Indigenous Aquaculture Workshop 2010 - Key Participant Travel Bursaries
The lack of participation in any real market economy by people in Indigenous communities has ramifications for the social and cultural security of indigenous people. Aquaculture can, in specific settings, provide a genuine business or subsistence opportunity. In order to that Indigenous Aquaculture workshop achieves its objectives by contributing to developing local, regional and national capacity and empowerment, it requires to offer travel and conference registration bursary to 10 key people driving mainstream, commercial indigenous aquaculture business ventures.
Final report
Australasian Aquaculture 2010 to 2014
Conferences still remain the primary method of knowledge transfer between stakeholders of the aquaculture industry, whether they are industry, government, researchers or NGO’s. However they need to be structured correctly for the benefit of the industry. There needs to be opportunities for industry to talk and listen to each other, as well as industry to talk to and listen to researchers and government and vice versa. The Australasian Aquaculture Conferences provide these opportunities.
The Australasian Aquaculture Conferences of 2004-06-08 have been learning curves for the industry and the NAC in running events of this size. The FRDC were rightly cautious in sponsoring the conference on a conference by conference basis. However, NAC has proven it is a competent conference convener and the industry have shown their support through excellent conference attendances. Given this track record the FRDC should feel confident in signing up as a conference sponsor on a long term basis, i.e. for the next 3 conferences 20010-12-14. Having the long term support of the FRDC will mean a large proportion of the conference sponsorship will be secured. This will allow the NAC to pursue other sponsorship using the FRDC’s commitment as both a surety of the conference and as leverage for attracting other sponsors to the conference. This will have significant flow on benefits to the Australian aquaculture industry. It will flow through to the quality of the conference program, trade show, the facilities and hospitality. Ultimately, the conference will generate significant profit that will eventually lead to little or no reliance on the FRDC for future underwriting. Further, conference profits will be used by the NAC on behalf of its members to provide better services.
People development program: FRDC visiting fellows program - Dr. Alyssa Joyce
The Australian government biosecurity committee structure has recently undergone a major change with the development of AusBioSec (http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/pests-diseases-weeds/biosecurity/ausbiosec). As part of this restructure, as of July 2009 Aquatic Animal Health Committee (AAHC) will cease to exist and it’s roles and responsibilities will be subsumed into Animal Health Committee (AHC). AAH technical expertise to AHC will continue to be provided by the National Aquatic Animal Health Technical Working Group (NAAHTWG). However, while AAHC included industry representation, AHC does not. For terrestrial animals, and plants, industry representation comes with membership to Animal Health Australia (AHA) and Plant Health Australia (PHA), respectively. However, there is no such entity for aquatic animal industries. This lack of industry input into AAH policy development has not been lost on AHC and it has advised that it would consider advice from an industry reference group (IRG). AHC has provided some advice on the terms of reference and priority issues for the IRG.
In order to be able to provide this advice industry must first decide whether or not there is sufficient resolve in each sector to commit to self-funding participation in an “National Aquatic Animal Health Industry Reference Group” (NAAHIRG).
It is this last point for which this application is based. The four sectors (wild-capture, aquaculture, ornamental and recreational) are seeking seed funding from FRDC to support a face-to-face meeting for industry representatives to discuss formation of an AAHIRG.
The need and urgency that has prompted this TRF application revolves around the threat of policy development without industry input. This point gains more significance upon release of the Beale report on Australia’s biosecurity arrangements and the Government’s response agreeing ‘in-principle’ to all the recommendations. Industry has to decide sooner rather than later whether it wishes to be a part of future AAH policy development.
Final report
Australasia Aquaculture 2008
For aquaculture in Australia to remain internationally competitive farmers need to hear about the latest technology and issues that will govern how they operate and expand. Scientists and technicians need to share their data and ideas and hear first hand from industry what their priorities are. Policy makers need to understand the industry they regulate. All groups benefit from understanding Australian aquaculture in the context of international developments. There are many lessons to be learnt from aquaculturists overseas. An international aquaculture conference will meet these needs. Industry needs to learn of research outcomes occurring internationally and developments in new technology demonstrated at the trade show. It is a costly exercise for industry to tour overseas, however, a conference and trade show offers the opportunity to expose Australian industry to new ideas ensuring the industry remains informed and can exploit new opportunities and/or adapt to remain competitive.
Many events such as these fail to meet the needs of industry because industry is not involved with the planning and organisation of the conference. The organisation of Australasia Aquaculture 2008, will be carried out by the National Aquaculture Council (NAC) of Australia, the Asian Pacific Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) and lcoal industry organisations. The NAC will ensure the conference is strongly focused to Australian aquaculture industry needs.WAS will assist in ensuring the event is attended by international experts and equipment suppliers.
This conference will be the premium aquaculture conference to be held in Australia in the Asia Pacific region and replaces the previous Tasmanian biennial aquaculture conference.
Final report
Integration of socio economic sustainability criteria into a reporting framework for the Australian aquaculture industry
Substantial resources and funding have been provided into developing EMS and ESD programs and providing facilitators through areas such as the Aquaculture Action Agenda, the Department of Environment and Water (DEWR) funded EMS Pathways projects and FRDC funded projects. Satisfactory extension of the benefits of EMS to aquaculturists, regulators or the community has not occurred due to the lack of socio-economic data to substantially support the claims of sustainability through environmental responsibility. The industry needs to develop appropriate environmental, social and economic indicators and collect appropriate data to address these indicators. To achieve this, industry needs to know what information to collect, how to provide measurable indicators, appropriate storage and evaluation mechanism for the data, extension mechanisms to industry, regulatory agencies and the community and presentation in an appropriate reporting framework.
This project is not focused on extension but on the development of social and economic elements of ESD that will be integrated with the exiting environmentl indicators. It does however have an element in developing a reporting framework that incorporates the data collected on these social and economic elements so that it can be presented to stakeholders to substantiate the industry’s ESD credentials.
This project will be targetd at the regional and industry level and not specifically at the farm level. This will consistent with the exisitng ESD risk assessment framework developed by Fletcher This will require the development of a set of indicators for each industry/region. Whilst some of the ecological elements have been identified and have been the subject of previous research there is limited information on what social and economic elements should be measured. This require further research to see if these gaps can be filled.
Final report
This study has tested and refined the indicators and potential data collection questions that may be implemented by individual aquaculture enterprises, and subjected to basic interpretation by the industry, to inform ESD reporting. Some of the economic and social data also has the potential for use, beyond ESD, in regard to identifying industry development and community collaboration opportunities.
Discussions with industry at the final workshop identified both willingness and the potential vehicles with which to undertake annual collection of the data identified here, at the individual business level. This is an important and essential factor in the long term use of the tools and implementation of the framework identified here.
There is a need to remain cognisant of the cost effectiveness of different approaches to data acquisition. Though utilising existing data in the economic domain and to integrate the collection of social indicator data with other benchmarking and regular data collection activities, it is reasonable to aim for ongoing collection of data to inform ESD performance.
The collection and integration of both economic and social indicators appropriate to national collection, but not currently broadly or consistently collected, is essential to future successful implementation of ESD reporting. Negotiations regarding the ways in which to collect data to inform nationally applicable indicators, with agencies such as ABARE or State NRM Government agencies, needs to occur. This is, however, outside the scope of this project. This project has identified recommended indicators and the associated data for the aquaculture industry that needs to be addressed in such negotiations.
Keywords: Sustainability; Aquaculture; Social; Economic; Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD); Indicators.
Coordination of inland saline aquaculture R&D in Australia
Demand for seafood throughout the world is increasing while landings from capture fisheries are static. In Australia, the growing seafood consumption is being increasingly met by importation (imports of fisheries products have increased by 52%, over the period 19919/92 to 2001/02; ABARE 2002). In Australia, the value of aquaculture production has trebled since 1991/92 representing an annual growth of 14% in nominal terms and 11% in real terms. The Federal Government has committed to an Aquaculture Industry Action Agenda that plans to triple the value of aquaculture production to $2.5 billion by 2010 and create 29,000 new jobs. However, expansion of coastal aquaculture is limited by a shortage of suitable sites with the necessary water quality, depth and proximity to land-based infrastructure that are not either being used or considered for urban and tourist related development or judged to be of too high environmental value for aquaculture. Investigating inland saline aquaculture is a specific priority in this agenda.
Rising saline groundwater is the biggest environmental problem in Australia and currently affects over 2.5 million ha of land. It is estimated that within the next 30-40 years, the affected area will grow more than fourfold. One of the key methods to ameliorate the effects of salinisation is to pump the saline groundwater into large ponds for disposal by evaporation.
Inland saline aquaculture (ISA) may offer a partial solution to the shortage of coastal sites for aquaculture while incorporating aquaculture into saline groundwater interception and evaporation schemes may provide an economic return to the costly business of building and operating these schemes. In other areas, e.g. Qld and W.A., opportunities exist to exploit existing saline groundwater (e.g. from bores in Qld and in saline lakes in W.A.) without having any negative environmental impact.
Preliminary research had indicated that provided potassium is added to saline groundwater from the Murray-Darling Basin it is suitable for farming marine fish and crustaceans. In order to generate enough accurate data to allow the economics of ISA to be evaluated, the Inland Saline Aquaculture Research Centre (ISARC) at Wakool-Tullakool Sub-surface Drainage Scheme was constructed. A research program has been initiated in NSW to evaluate the suitability of saline groundwater for marine and salt-tolerant species. However, other enterprises in other states are also exploring the commercial viability of ISA. In Qld, scientists from BIARC are working with farmers to develop methods for production of black tiger prawns using saline groundwater in ponds where no water is released into the environment. This is leading edge technology which is economically viable, will have enormous potnetial in low saline inland areas as well as on the coast. In W.A., scientists from Challenger TAFE are developing methods to intensify production in saline lakes through the use of in-pond partial recirculation floating tanks in which the majority of suspended solids and uneaten foods are removed. South Australia is also developing technology for ISA that is specific to the region. A key requirement for development of ISA is the expansion of existing facilities to allow them to be used as demonstration centres. The aim is to develop a growout protocol for commercially viable aquaculture in the region and to transfer the technology to the industry and government bodies involved with new salinity control schemes.
Initial studies at ISARC have been completed successfully with mulloway, snapper, silver perch,trout and black tiger prawns. The ISARC at Wakool is the only research Centre mainly focused on proving the commercial viability of ISA associated with groundwater interception and evaporation schemes.
A national network between various State Departments in Australia is needed to improve the quality of research, prevent unnecessary repetition of the research programs, help ensure efficient technology transfer and finally, if the commercial validity is proven, develop an aquaculture industry based on saline water in inland Australia. Several agencies (ACIAR, AFFA, National Aquaculture Action Agenda, Implementation Committee) have committed to or are considering projects to be undertaken at ISARC. The ISARC could act as a focal point for this R&D and communicate progress to stakeholders. This view has been supported by the Aquaculture Committee of the Australian Fisheries Management Forum.
The fragmented nature of inland saline research has also made it difficult for those interested in the field to easily access the collective information available. This will continue and get worse unless there is some coordination of R&D and report production/extension. The ISARC can play a key role here.
Final report
Identification of the role and long term support of a peak industry body for the Australian aquaculture industry, and its role to ensure the implementation of an industry driven National Aquaculture Action Agenda
The National Aquaculture Council currently comprises representation from all major Aquaculture species Associations and active State Aquaculture Councils, and has close links with the Australian Seafood Industry Council, which clearly justifies the decision of the Aquaculture Round Table.
However, for the NAC to fulfil its role not only as the peak industry body to drive the industry forward, but also to implement the relevant industry sections of the Action Agenda, significant work needs to be done between now and July 1st 2003.
The NAC must identify an appropriate structure and operational capacity to be in a position to undertake these critically important roles. To achieve this, it must also undertake key stakeholder consultation (industry & Government) throughout Australia for them to fully commit to this process and to ensure ownership.
The NAC identified that a consultant would have to be engaged to prepare this on its behalf, and firmly believes that the profile, experience and expertise of Dr Wendy Craik is essential, particularly given the diverse nature of the Australian Aquaculture industry.
This will be particularly important for Federal government to be reassured that the NAC will be in a position to deliver and meet performance criteria on the relevant sections of the Action Agenda, with these sections to be outlined in the next section.
A recent meeting of AFFA and NAC Representatives resolved a range of issues surrounding the implementation of the Action Agenda, and that the NAC would be directly involved in implementing the following recommendations:
1) Strategic Initiative 2: Promoting a regulatory and business environment that supports aquaculture.
2) Strategic Initiative 3: Implementing an industry driven Action Agenda
3) Strategic Initiative 4: Growing Aquaculture within an Ecologically Sustainable Framework.
4) Strategic Initiative 5: Protecting the aquaculture industry from aquatic diseases and pests.
5) Strategic Initiative 6: Investing for Growth
6) Strategic Initiative 7: Promoting aquaculture products in Australia globally.
7) Strategic Initiative 8: Tackling the Research & Development challenges.
8) Strategic Initiative 9: Making the most of Education & Training opportunities