Wild carp (Cyprinus carpio) are an invasive species found throughout Australian freshwater systems. The species is well established throughout the Murray-Darling basin (MDB) and makes up to 90% of the fish biomass in some areas. There are concerns that carp are damaging the ecology of MDB waterways and competing with native species for food.

The Australian Federal government has developed the National Carp Control Plan which will assess the feasibility and potentially manage the release of Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) as a biocontrol agent for the invasive carp. The virus is expected to reduce the carp population by between 70–95% within the first few years. Initial release at breeding sites is expected to wipe out primarily juvenile carp at first, followed by mature fish. It is anticipated bird-life will consume a large portion of the immature carp however deceased mature carp present an environmental challenge as their decomposition may impact upon water quality. The large mass of deceased carp will require a large scale clean-up and present a unique opportunity to be utilised for fish products.

Currently carp are harvested for use in fertiliser; however as estimates of the deceased biomass are in the hundreds of thousands of tonnes, other avenues for utilisation warrant further investigation. Compositional analysis, suitability of CyHV-3 infected fish for processing, pilot scale production trials and subsequent market appraisal is required to realise new product streams. Development of new products utilising the infected deceased carp will assist in the clean-up, reduce disposal costs and potentially generate income for the local economy.

Australian salmon has long been considered an underutilised species in sufficient catchable volumes across NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South and Western Australia to have potential for greater commercial market value and penetration. However such market development has been curtailed by factors including: poor consumer perception; inconsistent quality and short shelf-life due to harvest methods and infrastructure issues; export barriers and the status of Australian Salmon as an iconic recreational species resulting in concerns recreational catch could be compromised with increased commercial harvest. As well, the commercial catch across the different state jurisdictions is short seasoned and lacking coordination such that harvest of sufficient tonnage for high volume markets has not been possible. Previous projects (2013/711.40; 2008/794) have resulted in optimisation of methodology for post-harvest handling and processing for this species, market investigation and development of a range of consumer tested value-added products, however further market development (whilst present) has been largely curtailed by the issues as described above.

The “Love Australian Prawns” campaign which saw the Australian wild harvest and farmed prawn industries unite shows the potential advantages of taking a national and coordinated approach to market development for Australian seafood. It was considered that such a national approach to developing new opportunities for Australian salmon would alleviate the current challenges in developing new markets principally relating to seasonality and consistent and sustained quality, volume supply. A whole of chain national workshop is considered the first step in developing such a national approach.