Future proofing the northern Australia aquaculture industry need for skilled staff to 2050
The project is focussed on capacity building to meet the skills needs of an expanding industry and thus fits into strategic priority 5.3: Deliver skills for the new economy. The northern Australia aquaculture industry will need between 1400 and 2300 new skilled staff by 2030 to support projected industry growth. Aquaculture producers identified challenges in the shortage of domestic skilled and experienced aquaculture staff and on-farm biosecurity and health management capacity building. Producers highlighted the requirement to build skills to meet industry growth needs, including professional development for current staff, aligning training with industry needs and promoting career opportunities in the northern Australian aquaculture industry among regional communities. The proposed project aims to de-risk industry investment into growth by matching human capital expansion to industry growth predictions.
Final report
The aquaculture industry in Northern Australia (NA) is undergoing a period of unprecedented growth, precipitating an increasing demand for skilled staff. To facilitate this growth, the industry requires an increasing stream of suitably skilled and qualified entrants to the industry workforce. Prior to this project, the extent to which educational models aligned to industry requirements was unclear, in terms of graduate knowledge and skills, but also in terms of graduate numbers. We aimed to address this alignment, while also identifying barriers to cost-effective delivery of vocational training for the Northern Australian aquaculture industry and investigating new training models that may assist. We further aimed to identify career pathways and derive careers documentation to better align the interests of potential industry entrants to education and careers pathways, highlighting this industry to those with compatible interests.
Demonstrating the impact of prawn viruses on prawn aquaculture production
Application of a machine learning approach for effective stock management of farmed abalone
Workshop - Aquaculture opportunities in northern Australia: Solutions and Strategies
A Better Way to Fish: testing the feasibility of tunnel net ‘fish trap’ gear in North Queensland
Effects of climate change and habitat degradation on Coral Trout
FRDC Sponsorship International Symposium for Genetics in Aquaculture XIII
The International Symposium for Genetics in Aquaculture (ISGA) is a triennial premier aquaculture event that brings together globally leading researchers, industry, and students who are interested in the application of genetics to the improvement of aquaculture production and sustainability. The conference is held on a different continent every 3 years and in 2018 the event will be held in Cairns, Queensland 15-20th July. The event usually attracts between 200-300 delegates. In 2018, the focal theme of the conference will be around industry implementation and practice of genetics into industrial aquaculture. As chair of ISGAXIII I am seeking sponsorship from FRDC to help support holding this premier event in Australia (only the second time it has been held here). Sponsorship will be used to support travel costs for an internationally renowned plenary speaker in the application of biotechnology and synthetic biological solutions to future aquaculture production (i.e CRISPR/TALEN gene editing, RNAi etc), to provide bursaries for participants from Australian industry/researchers to attend the conference and to cover costs associated with an industry tour to showcase to delegates examples of Australian tropical aquaculture. Sponsorship will be acknowledged through the display of FRDC's logo on relevant conference promotional material, in thanking of all sponsors, and at the start of the plenary speakers talk. There will also be provision for material to be in handouts for conference delegates. information on the conference can be found at the website https://www.jcu.edu.au/international-symposium-of-genetics-in-aquaculture