Co-ordination of fish health and nutrition research for the Western Australian Yellowtail Kingfish trial 2

Publication Date

2017

Series Number

FRDC Project No 2014/706

Publisher

Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

City

Canberra

ISBN

978-0-9871696-2-4

Abstract

This project was managed by the Marine Fishfarmers Association Inc. of Western Australia (MFA) and established a multidisciplinary Western Australian (WA) research team that designed and ran a comprehensive suite of industry led research projects. The project also developed a model to guide the process of enabling the effective coordination of research effort to deliver commercially realistic outcomes to support the future success of the emerging Yellowtail Kingfish (YTK) aquaculture industry in WA and elsewhere. The project also built additional technical capacity in WA to support the future Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) activities for this industry. The project identified the gaps between industry input, research outputs and the end commercial use of research and maximised the available expertise and infrastructure for industry benefit. A Research Reference Group (RRG) was formed that comprised the industry participant Indian Ocean Fresh Australia Pty Ltd (IOFA) supported by the MFA, along with scientists from the Australian Centre for Applied Aquaculture Research of South Metropolitan TAFE (ACAAR) and the WA Department of Fisheries Fish Health Group (DOFWA). Other expertise, including from interstate, was sought as required. The RRG, Chaired by a research co-ordinator outlined a suite of comprehensive research assignments to meet the industry’s current needs in developing a sustainable YTK industry in WA. This FRDC project provided coordination of research and industry inputs for a sea cage grow out trial that was conducted at the IOFA site in Geraldton off the WA coast and tank based nutrition research project that was carried out at the ACAAR hatchery in Fremantle. The Project commenced in October 2015 and concluded in October 2016.

The Mid West Development Commission WA (MWDC) commissioned two YTK growout trials supported by the WA Royalties for Regions Program to determine if a sustainable YTK industry was possible in their region. The first successful pilot sea cage grow out trial was conducted off the Geraldton coast in 2011-2012 in conjunction with the MFA and IOFA. The aspirational targets set for this trial were achieved, including high survival and growth rates that demonstrated that the temperature profile and conditions in the Mid West region of WA are highly suitable for the commercial grow out of YTK. The second YTK Development Project (YTK2) commenced in October 2015 and concluded in October 2016. The project reported on here supported this second trial. It was recognised that the best way to de-risk the emerging marine finfish aquaculture industry sector was to effectively and comprehensively capture the knowledge and experience from this second pilot trial in the Mid-West of WA, since the majority of YTK research to date has been conducted in South Australia in a relatively colder water temperature range. The coast of WA has a different temperature profile to that of South Australia bringing with it advantages as well as its own challenges requiring specific research solutions.

Number of Pages

43

Keywords

Yellowtail Kingfish, Research and Development Plan, Aquaculture, Finfish, Western Australia

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries | Business and Corporate Communications | Laboratory and Basic Science Research | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods | Marine Biology | Natural Resource Economics | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Strategic Management Policy

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