Producing peer-reviewed publication on these topics is part of the suite of approaches aimed at increasing uptake of FH projects. Scientific papers enable exchange of ideas internationally. They are part of the process of changing fishery management which needs these types of outputs to defend decisions.

Outbreaks of viral disease accompanied by morbidity and mortalities occur sporadically in Australian prawn farms and are generally worst when environmental conditions are less favourable, as in the recent 2010/2011 grow-out season. Poor survival and poor market quality caused by viral disease can impact significantly on farm productivity and even the larger and more sophisticated operations are vulnerable. As the Australian industry moves towards the use of domesticated lines of genetically improved prawn species, there is an increasing need for a method capable of clearing or markedly reducing viral infection loads from valuable broodstock, thus minimizing the risks of infection being passed to progeny, either as part of breeding programs or for commercial production. Similarly, as the infection prevalence of viruses can be high amongst wild-caught broodstock still used in most hatcheries, an easy and commercially-applicable method for clearing or reducing viral infection loads would have broad industry value. In the case of Australian farmed P. monodon, GAV has the highest economic impact of known viral pathogens whilst for Australian farmed Banana prawns (Penaeus merguiensis), it is Hepatopancreatic-parvovirus (HPV). This project will therefore optimise RNAi methods to clear GAV from P. monodon whilst also producing putative RNAi reagents suitable for accomplishing the same with the Australian strain of HPV for future use in P. merguiensis. The HPV-specific dsRNAs generated will be used in this project as non-GAV non-specific controls during optimisation of dsRNAs targeted specifically at GAV.As mentioned earlier, the industry value of this project is demonstrated by the strong letter of support from the APFA attached to this application.

As with any Board there are conflicts and tensions on the APFA Board that arise from the mix of small and large farms represented,
level of experience, an annually rotating Board membership, differing R&D priorities and regulations challenges that continue to impact on future developments, as well as looking at the future business aspects of the APFA this workshop will also help the Board identify better ways to work as a more effective team.

Decreased profit margins due to reduced prawn survival and growth during suboptimal pond conditions are considerable, where a modest 3% improvement in survival in one pond would result in over $22,750 profit increase (pers.comm.,Ridley Aquafeed, at current prices)
Similarly, higher growth rates and pond yields will both improve growth efficiency for the quantity of feed fed and reduce nutrient loss to the pond environment.

While many internationals feed manufacturers operate on a least-cost formulation model, where nutrient availability and ingredient price are used to determine formulations, little attention has been placed on exploring the growth benefits of high-quality feeds to provide cost-benefits from increased production, health and performance under commercial conditions.

The overall aim of this project is to understand the role of optimised nutrition in improving growth performance under suboptimal conditions. Temperature and salinity can change drastically and suddenly on farm, and are associated with the onset of decreased prawn performance. This project would focus initially on laboratory-based experiments focused on temperature and salinity, with the view to run on farm pond trials.

Project aims are to measure:
The efficacy of a range of immunostimulants in feeds against known bacterial and viral P.monodon pathogens.
The optimal level of immunostimulants in commercial P.monodon prawn feeds for growth performance and nutrient utilisation of P.monodon and challenged with bacterial and viral pathogens.
Commercial scale pond trials of feeds containing immunostimulants compared with commercial prawn feeds.