The major problem for marine fish culture is husbandry of the early life stages in which the control of larval nutrition is a key element. The use of live food for hatchery culture of marine fish larvae is currently considered obligatory for success. Live food is expensive (up to $400-500 / kg), especially during recent years where global harvests of Artemia cysts have decreased sharply leading to a worldwide shortage. Compounding the problem of poor supply are new AQIS regulations and biosecurity issues, which may limit future importation. The reliance of Australian hatcheries on imported Artemia is a major constraint to the sustainable development and expansion of this industry. The FRDC R&D Plan for hatchery feeds put a high priority on R&D projects to find local solutions to reduce this dependency. In particular, the Plan emphasised three specific research needs: (1) to assess the potential of Australian Artemia strains (will investigated in a parallel project involving Cognis Australia Pty Ltd); (2) to determine the effectiveness of currently available artificial diets for fish larvae; and (3) to develop ‘local’ artificial diets and protocols for weaning and co-feeding of live and dry diets. The need to find solutions is even greater now than 3 years ago due to the rapid development of the marine fish industry in Australia e.g. yellowtail kingfish from almost zero production to 2000 mt, and Barramundi with estimated production of 4000 mt. Any shortage of fish larvae feeds, live or dry, due to global shortage, or change in importation regulations will restricted the current production and put at risk further development of this industry