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One Response to What is involved in Aquaculture? its it just basically fishermen fishing?

1. Summary
   Aquaculture is the fastest growing primary industry in Australia. In 2003-04, the gross value of Australian aquaculture production was US$ 251,3 million (FAO, 2003), contributing 34 percent of the total gross value of fisheries production (ABARE, 2005).

   The aquaculture industry is largely based in regional Australia, and makes a significant and positive contribution to regional development. Aquaculture adds diversity to a region’s economic base and creates demand for educational and training services, extension services, infrastructure and locally produced goods.

   Aquaculture is growing each year, driving the growth has been increasing world demand for fisheries products that the world’s commercial fisheries are increasingly unable to meet. The Australian aquaculture industry’s vision is to triple its yearly sales to US$ 1,86 billion by 2010
   History and general overview
   Aquaculture in Australia dates back thousands of years with evidence of an Aboriginal community systematically farming eels in the Lake Condah and Tyrendarra area in Victoria (DEH, 2005). Indigenous Australians also transported yabbies or freshwater crayfish (Cheerax destructor) between waterholes to restock impoverished waterbodies, possibly the first attempt at extensive aquaculture in Australia. It was not until the 1960s that experimental culture of yabbies began with harvesting from farm dams and natural watercourses. Farmers of yabbies are currently moving towards establishing purpose-built dams, supplementary feeding with food grains and management of the water quality (CSIRO, 2002).

   One of the earliest commercial aquaculture products was the Sydney Rock Oyster from New South Wales (NSW) in 1872 (ABARE 2003). The Oyster Farmers’ Association of NSW Ltd (OFA) was formed in 1928 to deal with the issues relating to the emerging large scale oyster farming industry in NSW and now with approximately 200 member companies, is the leading organisation representing the interests of oyster farmers and processors in NSW (Oyster Farmers’ Association of NSW Ltd 2004).

   Today, aquaculture is the fastest growing primary industry in Australia, increasing in value by an average of 13 percent per year since 1990 (AFFA, 2002). In 2003, the value of Australian aquaculture production was approximately US$ 251,3 million (FAO, 2003).

   More than 95 percent of Australian aquaculture production is from marine waters.

   Domestic demand for seafood is increasing in Australia. In the late 1930s, Australian seafood consumption was 4.9 kilograms per person, by 1998-99, annual per capita consumption had more than doubled to 10.9 kilograms, or about 10 percent of the country’s total unprocessed meat intake (ABS, 2000). Unfortunately, Australian caught or farmed fish accounted for less than half of this seafood consumption (3.6 kilograms per capita).

   In addition to a rise in the demand for seafood, increasing affluence in countries such as China will see stronger demand for non-edible fisheries and aquaculture products such as pearls, crocodiles and ornamental fish.
   Human resources
   The most recently available ABS employment data for the Australian aquaculture industry is from August 2001 when the total number of people employed in the Australian sector was recorded as 4 221.
   Cultured species
   There are more than 40 species produced commercially, however there are only five main species that contribute more than 90 percent of the gross value of aquaculture production. These are pearls, oysters, Atlantic salmon, shrimp and southern bluefin tuna (AFFA 2002; ABARE 2003).

   Pearl
   Several species of pearl are found and cultured in Australian waters, the main cultured pearl oyster is the gold or silver lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada maxima). Pearl farming takes place from Exmouth, in Western Australia, to the east of Darwin in the Northern Territory (AFFA 2002).

   Oyster
   Historically, the Sydney rock oyster has been the main edible oyster produced in Australia however production fell in 1980s following the introduction of the Pacific cupped oyster (Crassostrea gigas). Since then the Pacific oyster production has increased significantly, mainly in Tasmania and South Australia (AFFA 2002). The main species of oyster farmed in Australia are the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata), Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), the native flat oyster (Ostrea angasi), the milky or northern oyster (Saccostrea amasa) and the backlip oyster (Saccostrea echinata).

   Atlantic salmon
   In the 1800s the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) was first introduced into Tasmania by Acclimatization Societies. In the mid 1960s it was introduced from Canada to New South Wales for the Snowy Mountains power scheme lakes, however, the climate was too warm in New South Wales and the salmon did not reproduce naturally.

   In the late 1960s all imports of salmonid genetic material were banned by the Commonwealth Government to prevent the introduction of exotic diseases into Australia.

   Commercial production began again in Tasmania in the mid 1980s and currently marine farming operations occur in Tasmania and South Australia (ABARE 2003).

   Shrimp
   Shrimp farming began in 1984 and has expanded rapidly ever since. The giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) is the major species farmed in Australia and is produced in Queensland, News South Wales and the Northern Territory. Other species farmed in Australia are the banana prawn (P. merguiensis), brown tiger prawn (P. esculentus) and kuruma prawn (P. japonicus) (ABARE 2003).

   Southern bluefin tuna
   The first commercial production of southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) began in the mid 1990s when quota restrictions were put in place for the wild tuna fishery (AFFA 2002, ABARE 2003). There are currently fifteen tuna farms on eighteen sites, ranging in size from 20 to 30 hectares.

   Although there are Australian aquaculture products, Atlantic salmon, Kuruma prawns, Pacific oysters, rainbow and brown trout and exotic ornamental fish are all introduced into Australia (ABARE 2003). The Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), administered by the Department of the Environment and Heritage, and the Quarantine Act 1908, administered by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, control the import of live animals into Australia. These laws apply to all importers of live exotic animals.
   Practices/systems of culture
   Raceways
   A system that provides a flow through of water to enable the rearing of high density populations of fish is referred to as a flow through system. These systems include raceways, tanks (excluding recirculation systems), purpose built bottom draining ponds and other manufactured containers that allow the flow of water from inflow points to outflow points. The production in raceways is more intensive than in ponds as the water is well oxygenated due to the high water turnover ensuring wastes are removed.

   Cages
   In Australia cages are used for the farming of finfish such as southern bluefin tuna, Atlantic salmon and snapper. It is an important farming system as it can allow the production of freshwater crops in ponds that are not otherwise particularly suited to aquaculture.

   Ponds
   Dams or levees are created using earthmoving equipment to hold the water and can vary in size from 0.05 hectares to 20 hectares or more with depth ranging from 1 to 2.5 metres. The most successful ponds are those that are built to specifically farm fish with a specific size and shape and which maintain and monitor water levels and water quality. Prawns, silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus), red claw (Cherax quadricarinatus), marron (Cherax tenuimanus), yabbies (Cherax destructor) and barramundi (Lates calcarifer) are the species most commonly produced in ponds.

   Tanks
   Tanks used for aquaculture can be used as flow through systems or in static systems. They are more typically used in closed systems that involve water being recirculated through filters and pumped back into the tank. Tanks are constructed from food grade plastic or fibreglass as well as from concrete or glass and are used for the production of ornamental fish or in hatcheries where large quantities of fish can be grown in a relatively small area of tanks. Tanks may make efficient use of water however they are expensive to set up and operate.

   Ropes
   Ropes are used to culture mussels on a longline or raft system. Longlines are horizontal ropes anchored at both ends and connected to large floats and consist of one or two headlines and are more commonly used as they are less obtrusive and can be sunk so the area can be shared with boats. In raft systems ropes are suspended from a raft and rely on the natural settlement of spat.

   Racks/rafts (stick and tray)
   Racks and rafts are also known as stick and tray culture. This system is traditionally the most common method of rock oyster farming. Oyster spat is allowed to settle naturally on sticks placed on intertidal rocks. When young oysters are firmly established, bundles of sticks are moved further up river to allow these oysters to grow without further settlement of spat. The sticks remain there for two to four years until they are large enough to harvest. The larger oysters are removed and sold and the remainder are placed on trays and left on intertidal racks for between 3 and 15 months to allow them to grow up to the larger grades.
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   also , please refer to –

   http://www.aquaculturemag.com/

   http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com/

   

   hilarie_stewart
   December 12, 2011 at 5:00 pm
   Reply