Initally 1000 copies of the Australian Seafood Catering Manual were printed as a two volume set, these sold out within the first 12 months. Subsequently QDPI funded a reprint of Volume 1 of the manual. Volume 2 is now out of print.

There is now a need for research to identify the market requirements for the future development of the Australian Seafood Catering Manual.

The ASCM is the only handbook for the seafood industry designed to be used on the job, that comprehensively collates practical seafood information on the, buying , storage, quality, cooking, species identification and characteristics of Australian seafood. Lack of such information in the market place has often led to:
- The reluctance of the food service and retail industries to use some seafood
- The under utilisation of species, as users are not informed on cooking and handling
methods of alternative species available at different times of the year.

Agribusiness Marketing Services receives many enquires from customers such as those involved in the food service and food retail sectors and from seafood exporters and overseas importers, wishing to purchase either or both Volume 1 and 2 of the Australian Seafood Catering Manual. Many customers express concern at the lack of availability of Volume 2.

Although it is believed that a need for this product exists in the market place detailed market research is required to determine how the needs of all target markets can best be met.

In addition there is a need to develop a business plan, incorporating a marketing plan, which will identify the process for preparation and promotion of anyfuture edition of the Seafood Catering Manual.

The ability to isolate viruses in cell culture is fundamental to disease diagnosis in both human and veterinary (including aquatic animals) medicine. The In addition, the ability to grow the virus in culture provides a potentially limitless source of pure virus and thus facilitates further characterisation of the virus and development of more sophisticated and improved diagnostic procedures. At present, virus isolation in cell culture remains, for most pathogenic viruses where cell culture systems have been developed, the most sensitive and reliable technique for the detection of viral pathogens of fish (OIE, 1995a).

The current lack of continuous prawn cell lines suitable for the isolation and growth of prawn viruses is a major set-back for the diagnosis of viral diseases of prawns (see Crane and Bernoth, 1996, for review); isolation and identification of the causative agents is severely hindered and the development of other diagnostic procedures is slowed.

The application of virus isolation in cell culture and the critical role it plays in certifying freedom of disease and controlling the spread of disease is exemplified by its use in the international trade of salmonid products (OIE, 1995a, b). Individual salmonid cell lines are susceptible to infection by a range of salmonid viruses and provide an essential tool for health surveillance and certification programs and is a requirement for the international trade of specific products. Similar regulations may, in the future, be required for international trade of penaeid products.

The aim of this project is to develop continuous prawn cell lines which are susceptible to infection by a range of prawn viruses, to develop diagnostic procedures using these cell lines and to demonstrate the application of these cell lines to the development of other diagnostic procedures for viral diseases (both exotic and enzootic) of prawns.

References

Crane, M. St. J. and Bernoth, E.-M. 1996. Molecular biology and fish disease diagnosis: Current status and future trends. In: Recent Advances in Microbiology (V. Asche, ed.), Aus. Soc. Microbiol. Vol. 4, pp. 41-82.

O.I.E. 1995a. International Aquatic Animal Health Code: Fish, Molluscs and Crustaceans. First edition. 184 pp. Paris, Office International des Epizooties.

O.I.E. 1995b. Diagnostic Manual for Aquatic Animal Diseases. First edition. 195 pp. Paris, Office International des Epizooties.

Most fisheries in Australia are at sustainable levels or are overexploited. There is obviously a need to maximise yields from these resources. Consequently it is vital for fishery management to be able to discriminate between the effects of harvesting the resource versus the impacts of anthropogenic inputs on populations.

Funds are sought from FRDC to conduct a pilot program for developing methods of determining the impacts of chronic toxicity on fish eggs and larvae. This approach allows the measurement of the entire pollution load of an ecosystem. The successful application of this technique will allow fisheries managers to quantify the total toxicant loadings in habitats and to evaluate the potential impacts these toxicant loads have on fishery stocks.

The results of this Pilot study will have general applicability to temperate and subtropical systems. The usefulness of similar techniques to monitor ecosystem health has been demonstrated for tropical systems by Klumpp and von Westernhagen.