In October 2018, FRDC funded the first national workshop on tropical oyster aquaculture (Osborne, 2018). This successful event addressed a need to foster greater collaboration across the various projects and provide strategic direction to future research and development activities. Since then, significant progress has been made in tropical rock oyster RD&E, both in Australia and internationally, and work is underway across the tropics to further develop the industry (Nowland et al., 2019). To maintain momentum and continue to foster collaboration in this field, an International Tropical Rock Oyster Workshop will be hosted by NT Fisheries and The Pacific Community (SPC), supported by the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA), in the days before the World Aquaculture Conference 2023 in Darwin. The workshop will bring together a broad range of stakeholders to discuss the status and current knowledge of tropical oyster aquaculture research and development. This will provide an opportunity to share experiences and develop an international network for tropical oyster aquaculture. As well as to discuss and document current bottlenecks/issues confronting tropical oyster farming, such as; hatchery production, disease, grow-out technology and shellfish quality assurance.

This workshop is running alongside the World Aquaculture Conference 2023 in Darwin. The project team have identified key people in the region (commercial produces and Traditional Owners) that would add additional value to the workshop and the World Aquaculture Conference 2023. However, they do not have the means to fund their own attendance.

Workshop information
Date: Sunday 28th & Monday 29th May 2023
Location: Convention Centre, Darwin NT, Australia
Sessions will cover:
Day 1 (Sunday 28th May; 8.30am – 5.00pm):
- Regional updates on existing tropical oyster aquaculture; Australia (NT, Qld and WA), Fiji, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Vietnam, Cuba, Brazil, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines
- Evening social event (from 5.30pm): Networking drinks and nibbles at the Oyster Bar.
Day 2 (Monday 29th May; 8.30am – 3.00pm):
- Focus topics and breakout sessions on major issues confronting development of tropical oyster aquaculture, such as; hatchery production, food safety, disease and business development.
A detailed program will be distributed in the weeks leading up to the workshop.

World Aquaculture Conference Information
Date: Monday 29th May to Thursday 1 June
Location: Convention Centre, Darwin NT, Australia
Sessions cover diverse aquaculture topics from feed development to training and governance structures.