Government and industry have state, national and international obligations for responding to biosecurity incursions, including notifiable diseases. The emergency response framework includes OIE (world organisation for animal health) manuals, national AQUAVETPLAN manuals, State legislation and emergency management plans. Readiness requires on-going training to ensure skills are maintained and updated.

Ongoing aquatic disease response training should be considered at the National, State and industry levels (FRDC 2012/044). National protocols for fish kill investigations have previously been documented (FRDC 2005/620). South Australia have since developed protocols for responding to fish kills (PIRSA's Emergency Management Doucment: aquatic animal health). However, a fish kill training program (in line with national standards) in South Australia (aimed at government and industry personnel) is needed.

This project (training funds) aims to upskill key PIRSA fish kill investigators by attending the WA fish kill investigation course.

As an outcome, knowledge gained will assist in the development of a fish kill training program in South Australia.

The need for the development of an Australian clam aquaculture industry is a direct outcome of the inability of the wild clam industry to meet the demand of a large international market prepared to pay a premium price for quality Australian clams. While clam aquaculture has been successfully developed on a large scale overseas, none exists in Australia at this time. Currently, a feasibility study to evaluate clams culture on intertidal and subtidal leases in SA is underway with the funding support from FRDC, SA Clam Aquaculture and SARDI (FRDC project 2009/208).

At the same time, PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture is evaluating policies related to clam aquaculture development in SA to ensure the long term viability of both the wild harvest fishery and the successful development of a sustainable aquaculture industry. The critical knowledge gaps identified for this assessment are: 1. population genetic structure of clam species in South Australia; 2. potential genetic and biosecurity risks of moving farming stocks between localities, and 3. effective and efficient methods to distinguish hatchery produced stock from wild stocks. Understanding the population structure of this clam species and biosecurity risks of moving stocks will allow for the development of far more specific management strategies to control the potential adverse genetic and biosecurity impacts of farmed clams on the local wild population, thus protecting its genetic integrity if genetically divergent localised populations exist along the SA coastline. Practical identification of hatchery stocks will ensure compliance with wild fishery, aquaculture and recreational harvesting policies. All these need to be taken into account in developing clam aquaculture in SA.

This application has been developed at the request of FRDC to ensure that the outputs developed from the projects that PIRSA and FRDC have co-invested in through the "Innovative Solutions for Aquaculture" initiative are communicated and extended to end-users and beneficiaries both in SA and nationally. The need is for the benefits of the “Innovative Solutions for Aquaculture” initiative to be clearly communicated to all stakeholders, particularly industry groups and grass level industry groups who are currently not receiving these messages. This is particularly true to ensure that all stakeholders feel engaged and involved with the project and can positively participate and be informed There is a need not only to ensure that stakeholders are aware of project developments but, most importantly, the project benefits and how they will affect each stakeholder group.

Currently, there is an opportunity, at this early stage of the “Innovative Solutions for Aquaculture”, to clearly identify messages and the most effective way of deploying messages and this application allows for a communications professional with over 13 years of experience with the seafood industry at state and national level to assist in this process.

There is also a need for the research results to be translated into communicative results which can easily assist in the management decision making processes as well as other communications processes such as media management and other public relations exercises.