasmania oyster sector has seen the formation of

We seek motivated persons to fill the following vacancies within our dynamic aquaculture company FISH HEALTH TECHNICIANS

• • • • •

Working collaboratively as part of the Fish Health Team and under general direction, be responsible for the provision of a comprehensive and effective fish health service. Reporting ultimately to the Fish Health Manager, your primary duties will include; Monitoring of fish health parameters including; Parasite burdens and general health indicators Monitoring of fish performance indicators including; Growth, condition and maturation parameters Monitoring of environmental variables including; Temperature, oxygen and phytoplankton levels Participating in fish health investigations including; Assisting in various clinical work-up procedures Participating in the biosecurity program including; Maintaining and refining biosecurity procedures

YOUR SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & ABILITIES • Currency of knowledge and experience relevant to this position and the aquaculture industry • Tertiary qualiﬁcation or equivalent experience in aquaculture or a related discipline A suitable remuneration package will be negotiated with the successful applicant. All new employees undertake a pre-employment medical that includes a urine based drug test. Further Information & Applications to: Tom Bayly, Fish Health Manager Email: tom@stehrgroup.net Address: PO Box159 Port Lincoln SA 5606 Applications CLOSE Friday 8th January 2010

Leading the way in Australian aquaculture

Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 47

NEWS

Jane Bennett – regionality Mori and Len Stevens

the oyster industry umbrella organisation Oysters Tasmania. Oysters Tasmania is jointly funded by the Tasmanian Shellfish Executive Council (TSEC), the Tasmanian Oyster Research Council (TORC) and the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council (TSIC), and provides an Executive Officer and associated services to the Tasmanian oyster industry. The Executive Officer role is being provided by Dr Tom Lewis and Raymond Murphy from Rural Development Services. Dr Lewis introduced the new oyster industry umbrella organisation to those gathered and spoke about the role of Oysters Tasmania in providing additional governance, representation, communication and project development/management services to the Tasmanian industry. An initial focus for Oysters Tasmania is to identify the industry’s main challenges in areas such as profitability, product quality and the environment. With industry input and support, the aim will be to secure additional funding to help us meet these challenges. Oysters Tasmania was officially launched by the Tasmanian Minister for Primary Industries and Water, the Hon. David Llewellyn, bringing a formal closure to the shellfish futures conference for another year. Minister Llewellyn spoke of his keen interest in the growth of the Tasmanian oyster industry and welcomed the formation of Oysters Tasmania, praising industry on this new initiative. The social side shellfish futures provides an important opportunity for growers and processors to have a say about the future of their industry – but it’s not all work. The conference provided many opportunities to relax or have more informal discussions about the oyster industry. Julia and Giles Fisher of Freycinet Marine Farms kindly hosted a BBQ dinner following the first day of the conference. While there was plenty of traditional Aussie BBQ fare on offer, a large selection of local oysters and mussels were also generously provided by our hosts and eagerly tasted by those gathered.

48 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

The highlight of the night’s entertainment was a ‘Best Opened Dozen’ competition, judged by four ‘independent’ (non-Tasmanian) judges including Professor Mori and Len Stevens from the Seafood CRC. Winner of the ‘Best Opened Dozen’ was Jon Poke and his farm team from Bolduans Bay Oysters of Smithton, Tasmania. The launch of Oysters Tasmania by Minister Llewellyn and the closing of the conference were followed by a gathering at Freycinet Lodge on the Saturday night for the unmissable shellfish futures Annual Dinner and Grand Auction. Diners were treated to a selection of dishes made with local Tasmania produce, including oysters (of course) & scallops, smoked wallaby, Atlantic salmon and Flinders Island lamb, all wonderfully prepared and presented by the chefs and staff from Freycinet Lodge. As is custom, the Grand Auction of goods kindly donated by many of our conference sponsors attracted enthusiastic bidding and ensured that those funds raised from the Auction will assist in putting on a bigger and better shellfish futures 2010. The future for ‘shellfish futures’ The ever increasing support from industry for the 2009 conference and positive feedback from participants and the conference speakers augers well for the continuation of shellfish futures, well into the future. shellfish futures 2010 is scheduled to be held in St Helens. We are also very excited to announce that it is highly likely that shellfish futures 2011 will be held jointly with the International Oyster Symposium (IOS4) in 2011, raising an exciting opportunity to showcase the Australian oyster industry and shellfish futures to a world audience. Stay tuned for this one. By Tom Lewis & Raymond Murphy Dr Tom Lewis & Raymond Murphy, Executive Officers Oysters Tasmania, can be contacted by phone on 0458 601 057 or by e-mail on info@oysterstasmania.org

The Big 3

The standard Aquatray® and Aquapurse® have long enjoyed world-wide recognition for their unmatched performance as shellfish grow-out units.

that they were using intertidally on rails.

were previously farming the Sydney

The first of the three units was the XL6,

Rock oyster in 6ft tarred timber trays,

and interestingly its initial use was for

commenced farming the triploid pacific

subtidal farming of the Sydney Rock

and they too required a deeper tray, so

oyster, spaced six high under rafts on the

the XL6DV was introduced as the third

Wooli River by grower Brian Shanahan.

member of the Big 3 team. Like its other

He has since increased the stacks to

two team members it has found its own

However they are not to be outdone by

seven high. It is an ideal farming method

niche and has proved extremely popular.

other widely used grow-out trays in the

that has proved particularly easy for him

TTP Plastics range – the XL6 Aquatray®,

to service, and is producing great results.

the XL6DV® Aquatray and the XL8DV

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8 & 20mm base. Spat mesh holder and

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part of the team, was the XL8DV (Deep

Partition Divider. Uses two Aquatray Lids.

XL8 is the world’s largest oyster grow-out

Version) to cater specifically for the larger

XL6(dv) 1800 x 930 x 60mm int. (70mm

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triploid pacific oyster.’ This replaced the

with lid on). 12 & 20mm base. Clip-on

in many of the northern New South Wales

8ft, very heavy, tar coated timber tray

Lid (3 required). Clip-in End Hooks.

estuaries where it is used to individually

that involved considerable labour

XL8(dv) 2400 x 930 x 60 int. (70mm

farm up to fifty dozen oysters to maturity).

content in building. (A costly and time

with lid on), 20mm base. Clip-on Lid.

The trays were introduced for use by

consuming factor no longer required

(4 required). Clip-in End Hooks.

oyster growers wanting to replace their

with the plastic tray).

aging tarred timber and wire mesh trays

Shortly afterwards, many growers who

known as ‘The Big 3’. (The

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1800 469 495 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 49

N AT I O N A L A Q U A C U L T U R E C O U N C I L

Australia’s peak industry body From the National Aquaculture Council, Chief Executive Officer, Justin Fromm

n issue that has had plenty of press of late is the removal of the 40% subsidy provided by the Australian Government to offset the cost of Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) export certification services.

As with most things the issue is not as straightforward as it appears. The 40% subsidy was introduced in 2001/02 with an initial life span of four years. In 2005 the Howard Government extended it with a 30 June 2009 sunset clause. The Rudd Government has maintained the decision to discontinue the subsidy. The Beale review of Biosecurity also supported this decision noting that the policy objective of the subsidy was unclear. I’ll get back to the subsidy later on. The AQIS export certification fees for each financial year are determined by AQIS based upon expected demand for services and then endorsed by the Seafood Export Consultative Committee (SECC). Once endorsed, the fees are taken by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to Parliament for approval. Each export industry has an ECC and they are generally expertisebased. While this has its positives, the major negative - and the one that was exposed in this issue - is there tends to be poor communication between AQIS and the industry sectors. This is because AQIS relies upon the members of the SECC to communicate its deliberations to industry. It should be noted that most of the other ECCs have some sort of industry representation, except the horticulture ECC which didn’t have the export component of the industry on the committee. While the members of 50 Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009

SECC are all respected industry leaders, they don’t have the same level of accountability to industry like paid industry representatives. The NAC is now an official SECC member. It is also important to note that the AQIS export program’s budget is around $100 million per annum, of which the seafood program is one of the smallest at $5 million. The meat, dairy and grains programs account for over 90% of the export program budget, with meat on its own around 60%. Despite large exports of seafood, we are in fact small fry. And now the two parts of the story meet. The ECCs were informed by AQIS around the beginning of the 08/09 financial year that the 40% subsidy was due to lapse on June 30 2009 and that fees would subsequently increase. As most of the ECCs had industry representation this was communicated back to their members. As might be expected they were not happy with the increase. As AQIS is the monopoly supplier of export certification services, these sectors felt they weren’t getting value for money from AQIS to justify the fee increase. In early 2009 they lobbied Minister Burke to delay the lapsing of the 40% subsidy until after the Beale reviews recommendations were implemented (which is scheduled for July 2011 with the creation of a new statutory agency for biosecurity). Unfortunately they were unable to change Minister Burke’s mind. However, Minister Burke heeded the calls for reform and offered a $40 million reform package aimed at improving the export certification system. The catch was the export sector had to accept the fee increase.

Most of the industries accepted this proposal, because while the increase in fees was a bitter pill to swallow, inefficiencies in the export certification system was costing them more. For example, the AQIS fees for a shipment of grain is tiny compared to the cost of delays in the ship actually leaving port, i.e. hundreds of dollars compared to tens of thousands. The problem was no one told the horticulture exporters; well, at least not in a timely manner due to the reasons explained above. As many horticulture exporters are small businesses, the increase in costs was significant and as result it seriously jeopardised their profitability. Obviously they were upset. The same can be said for some seafood exporters who like the horticulture exporters also did not receive the information. The Minister, thinking that he had the export industry’s support for the fee increase and the reform package took the fee increase to Parliament. At the same time, the ECCs, through specially convened Export Reform Taskforces, were busily working out where they were going to spend their reform money to improve their export certification systems. This included the SECC which was in the process of contracting a consultant to undertake a review of the system to identify areas for improvement. However, behind the scenes, some sectors of the export horticulture industry and some sectors of the seafood industry were lobbying opposition senators and independents to reject Minister Burke’s fee proposal. To cut a long story short, their efforts were effective and on

N AT I O N A L A Q U A C U L T U R E C O U N C I L

the 14th September the Senate blocked the fee increase, despite Minister Burke adding an extra $20 million sweetener to the reform package. The NAC was a reluctant supporter of the fee increase because it recognised that the seafood export certification system is full of inefficiencies that desperately needed to be fixed. The major one is the duplication between the state inspections and AQIS inspections. But that is another story. However, and critically, the Senate only blocked the fee increase, not the lapsing

of the 40% subsidy (after all it was a Howard Government sunset clause). Thus export fees reverted back to 08/09 levels. The implications are threefold. First of all, the 40% subsidy is definitely ‘gone’. Secondly the reform package has been pulled from the table. Thirdly, the 08/09 fee level doesn’t cover AQIS’s full costs; essentially it covers only 60%, i.e. 100% minus the 40% subsidy. At this stage, the shortfall is being made up by Minister Burke’s reform package money. The kicker is that this is actually being

Export industry reforms back on track

he Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke announced on 24 November an agreement with Opposition and Greens senators to facilitate Senate passage of a $127.4 million industry reform program.

Working closely with the Opposition and the Greens, the Rudd Government has reached an agreement which will enable the Senate to reverse its previous decision from September to block new export certification fees and charges to return industry to full cost recovery. This decision will enable these significant reforms to proceed. “This is the largest reform in a generation and has the overwhelming support of the red meat, dairy, grain, fish, horticulture and live export industry sectors,” Mr Burke said. “Industry and government have worked together to ensure Australia remains a world leader in export certification systems.” “This program will cut red tape by updating IT systems helping to improve market access.” “This is an industry worth $30 billion annually to the economy and far too important to let political rivalries stand in the way of the reforms. I commend the Member for Calare, John Cobb and the Australian Greens for their determination in seeing the process through,” said Mr Burke.

The reform program funds improvements to make export certification processes more effective and efficient, helping us respond to ever-increasing scrutiny from our export markets. “In recent years, lack of progress in improving the regulatory system has impacted on market access for Australian producers to highly lucrative countries such as Russia and China,” Mr Burke said. The reforms will support the removal of substantial costs from the export supply chain for industry and AQIS, as well as progressing potential improvement in international market access across all commodities through intensive market access negotiations. Specific initiatives include new regulatory arrangements with a focus on company audits rather than item-by-item inspection; off-site audits carried out remotely by electronically accessing a company’s data; increasing use of electronic processing rather than paperwork; and clearing grains for export much earlier. “This program is forecast to reduce regulatory costs to industry by $30 million a year from mid-2011 and those savings will be passed on to industry through reduced fees and charges,” Mr Burke said. Today’s agreement stems the losses and allows industry to regain its strong momentum towards reform.

accumulated as debt in what AQIS calls its Industry Liability Accounts. For the seafood industry this debt will be around $2 million. While it would be a nice gesture, is unlikely that AQIS will just waive this debt. Instead AQIS will cost recover the debt through increased fees in the next few financial years. Whilst we accrue this debt we delay the badly needed reforms. AQIS does not have the financial capacity to deliver the reforms because the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, of which AQIS is a part, has been subject to significant funding cuts. The reform package needs to be reintroduced following the increase in fees. Reforms are likely to deliver a more efficient inspection system with the full cooperation of industry and government. The current standoff is of no benefit to the government or industry. It only delays the introduction of a more efficient system, whilst incurring a debt for an inefficient system. Obviously the best solution would be reforms plus the 40% subsidy to continue to 2011; however this was never an option. As I write this at the end of October, I am aware that the big sectors mentioned beforehand are lobbying the same Senators and independents about the actual implications of the disallowance, have them reverse the disallowance, have the new fees reinstated, and the reform package funds to flow. The senate rejection must be reversed before the end of this parliamentary sitting or the opportunity for progress in AQIS fees will be lost. So in summary, if the big export sectors are successful in their lobbying efforts, the export sector will get the reform package. If not, then Australia’s export industries will be paying higher fees for the use of an inefficient export certification system for a few more years to come. Austasia Aquaculture | Summer 2009 51

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Photo courtesy of CSIRO

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‘keeping pace with change’

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