55 results
People

ASBTIA: SBT Research Program - Coordination, facilitation and administration

Project number: 2008-227
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $349,999.00
Principal Investigator: David Ellis
Organisation: Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association
Project start/end date: 16 Feb 2009 - 16 Dec 2012
:

Need

This Project is essential for the development of a cohesive research and development approach aimed at meeting the priority needs of the SBT
Ranching Industry. The industry has developed rapidly since its initiation in 1990 and has the opportunity to continue to do so; however targeted research and development is needed to underpin this development and to assure the long-term sustainability of the industry in an increasingly competitive international market.This project provides the basis for the reinvigorated SBT Research Program.

The SBT Research Programincludes a management structure to oversee the active research projects and ensure they
1. achieve the desired outcomes;
2. provides a focused strategy for disseminating research results to industry and obtaining feedback;
3. define research priorities
4. ensures that the minimum level of duplication occurs in the provision of research services;
5. provide a focus for SBT ranched research and sucessional planning of key persons;
6. addresses industry priorities by establishing a mechanism to empower industry's involvement in their research;
7. establishes a framework to ensure that SBT ranched research is orderly and targeted;
8. disseminates, where appropriate, research information to stakeholders.

Opportunities also exist for the development of further research proposals targeted at other research and development funding agencies (eg.
ARC Linkage, AusIndustry and DAFF 9Program to replace Food Processing Regional Australia Program ). These research proposals will address research priorities as defined in the FRDC SBT Aquaculture (Wild- Capture) Strategic R&D Plan – Towards 2012: Striving for a Profitable and Sustainable Future.

Objectives

1. Strategic Planning: provide a coordinated research and development program addressing the focus areas of the FRDC SBT Aquaculture (Wild- Capture) Strategic R&D Plan – Towards 2012: Striving for a Profitable and Sustainable Future. Review and update the R&D Plan on an annual basis.
2. Administration: coordinate and manage project, subprogram and program milestones, variations, budgets, communications and meetings relevant to the SBT Aquaculture Subprogram.
3. Information Technology Transfer: disseminate information to faciliatate the uptake and commercialisation of research outcomes via newsletters, an annual industry conference (including published Conference Proceedings), industry workshops, meetings with individual companies and a regularly updated website.

Final report

Industry

Aquafin CRC - SBT Aquaculture Subprogram: provision of research platforms for projects requiring Port Lincoln based R&D support

Project number: 2004-205
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $1,299,598.26
Principal Investigator: David Ellis
Organisation: Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association
Project start/end date: 29 Jan 2004 - 31 Jul 2007
:

Need

NEED
This project is essential for cost effective and cohesive R&D aimed at meeting the priority needs of the
highly successful SBT aquaculture industry. While the industry has developed rapidly since its initiation in
1990, R&D is a pivotal requirement to underpin its development and assure the long-term sustainability of
the industry. This project is focused on maintaining an offshore SBT R&D capability.

It involves providing services to support to research activities undertaken on and around offshore commercial tuna farms including managing and coordinating the infrastructure for small scale, experimental, high risk and/or novel research and development activities utilizing live SBT.

These services have been and continue to be required by a range of projects managed by the SBT Aquaculture Subprogram (the specific scientific methods associated with each research project are developed more fully within the relevant project).

This project will:
1) ensure high quality technical services are provided in Port Lincoln to tuna researchers in a coordinated
way. These services are provided for experiments primarily on commercial tuna farms and the waters adjacent to these.
2) ensure that the use of the available resources is optimized and that a minimum level of duplication
occurs;
3) enable the costs associated with these activities to be clearly distinguished;
4) play a key role in communication between researchers and tuna farmers, as the project staff is based in
Port Lincoln, the centre of commercial activities.

This project will provide support for scientists involved in effectively undertaking research using the new commercial (industry) seacage research platform, where research with live tuna will occur on commercial farms. This strategy has the advantage of conducting research in the most appropriate circumstances to achieve the desired outcome. The greater industry involvement in this project, through the involvement of an experienced industry operator, also has the advantage of improving the transfer of research outcomes to industry, involving industry to a greater extent in the evaluation of outcomes, enhancing industry development of innovative technologies and practices to address commercial issues,and disseminating information more representative of their commercial operations. All these aspects are important in facilitating the take up and commercialization of the research outcomes.

Objectives

1. Provide and maintain a managed technical service as required by other project PIs undertaking tuna research activities using the commercial (industry) seacage research platform in Port Lincoln.
2. Ensure, to the level of resources available, that the commercial (industry) seacage research platform operations are world best practice.
3. Coordinate and therefore optimize the use of the limited resources available for research requiring live SBT as part of the commercial (industry) seacage research platform, through the development of an agreed project Annual Operating Plan.
4. Ensure completion, in consultation with other project PIs, of the planned activities designated in the project Annual Operating Plan on the commercial (industry) seacage research platform.
5. Support improved communication between project PIs and industry partners.
Industry
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 1997-361
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Southern Bluefin Tuna Aquaculture Subprogram Project 1: implementation and coordination of research experiments conducted with farmed southern bluefin tuna to assess manufactured diets, feeding regimes and harvesting techniques

The Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT), Thunnus maccoyii, Aquaculture Industry has undergone rapid expansion since it commenced in 1990. In 2002/03 the industry was Australia’s third largest export fishing industry (ABARE, 2002) with most of its value coming from aquaculture. In this year the...
ORGANISATION:
SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Industry

Aquafin CRC - SBT Aquaculture Subprogram: infrastructure management, service delivery and technical support

Project number: 2001-252
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $479,013.00
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Buchanan
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 30 Jan 2002 - 9 Mar 2004
:

Need

This project is essential for cohesive research and development aimed at meeting the priority needs of the highly successful tuna aquaculture industry. While the industry has developed rapidly since its initiation in 1990, research and development is a pivotal requirement to underpin its development and assure the long-term sustainability of the industry.

This project is focussed on managing and coordinating the infrastructure for small scale, experimental, high risk and/or novel research and development activities utilising live SBT. These services have been and continue to be required by a range of projects managed by the SBT Aquaculture Subprogram (the specific scientific methods associated with each research project is developed more fully within the relevant project).
This project will:
1) ensure that an experimental system with live SBT is available for researchers focussing on the R&D priorities of the tuna farming industry;
2) ensure that the use of the available resources is optimised and that a minimum level of duplication occurs;
3) enable the costs associated with these activities to be clearly distinguished;
4) play a key role in communication between researchers and tuna farmers as the project staff are based in Port Lincoln, the centre of commercial activities.
Larger scale pilot commercial trials are now recognised to be more effectively undertaken by commercial
farmers with their larger pontoons, commercial stocking densities and more wave-exposed sites. This strategy also has the advantage of improving the transfer of research outcomes to industry, involving industry to a greater extent in the evaluation of outcomes, enhancing industry development of innovative technologies and practices to address commercial issues, and disseminating information more representative of their commercial operations. All these aspects are important in facilitating the take up and commercialisation of the research outcomes.

Objectives

1. Provide and maintain a managed (staff and budgets) facility as required by other project PIs undertaking small scale, experimental, high risk and/or novel research and development activities requiring live SBT.
2. Ensure to the level of resources available, that the research facility and procedures are world best practice scientifically as well as from an industry perspective.
3. To coordinate and therefore optimise the use of the limited resources available for research and development requiring live SBT in a managed research environment, through the development of an agreed project Annual Operating Plan.
4. To complete, in consultation with other project PIs, the planned research and development activities designated in the project Annual Operating Plan, providing the agreed outputs (generally data) in an orderly and timely manner.

Final report

Author: Dr Jeffrey Buchanan
Final Report • 2003-07-09 • 239.20 KB
2001-252-DLD.pdf

Summary

The project provided scientific and technical support to research projects involving live Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) under controlled conditions. These were primarily conducted by the Aquafin CRC and FRDC and managed through the SBT Aquaculture Subprogram. Four experiments were undertaken in relation to SBT product quality (FRDC No. 2001-248) and nutrition (FRDC No. 2001-249), three on the Tuna Research Farm and one on the Stehr Group commercial farm. Support was also given to a range of other projects, including ones associated with "bait fish composition" (FRDC No. 2000-221), "commercial pilot-scale manufactured feed trials" (FRDC No. 2001-201), "environment: farm waste characterisation" (FRDC No. 2001-103) and "health: development of cell lines for virology" (FRDC No. 2001-200). The experiments were successfully completed in accordance with the annual operating plan finalised with the SBT Aquaculture Subprogram Steering Committee. The support by this project to the others was gratefully acknowledged by the principal investigators of each project. Results and outcomes from the experiments are presented in the final report of each of the associated projects, rather than in this report.

In the conduct of the above specified experiments, this project utilised 259 live SBT in multiple 12m diameter experimental pontoons and one 32m diameter holding pontoon, as well as provided support to complete the experiment using 72 SBT maintained on the Stehr Group commercial farm. Tuna harvested after early experiments had not reached market size and prices were poor. Tuna harvest following later experiments had been able to reach close to industry-standard condition and received much higher prices. Significant mortalities occurred early in the season mainly due to seal attacks, which previously had not been a problem, and also due to some stress related bacterial infections. Improved electric fencing was installed to minimise the seal attack problem.

Relocation of the Tuna Research Farm to more waters seaward of Boston Bay is recommended to minimise health issues, enhance production and better represent commercial farm conditions, an important element in facilitating the acceptance of research results by commercial SBT farmers.
View Filter

Species