226 results

Seafood CRC: overseas market access for shellfish

Project number: 2009-752
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $5,000.98
Principal Investigator: Catherine McLeod
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 31 Aug 2009 - 30 Nov 2009
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The potential reduction of regulatory thresholds for marine biotoxins in the EU will have significant negative economic consequences for the Australian oyster, mussel, scallop and abalone industries (and pipi’s if domestic regulatory thresholds also changed).

The scallop, oyster and mussel industry currently export product to the EU. Total scallop exports to the EU in 2006/2007 were valued at around $4,551,000 AUD (187 t). Other mollusc (including oysters and mussels) exports to the EU in 2006/2007 were around $1,084,000 AUD (255 t). Due to the periodic occurrence of okadaic acid toxins and saxitoxins in Australian shellfish the implementation of reduced regulatory levels would reduce the amount of product eligible for export to the EU.

Exports of Australian abalone to the EU ceased in 2007, this was in part due to the enforcement of marine biotoxin regulatory limits by the EC. The wild caught abalone industry is attempting to regain market access to the EU through determining alternate risk management procedures for marine biotoxins in abalone. The reduction of regulatory levels for marine biotoxins may impinge on future EU access arrangements for Australian abalone.

Experience has repeatedly demonstrated that European decisions can impact on other more commercially significant markets, including Asia and the domestic market. Codex may also be prompted to change marine biotoxin guidance levels in response to EU changes. Wide spread adoption of reduced regulatory levels for marine biotoxins would result in increased growing area closures in Australia and less product eligible for sale. This proposal aims to assist in maintaining the current EU regulatory limits for marine biotoxins which will allow the current amount of shellfish to be exported to the EU and avoid other markets being influenced.

Objectives

1. Undertake robust technical review of the European Food Safety Authority risk assessments on saxitoxin and okadaic acid group toxins.
2. Submit the technical review and a rationale for maintaining current marine biotoxin regulatory limits to the European Commission.
3. Convene a working group to determine future steps required to mitigate potential lowering of marine biotoxin regulatory limits.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9756044-8-9
Authors: Dr Catherine McLeod Dr John Sumner Dr Andreas Kiermeier
Final Report • 2011-02-24 • 1.18 MB
2009-752-DLD.pdf

Summary

The oyster, scallop and mussel industries currently export product to the EU. Due to the periodic occurrence of Okadaic Acid (OA) and Saxitoxin (STX) group toxins in Australian shellfish the implementation of reduced regulatory levels would reduce the amount of product eligible for EU export. Exports of Australian abalone to the EU ceased in 2007, due in part to the enforcement of marine biotoxin regulatory limits set by the EC. The wild caught abalone industry is attempting to regain EU market access through determining alternate risk management procedures for marine biotoxins in abalone.

The European Commission (EC) requested the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to assess the current European Union (EU) limits for shellfish regarding human health and methods of analysis for various marine biotoxins, including newly emerging toxins. A critical recommendation of the ‘EFSA Opinions’ is that the regulatory limits should be significantly lower (more stringent) for both OA and STX.

The objectives of this study were to:

  1. Undertake a robust technical review of the EFSA risk assessments on STX and OA group toxins.
  2. Submit the technical review and a rationale for maintaining current marine biotoxin regulatory limits to the EC.
  3. Convene a working group to determine future steps required to mitigate potential lowering of marine biotoxin regulatory limits.

SCRC: Improvements in Yellowtail Kingfish larval and juvenile survival and quality

Project number: 2009-749.10
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $0.00
Principal Investigator: Michael Thomson
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 14 Jul 2008 - 29 Sep 2010
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Yellowtail Kingfish culture is a rapidly expanding industry in Australia, particularly in rural South Australia, where it is driving the increase in the ‘other’ category of aquaculture production from ~1100 tonnes valued at ~$9 million in 2002-03 to 2000 tonnes and $17 million in 2004-05 (ABARE, 2006). Regarding future production, CST alone are projecting an increase in annual production towards 8,000 T by 2015.

CST is the largest producer of Yellowtail Kingfish in Australia having produced over 1.25 M juveniles in 2007. The company operates two Yellowtail Kingfish hatcheries at Arno Bay and Port Augusta. The production of quality larvae from hatcheries underpins the production of farmed fish and low survival and high levels of malformations significantly increase costs.

Survival of Yellowtail Kingfish juveniles in Australian marine hatcheries is very low in comparison to many other marine species such as sea bass and bream produced in larger more mature industries, for example in Europe. Of particular note, several skeletal malformations have been reported in Australia and New Zealand, although few are well documented (Yellowtail Kingfish, Cobcroft et al., 2004).

There is also high variability in hatchery survival rates and the rate and severity of deformities among production runs and commercial hatcheries.

By way of illustration, the direct benefit to Clean Seas Tuna Ltd. of reducing malformations in Yellowtail Kingfish is estimated to be $1 million p.a. In this example a reduction in malformations from 40% to 20% (on 2.0 M juveniles before quality grading) could produce a further 400,000 good quality juveniles @ $2.50 (market value) = $1,000,000.

SCRC: Can they hear me?...Modern and innovative strategies to communicate with the seafood industry

Project number: 2009-747
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $0.00
Principal Investigator: Jane Ham
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 19 Oct 2009 - 30 Aug 2010
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Traditional methods of transferring research results (print copies of newsletters; brochures; meetings; workshops and final reports) can be slow, costly and reach only a limited proportion of stakeholders.

Research providers need to investigate different communication methods to enable them to quickly and easily provide stakeholders with current information.

Existing digital technologies (e-mail; web sites; mobile devices) allow information to be instantly sent to a broad distribution in a cost effective way.

Information provided via mobile devices is also location independent, allowing recipients to receive and view material wherever they like. This is of particular significance to marine researchers as a large percentage of stakeholders are field-based and may be more likely to view information away from the desk at a time that is convenient to them (e.g. on board a boat).

In today’s E-Market of ever-growing e-mail distribution lists, it is necessary to provide a communication point of difference to ensure that extension activities are effective. Using alternatives to receiving e-mails and plain text may improve information retention and follow-up rates by targeted stakeholders, particularly given demographic changes in digital use and awareness.

Successfully transferring non-technical information regularly to a larger percentage of stakeholders will significantly reduce the lag time between producing results and provision of final reports; ensuring more stakeholders are kept up to date and consequently have the opportunity to take advantage of results.

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-921563-39-3
Authors: Jane Ham Stephen Madigan Emily Mantilla Rachel King
Final Report • 1.59 MB
2009-747-DLD.pdf

Summary

This pilot project aimed to apply existing digital technologies in an integrated manner to deliver research information that more effectively targeted stakeholders, focused specifically on industry stakeholders, but included research stakeholders. This was achieved by producing a short 'news-style' video of the latest research result and activities, viewed directly on a mobile phone via weblink from an SMS.

The headlines and web address to access videos and summary articles were provided via SMS for those who did not have web access enabled on their mobile phone, with some participants receiving an email version. A Customer Satisfaction Survey was subsequently used to evaluate the efficacy of presenting research information in a visual format and delivery of research information direct to mobile phones.

SCRC: SCRC RTG:: Mr David Padula "Export study tour to China"

Project number: 2009-734
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $0.00
Principal Investigator: David Padula
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 3 Jun 2009 - 29 Sep 2009
Contact:
FRDC

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-925982-33-6
Author: David Padula
Final Report • 2009-09-30 • 961.39 KB
2009-734-DLD-RTG.pdf

Summary

Travel was undertaken to the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong in the People's Republic of China in August and September 2009 for a period of 18 days.

The visit included attendance at the Dioxin 2009 Symposium on Persistent Halogenated Organic Pollutants in Beijing. Meetings were held with Chinese Government officials who have responsibility for food regulatory controls for residues and contaminants, border control inspection and quarantine and nutritional labelling requirements for foods. Information collected during this trip will benefit communal and non-communal Seafood CRC research projects.

Seafood CRC: sustainable feeds and feed management for Yellowtail Kingfish

Project number: 2009-728
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $304,825.78
Principal Investigator: David A. Stone
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 31 Dec 2010 - 29 Jun 2012
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Yellowtail Kingfish (YTK) is the main cultureed finfish in SA and this industry has great potential to expand in other states of Australia. One of the major inefficiencies identified is feeds and feed management in CST’s YTK production. Henceforth, the newly formed CST RMAG has identified improving FCRs in YTK operations as an urgent priority. Upon reflection, the production efficiency of YTK by CST has been hindered by the poor understanding of feeding strategies, sea cage biomass determination, growth performance and the nutrient requirements of YTK at different life stages and water temperatures. Research in this project will specifically address each of these topics. This information is essential as YTK are exposed to sub-optimal water temperatures at most times of the year in SA. All-year round management strategies based on sound information need to be developed and implemented to maximise the production efficiency.

Despite the development of growth-ration curves for YTK by external consultants, CST is still experiencing problems establishing profitable feeding regimes that aim to reduce end of cycle FCR to less than 1.70:1.00. This level may or may not be achievable and, apart from accurate feeding, depends on many factors including diet composition, seasonal water temperature fluctuations, genetic background etc. It has also become apparent that in order for CST to gain market acceptance for their Yellowtail Kingfish products on a global basis the issue of sustainable production needs to be addressed. In order to address the issue of sustainability detailed changes to current dietary formulations for YTK, which contain high levels of fish meal and fish oil, will have to be made. Species specific information regarding nutrient availability, growth performance, fish health and maximum dietary inclusion levels of alternative sustainable ingredients for YTK cultured at fluctuating water temperatures are required in order to make these changes.

Objectives

1. The objectives corresponding to the four research priorities of this study are explained in the following list of Subprojects: Objective 1. Subproject 1: Run a Technology Transfer Facilitation Framework Meeting with CST staff, and project R&D participants. Subproject 2: Develop a growth-feed intake model specific to YTK. Subproject 3: Test and validate the growth-feed intake model developed in Subproject 2 with YTK cultured in replicated sea cages on the CST R&D farm at summer water temperatures.
2. Objective 2: Determination of cage biomass. Subproject 4: Review current fish counting methods used by CST to establish a more accurate on-farm fish counting system. Subproject 5: Calibrate, validate and implement two electronic fish biomass counter systems to CST YTK sea cages for the determination of YTK biomass.
3. Objective 3: Clarify the protein to energy ratios of ~1 to 4 kg YTK. Subproject 6: Test the effects of varying protein to energy ratios on the growth performance, and feed efficiency of ~1 to 4 kg YTK cultured in sea cages in the CST research farm
4. Objective 4: Improve the sustainability of YTK farming by investigating the maximum inclusion levels of alternative protein and lipid sources to replace fish meal and fish oil, at optimal (22°C) and suboptimal (18°C) temperatures. Subproject 7: Investigate the suitability of canola oil, and poultry fat as alternative sources to fish oil for YTK when cultured at optimal and sub-optimal temperatures. Subproject 8: Explore the suitability of soybean products as alternative protein sources (solvent extracted soy 48 and soy protein concentrate) in juvenile diets at optimal and sub-optimal temperatures. Subproject 9: Test the effects of alterative protein sources on the growth performance of ~4 kg YTK cultured in the CST research farm. Subproject 10: Evaluate the enzyme activity of YTK under a range of temperatures (8-28oC).

Final report

ISBN: 978-921563-52-2
Author: David A.J. Stone and Jenna N. Bowyer
Final Report • 2013-12-13 • 3.71 MB
2009-728-DLD.pdf

Summary

Yeilowtail Kingfish, Seriola lalandi, is the main closed cycle flnfish cultured in South Australia (SA) and this industry has great potential to expand in other states of Australia. One of the major inefficiencies identified by industry was feeds and feed management in Yellowtail Kingfish production. Henceforth, the newly formed CST Research Management Advisory Group (RMAG) identified improving feed conversion ratios (FCR) in Yellowtail Kingfish operations as an urgent priority. The production efficiency of Yellowtail Kingfish by CST has been hindered by the poor understanding of feeding strategies, sea cage biomass determination, growth performance and nutrient requirements of Yellowtail Kingfish at different life stages and water temperatures. It was also apparent that in order for CST to gain market acceptance for their Yellowtail Kingfish products on a global basis, the issue of sustainable use of marine ingredients, such as fish meal and fish oil, for the production of Yellowtail Kingfish needed to be addressed. In order to address the issue of sustainability detailed changes to current dietary formulations for Yellowtail Kingfish, which contained high levels of fish meal and fish oil, had to be made. Species specific information regarding nutrient availability, growth performance, fish health and maximum dietary inclusion levels of alternative sustainable ingredients for Yellowtail Kingfish cultured at fluctuating water temperatures were required to make these changes. Overall, the outcomes that should arise from the commercialisation of research outputs from this project will be an improved feed management system contributing to a reduction in FCRs from above 2:1 to 1.7:1, and revised and more sustainable Yellowtail Kingfish diet formulations (i.e. 25-30% lower proportions of marine based proteins and lipids).

SCRC: Development and Evaluation of Yellowtail Kingfish Consumer Products (SARDI) Karen McNaughton

Project number: 2009-722.10
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $0.00
Principal Investigator: Tim Graham
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 30 Sep 2009 - 14 Dec 2011
Contact:
FRDC

Need

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

Objectives

Commercial in confidence

Final report

Author: Karen McNaughton
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2009-715
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: optimising business structures and fisheries management systems for key fisheries

There is currently an estimated economic gap (lost profit) in the CRC participant fisheries of approximately 40% or $200 million per annum.. If the economic gap could be halved from 40% to 20% the profitability of CRC fisheries would be improved by approximately $100 million. This project aimed to...
ORGANISATION:
SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2009-714.20
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: bioeconomic decision support tools for Southern Rock Lobster

The Southern Rocklobster fishery is the most developed of the fisheries included in this series of projects because sophisticated bioeconomic models and stock projection capacity had already been advanced through previous research. This research takes the process further to extend the modelling...
ORGANISATION:
SARDI Food Safety and Innovation

Developing clam aquaculture in Australia: a feasibility study on culturing Donax deltoides and Katelysia sp on intertidal and subtidal leases in South Australia

Project number: 2009-208
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $296,960.00
Principal Investigator: Mark Gluis
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 31 Mar 2010 - 30 Mar 2013
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The need for development of an Australian clam aquaculture industry comes from the fact that a large international market is prepared to pay a premium price for quality Australian clams, demand cannot be met by the wild fishery, and clam aquaculture has been successfully developed on a large scale overseas.

CCPL and other cockle fishers are finding that further expansion of their businesses is severely limited by the level of wild catch and as such are actively exploring aquaculture, the basis of this project proposal, to realise the potential of the markets they have developed. Their level of commitment is demonstrated by their contribution of $75,000 cash and $51,160 in-kind towards this project.

We believe that the potential viability of a clam culture industry compares well with the South Australian oyster industry:
- the price per kilogram is as good or better than for oysters;
- stocking levels are likely to be much higher per unit area of a lease, or per cylindrical basket on a longline;
- infrastructure costs are likely to be less if cultured in the sediments, or similar if using a longline system;
- handling, including rumbling and grading are likely to be less frequent; and
- the development of a clam culture industry is likely to occur in a shorter time frame due to the technical, biological and resource management experience gained from the shellfish industry.

Intertidal waters currently identified as being suitable for oyster culture are fully allocated in South Australia and the opportunities for growers to increase business revenue are limited. Clams can offer a new income stream from the same leases, from leases that have proven to be unsuitable for oyster culture, and from new areas.

Objectives

1. Desktop study of previous research and international clam farming techniques and with a view to adopting existing technology where practicable to ensure project efficiency.
2. Determine suitable species using field and laboratory based trials.
3. Successful production of clam spat from hatchery reared larvae.
4. Production of a hatchery production manual for possible use by commercial hatcheries wishing to participate in the proposed clam culture industry
5. Undertake field evaluations for identification of likely commercial culture methods and site characteristics
6. Communication and technology transfer between industry participants and researchers in the form of workshops and written reports
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