The aim of this project was to farm, on a pilot commercial scale, two indigenous species of marine fish: snapper, Pagrus auratus; and mulloway, Argyrosomus hololepidotus.

The project involved:

• development of hatchery techniques;
• intensive rearing of larvae;
• transport of live fish;
• design, construction and testing of seacages for research;
• grow-out of juvenile fish in tanks and seacages;
• identifying and treating disease outbreaks in seacages;
• obtaining production data; and
• obtaining preliminary marketing information.

The project sought to provide information on the possibility of enhancing wild stocks of mulloway by the release of fish originating from a hatchery.