Tag Australia

This article from Australia’s CSIRO details the "race" to breed oysters genetically predisposed to resist Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS), a disease that is harmless to humans but so lethal to oysters that it can kill more than 90 percent of a crop of millions of animals within days. 

A government-funded $3 million (AUS) project by innovationXchange, WWF and others seeks transformative solutions from entrepreneurs for small-scale producers in the Indo-Pacific region. The competition’s three challenges include fresh thinking on feed, “new ocean products” and sustainable design. 

Shrimp farmers in Australia believe that applying smaller amounts of feed regularly is an effective strategy for maximizing feed conversion in ponds. By providing more time for shrimp to rest between eating cycles, consistently lower FCRs have been achieved. 

While intensive shrimp farms in Australia and elsewhere are sensitive to rising energy prices, global intensification and farming innovations have led to significant improvements in shrimp farm energy efficiency. Important among the changes was the global switch to zero-exchange production of white shrimp. 

Although there is compelling evidence that early humans relied heavily on the fruits of the ocean, the mindset of powers that be tends to focus on utilization of land for food. In Australia, for example, the country controls water resources with 2.5 times the area of its land, yet it is not food secure in seafood. Many bright minds have not awakened to the unique opportunities that aquaculture and fisheries offer. It’s time to get aquaculture out of the pigeonhole. 

Greater knowledge of fouling organisms and their settlement can help lead to greater effectiveness for cage net-cleaning machines. If cleaning is done regularly at certain times of the year, biofouling may be easier to remove or kept from settling on nets. 

A partnership between CSIRO and the Australian seafood industry has significantly improved the selective breeding of Australian Pacific oysters. 

A practical way to treat mariculture effluents combines the physical attributes of a sand filter and the biological properties of hungry marine sand worms. 

Traditionally, Australian farmers relied on wild broodstock to source black tiger shrimp larvae, but substantial progress has been made in the domestication and selective breeding of Australian P. monodon. 

Collaborative work at Great Southern Waters has established a closed, genetically diverse breeding population of hybrid abalone. The breeding strategy is to produce and improve commercial stocks with the required hybrid traits by understanding the inheritance of those traits in the pure species and the hybrids. 

In recent decades, mass summer mortality in oyster aquaculture has become widespread, with 50 percent of crops lost in a given year. Losses are often associated with spawning, which is normally seasonal but highly temperature-dependent. 

From recirculation units, earthen ponds and sea pens in Australia, barramundi are spreading to other continents due to the advent of sophisticated modular culture systems. 

Australia’s prawn industry has encountered its first scare over white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) following positive test results in the northern territories. 

Australia has a diverse and abundant fauna of local shrimp but only P. monodon, P. japonicus and P. merguiensis are farmed there. 

Family shrimp farms are common in Southeast Asia, where costs of living are low and revenue from one or two small ponds can support a family.