Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC.

The Tasmanian salmon industry is seeking to grow production safely and sustainably over the next two decades, further increasing the tangible benefits to the Tasmanian community. Our aim is to deliver this by being the most environmentally sustainable salmon industry in the world – creating an industry that all Tasmanians can be proud of.
Both industry and the Government recognise that to achieve this bold vision for a world class salmon industry in Tasmania, we require a clear focus on development of both sea and land-based farming operations, utilisation of the best available technologies, and collaboration with researchers and aquaculture innovators. This includes consideration of farming systems that promote sustainable growth and innovative developments, such as off-shore (high energy) technology.
FRDC are also keen to see their investment tested to ensure that the science is indeed relevant and achieving its desired outcome. If there are opportunities to learn information from overseas then the FRDC is keen to investigate this.

This proposal is a major part of initial research to be undertaken by the Aquafin CRC. This project has been jointly developed by the research agencies in close consultation with industry, Government regulators and FRDC.

Within the salmon component of the CRC Environment Program, local or on-site research needs are being addressed by an existing FRDC grant 2000/164 which is designed to determine the effects of fallowing on benthic fauna and biogeochemical processes.

The present proposal will examine the system-wide environmental issues facing finfish aquaculture with an initial focus on the salmonid industry. This project explicitly addresses the fact that further expansion of the salmonid industry will be limited by the industry’s contribution to nutrient loads in surrounding water bodies and possible effects on phytoplankton abundance, dissolved oxygen levels and other ecological changes. The Tasmanian State Government is proposing to limit nutrient release through the imposition of feed quotas for different regions. The quotas set are necessarily best estimates and may be overly conservative because of a lack of detailed knowledge of the effects of nutrient release on ecosystem functioning.

The modelling, laboratory and associated field work proposed here provides a mechanism to identify the minimum data needs for assessing environmental conditions, allows scenarios to be tested and key linkages in the ecology of the region to be identified. However, for these to function well we need to resolve uncertainties about the influence of waters from D’Entrecasteaux Channel on conditions in the Huon Estuary, the role of organic-rich sediments in the natural cycling of nutrients and consumption of oxygen in the estuary and the manner in which phytoplankton groups respond to elevated nutrient levels. The project will take advantage of the extensive set of environmental information, data and concepts generated by the FRDC-funded Huon Estuary Study - Environmental Research for Integrated Catchment Management and Aquaculture (Project No. 96/284; abbreviated to HES hereafter).

There is a demonstrable need for more effective monitoring of the environmental effects of finfish aquaculture. Predictive models can be used by industry and regulators to guide choices among alternative development strategies. For effective long-term management, it is also critical that effective monitoring programs are set in place, both to allow evaluation of the performance of environmental management strategies, and to assess model performance and reliability. This project will contribute to the design of long-term monitoring programs, by identifying cost-effective indicators and sampling designs which discriminate among alternative model assumptions and predictions, taking into account spatial and temporal variability. As well, the Program will seek advice and information from overseas agencies to take advantage of emerging technologies and approaches.