Seawater temperatures continue to rise in Tasmania, resulting in the window of suitable temperatures for smolt transfer to sea shortening. Atlantic salmon production in Tasmania requires the production of harvestable product all year round, which is currently achieved through detailed production plans that rely on smolt transfer to sea from March until October each year.
As climate change is resulting in warmer temperatures during March, there is a need to understand the risks to production that this shift poses, as well as understanding the additional costs to production that warm water inputs create. This trial is needed to inform commercial decisions around smolt input timing in warm years, and to examine the influence of oxygenation on osmoregulatory performance during warm water transfer.