Clarence River pilot prawn farming project

Project number: 1981-069

Project Status:

Completed

Budget expenditure: $0.00

Principal Investigator: Geoff L. Allan

Organisation: NSW Department of Primary Industries

Project start/end date: 28 Dec 1984 - 31 Dec 1984

Contact:

FRDC

Objectives

1. Establish a small pilot prawn farm adjacent to the Clarence River to fatten stunted school prawns taken from the river system.

2. Assess the economic viability & practicality of experimental results obtained at the Brackish Water Research Station

Final report

Author: Geoff Allan

Final Report • 1984-12-31 • 3.64 MB

1981-069-DLD.pdf

Summary

The research programme was largely comprised of farming trials in a 1 ha prawn farming pond and in swimming pools on the pond bank at the field site. Juvenile school prawns (Metapenaeus macleayi) were collected by commercial trawlers in Lake Wolloweyah, transported by punt to the pond where they were stocked and farmed for 2 to 3 months before harvest and marketing at the Sydney Fish Market.

The prawn production results were used as the basis for an independent economic analysis of school prawn farming. The first version of this analysis is discussed in the accompanying NPS2 paper and a revised version presented at the N.S.W. Department of Agriculture Prawn Farming Open Day (a compilation of the papers delivered at this Open Day is attached). Both versions predicted attractive returns on capital but it should be noted that the extrapolation from pilot scale to commercial scale must necessarily be in part hypothetical until it is supported by consistent commercial success.

Project products

Report • 3.94 MB

1981-069-Product.pdf

Summary

This report deals with the period July to October 1977 during which time inspections of the prawn farming industries of Japan, the Philippines and Thailand were made. A total of ten weeks was spent in Japan with shorter periods in the Philippines and Thailand.

Japan not only has the most successful prawn farming industry in the world but its aquaculture research in general is also the most advanced and diverse. Thus it was possible to inspect facilities used for the culture of many species and a brief section dealing with the aquaculture of some of these other species is included, along with observations from the other two countries visited.

The bulk of the report deals with Japanese aquaculture and the aim has been to provide considerable detail but mostly as a supplement to existing works published in English. Much less published information is available for the aquaculture industries of the Philippines and Thailand and thus the sections relating to these countries are written in as much detail as possible. Some understanding of the larval development of penaeid prawns and portunid crabs is assumed in some sections of this report but not in the general summary (Section 10) which also includes recommendations relevant to the Australian situation.

Article • 1978-12-08 • 168.30 KB

1981-069-Product-2.pdf

Summary

Juvenile school prawns (Metapenaeus macleayi) were collected from the Clarence River, N.S.W., Australia and fattened in artificial ponds. After harvest these prawns were assessed by taste panels along with other samples of the same species collected from estuarine fisheries in N.S.W. Taste panels could not detect any significant differences between pond-fattened and wild prawns and both were found to be highly acceptable.