PROJECT NUMBER
•
2023-125
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
ORGANISATION:
Cawthron Institute
TAGS
12 results
Establishing a Sydney Rock Oyster aquaculture industry in the Gippsland Lakes in partnership with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC)
Project number:
2022-210
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure:
$400,000.00
Principal Investigator:
Craig Ingram
Organisation:
Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) Queenscliff
Project start/end date:
1 Dec 2024
-
2 Dec 2027
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
SPECIES
The Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) is exploring aquaculture development opportunities on country and in partnership with the VFA have commenced a small pilot trial of Sydney Rock oyster aquaculture in the Gippsland Lakes in October 2022, the preliminary results from the first 12 months of the trial have been very positive, the partners would like to move the project to the next stage to prove commercialisation.
The Victorian Government and GLaWAC are looking for on-country opportunities that show positive commercial potential for the Gunaikurnai one of the main aims of the trial is for GLaWAC to be in a position to make an informed business decisions at its conclusion on the best business development model and how to move the project to full commercialisation, this is most likely with an existing aquaculture business as a business partner.
SRO were chosen for this project as they are native and endemic in the Gippsland Lakes and have an established market and growing systems. Other species that were considered were Native flat oyster (Ostrea angasi) and the introduced species Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) which are both present in the Gippsland Lakes only Native flat oyster (Ostrea angasi) have been approved for aquaculture production in Victoria. While Native flat oysters (Ostrea angasi) would be an option in the Gippsland Lakes the lack of proven markets and established growing systems was considered high risk, However, Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) have not been approved for aquaculture in Victoria as they are not native and they are considered a invasive species which ruled them out as an option as they would not meet the bush food ethics and direction of Gunaikurnai people, the recognised native title holders of the Gippsland Lakes area.
With the success of the first year of the pilot trial, GLaWAC and the VFA have agreed to move the project to stage 2, which will establish semi-commercial scale plots to investigate the full commercial potential of SRO aquaculture in Eastern Victoria. This stage 2 trial will also provide employment, training and skills development for the Gunaikurnai people.
The trial will involve the establishment of approximately 1 hectare of oyster aquaculture infrastructure across seven replicated trial sites in the Gippsland Lakes (in the general area of the existing pilot trial) and will investigate and compare production in different oyster culture systems.
The project has involved extensive consultation with the seafood industry and aquaculture sector and the pilot project has been strongly supported by the Oyster industry and seafood industry. The pilot project also involved cross sector and community consultation with key stakeholders and the broader community.
Successfully developing a SRO aquaculture industry in eastern Victoria will benefit GLaWAC and the Gunaikurnai people, the broader seafood and aquaculture sectors, and local businesses including transport, tourism, hospitality and other support industries.
The project is of regional and national importance as it meets four of the priority areas of the National Fisheries Plan
• First Nations employment in the sector Key initiatives: 4.2, 7.1
• Sustainable development of the aquaculture sector Key initiatives: 2.6
• Employment, participation and health in the fishing, aquaculture, and seafood sectors Key initiatives: 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4
• Climate change and adaptation - shifting and shared stocks Key initiatives: 6.2, 6.3, 6.4
There is significant interest across Australia from first nations people to become involved in viable aquaculture ventures. This project aims to develop a new aquaculture industry using an established and marketable product in an area of Australia that is on the current margins of commercial SRO production.
Climate change is already increasing east coast water temperatures and extending the southern range of a number of species. These changes are likely to increase the potential for SRO aquaculture production in Eastern Victoria.
This project also aims to investigate the potential of a viable new first nations aquaculture industry on the Gippsland Lakes. The initial pilot project on which this application is based has shown that the growth and survival of SRO is commercially viable and as the Gippsland Lakes is a large waterway with no aquaculture industry, there is significant potential for a large commercial development based on SRO production in the area to support a regional aquaculture industry and local employment.
1. Establish an Indigenous aquaculture industry with GLaWAC on the Gippsland Lakes
2. Improve skills, capacity and knowledge in the aquaculture and marine industries within the Gunaikurnai people
3. Investigate commercial viability of SRO in Eastern Victoria.
4. Develop processes and pathways for new aquaculture projects to Gain shellfish quality assurance.
5. Investigating the impact if any of oyster aquaculture on seagrass in southeast coast estuaries .
6. Investigate different oyster growing systems and subtility to Eastern Victoria
7. Developing a business plan for the commercialisation of the project
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2019-208
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
2020-2025 Strategic Plan for the Australian Oyster Industry
The primary purpose of this plan is to coordinate oyster industry research, development, and
extension (RD&E) across Australia to ensure that usable outputs are provided to oyster businesses.
The plan outlines a set of RD&E programs and a list of priority projects for which research...
ORGANISATION:
Oysters Australia Ltd
TAGS
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2018-102
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
Understanding Ostreid herpesvirus type 1 risk: alternative hosts and in situ hybridisation
South Australia (SA) has a large edible oyster industry primarily growing Pacific oysters
(Crassostrea gigas). The industry is regionally-based, an important employer and a substantial contributor
to regional economies. Pacific oyster mortality syndrome (POMS) is a serious infectious disease of
C....
ORGANISATION:
Flinders University
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2018-097
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
Survey of Enterprise-level Biosecurity across the Australian Aquaculture Industry
The Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (the department) commissioned the independent research company Instinct and Reason to conduct a survey aimed at farm owners/managers in the Australian aquaculture industry. The survey aimed to investigate the level of...
ORGANISATION:
Instinct and Reason
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2018-016
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA)
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2017-233
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
Future Oysters CRC-P Communication and Adoption
The Future Oysters CRC-P project (CRC-P 2016-553805; Future Oysters) was funded by the Australian Government’s Business Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, which is managed by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS).
The Future Oysters CRC-P project was developed to...
ORGANISATION:
Australian Seafood Industries Pty Ltd (ASI)
Future oysters CRC-P: Species diversification to provide alternatives for commercial production
Project number:
2016-807
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$243,426.00
Principal Investigator:
Xiaoxu Li
Organisation:
SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date:
23 Apr 2017
-
29 Jun 2019
Contact:
FRDC
The establishment of a new native oyster and/or western rock oyster aquaculture sectors in SA and the former in Tasmania will not only diversify the business risk of the existing Pacific oyster sector, but has the potential to become a multi-million dollar industry itself. As native oysters would be more suited to subtidal or low intertidal culture while western rock oysters are an ideal alternative species to mitigate POMS, the successful development of these aquaculture sectors will strengthen the confidence of existing/new growers and investors in Pacific, western rock and native oysters; thereby encouraging further expansion of the industry. In addition, supporting species diversification is one of the high strategic priorities in the Oysters Australia Strategic Plan 2014-2019.
1. To develop Native Oyster on-farm growing methods that maximise survival and growth in South Australia and Tasmania
2. To compare the performance between Pacific Oysters and Native Oysters in South Australia
3. To establish a Native Oyster farmers network to share new techniques and knowledge
4. To develop translocation protocols for the safe translocation of Western Rock Oysters to South Australia
5. Trial Western Rock Oysters in the field in South Australia to assess their performance and viability of a potential industry if agreed by industry and regulators
Final report
ISBN:
978-1-8767007-45-4
Authors:
Xiaoxu Li
Penny Miller-Ezzy
Christine Crawford
Deborah Gardner
Marty Deveney
Jessica Buss
Ben Diggles
Kathryn Wiltshire
Final Report
•
2023-05-01
•
3.61 MB
2016-807-DLD.pdf
Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS), the disease caused by OsHV-1 microvariant, results in high and rapid mortality in Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and has been responsible for significant economic loss to oyster industries in Australia and around the world. The diversification of commercial production into different oyster species (Native Oysters and Rock Oysters), that are not susceptible to POMS, has been proposed as a way to mitigate the risk of POMS in southern Australia. However, the Australia Native Oyster (Ostrea angasi) industry is still in its infancy, with knowledge gaps along the production chain. Additionally, there are no wild populations of Rock Oysters (Saccostrea sp.) in South Australia. Despite Rock Oyster aquaculture being well established in New South Wales and recently in Western Australia they have never been commercially produced in South er Australia and translocation policies to move them around the state are non-existent. This project aimed to improve on-farm production of Native Oysters and determine if Rock Oysters can be safely translocated to South Australia from Western Australia, to help Australian oyster growers to diversify into these species.
Future oysters CRC-P: Polymicrobial involvement in OsHV outbreaks (and other diseases)
Project number:
2016-805
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$342,200.00
Principal Investigator:
Justin Seymour
Organisation:
University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Project start/end date:
30 Aug 2016
-
30 Aug 2019
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
SPECIES
During the last two decades a number of disease outbreaks have led to mass oyster mortalities and the closure of several oyster-harvesting regions, resulting in multi-million dollar losses. These outbreaks mirror a global pattern of increased aquaculture disease, with disease emergence potentially linked to environmental degradation (pollution) and climate change related processes, such as rising seawater temperature. Within NSW estuaries, multiple microbiological agents have been implicated in oyster diseases, but a clear understanding of the ecological and environmental drivers of disease outbreaks has remained elusive. This means we cannot predict when outbreaks will occur, making it very difficult to manage infection events and develop strategies to mitigate future oyster disease events.
Since 2008, Pacific Oyster fisheries in several parts of the world have been decimated by the influence of Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS), resulting in high (>95%) rates of juvenile oyster mortality. Recent evidence indicates that POMS is a polymicrobial syndrome, that is not only caused by the OsHV-1 virus, but includes the involvement of pathogenic bacteria from the Vibrio genus, a bacterial group comprising species that cause disease in a diverse range of marine animals and which is responsible for significant mortality in a variety of aquaculture industries. However, our understanding of this complex interaction is limited.
This project will provide valuable insights into the microbial communities associated with oysters, how those communities vary and how they might influence the course of other diseases. The project will also indicate whether breeding influences the microbial communities associated with oysters and whether this is influencing the impact diseases like OsHV is having on different Pacific oyster families.
1. Define microbial communities associated with oysters and identify threats
2. Link changes in environmental conditions to changing microbial communities
3. Better understand the association between microbial communities and disease
Final report
ISBN:
978-0-646-80891-8
Authors:
Justin R. Seymour
Maurizio Labbate
Wayne O’Connor
William King
Viet Khue Nguyen
Nahshon Siboni
Mike Dove
Cheryl Jenkins
Final Report
•
2019-07-01
•
12.82 MB
2016-805-DLD.pdf
The principal goal of this research was to provide a detailed characterisation of the oyster microbiome and identify links between specific features of the microbiome and oyster disease and mortality events. The conceptual framework for this work is based upon: (i) increasing evidence, across a broad range of species, that the nature of a host organism’s microbiome exerts a fundamental control on host physiology and health, and (ii) the critical paucity in knowledge on the factors contributing to oyster health and the triggers for oyster mortality events and disease outbreaks. The research reported here involved a collaboration between the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), whereby the UTS members of the team provided expertise in molecular microbial ecology and the DPI team members provided expertise and support in oyster physiology and ecology and aquaculture. The research involved a large-scale screening of the microbiomes of both Pacific Oysters and Sydney Rock Oysters using high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies, providing a characterisation of the microbial communities associated with oysters. The outcomes of this analysis revealed that for both Pacific Oysters and Sydney Rock Oysters, the oyster microbiome is remarkably variable among different oyster families, and over space and time, indicating that both intrinsic physiological features of the oyster host and environmental factors play a role in governing the oyster microbiome. Notably, despite this heterogeneity, a small sub-set of the microbiome was shown to be conserved across oysters within a species, pointing to the existence of a core group of microbes with intrinsic links to oyster ecology and condition. Similarly, a small group of microbes, including members of the Vibrio genus, were consistently associated with diseased or susceptible oysters, indicating a potentially antagonistic role of these microbes. These observations support the hypothesis that the oyster microbiome plays a role in defining oyster health, but also reveal substantial complexities related to the marked heterogeneity of the oyster microbiome over space and time. Appropriately considering this microbiome heterogeneity, while also sharpening focus on the few core microbiome members identified in this research, will be important requisites for
future efforts hoping to employ the oyster microbiome for diagnostic purposes.
future efforts hoping to employ the oyster microbiome for diagnostic purposes.
Future oysters CRC-P: New Technologies to Improve Sydney Rock Oyster Breeding and Production
Project number:
2016-803
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$204,066.69
Principal Investigator:
Michael Dove
Organisation:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
Project start/end date:
29 Sep 2016
-
30 Aug 2019
Contact:
FRDC
SPECIES
The hatchery sector for SRO is still developing and any assistance with its underlying operating challenges or potential increases to its seed market significantly improve the prospects for its continued development.
Tetraploid SRO: Triploid SRO can grow up to 30% faster than normal SRO and commonly have a significantly longer marketability window. Accordingly, many framers have eagerly awaited the supply of more triploid seed. In order for this to occur new techniques that overcome the shortcomings of direct induction are required - techniques that don't involve the direct application of harmful chemicals to what will eventually be a foodstuff.
Gamete preservation: Currently techniques for strip spawning SRO gametes typically results in the destruction of valuable broodstock and the collection of many more gametes than are required immediately. The capacity to simply and cheaply store gametes for relatively short periods of time offers a number of advantages. Once the hatchery operator is satisfied with the performance of gametes (usually apparent within hours to days) gametes could be shared with other hatcheries. This is particularly valuable where brood stock are scarce because of time of year or they are from a limited population in a breeding program. If problems occur, stored gametes could be used to commence a second batch without the need to continue to hold and feed broodstock, or to recreate a particular cross (or new crosses) within a breeding program.
Maturation: SRO broodstock can take up to 10 weeks to bring into condition within a hatchery and can consume up to 80% of the algae required for a hatchery production run - this is both time consuming and expensive. Technology that accelerates reproductive condition and then stimulates spawning on demand could significantly reduce these costs.
1. 20% of industry with access to triploid SRO
2. Reduce complete hatchery operation costs by 15% through a reduction in time for oyster conditioning
3. Increase SRO breeding program reliability
Final report
ISBN:
978-1-76058-361-3
Authors:
Michael Dove (NSW DPI)
Saowaros Suwansa-ard (USC)
Abigail Elizur (USC)
Rebecca Seeto (UoN)
John Clulow (UoN)
Zamira Gibb (UoN)
Tomer Abramov (USC)
Stephan O’Connor (NSW DPI)
Greg Kent (NSW DPI)
Wayne O’Connor (NSW DPI)
Final Report
•
2020-01-01
•
5.88 MB
2016-803-DLD.pdf
Hatchery production of Sydney Rock Oysters (SROs, Saccostrea glomerata) is a costly and high risk activity for the breeding program and industry exacerbated by factors such as: reliance on hatchery conditioning, low fertilisation success using strip-spawned gametes, extended larval rearing period compared to Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas), and variable settlement rates. This project, one of a number that comprised the Future Oysters Coopoerative Research Centre project (Future Oysters CRC-P), was developed through discussions with the SRO industry hatchery sector and was designed to target specific hatchery production challenges.
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