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Aquaculture Down Under

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23.01.2022 Some exciting times ahead for aquaculture in Northern Australia!

21.01.2022 Some photos from my tuna ranching adventure.

17.01.2022 Pearl farming in the beautiful, remote Kimberley region of West Australia. Pinctada maxima pearls and pearl shells are a huge part of the history of this area. 20,000 years ago the Bardi people used the ornate carved shells for ceremonies and in the late 1800s this region produced 80% of the world's mother of pearl shell for buttons. Naturally forming pearls were a by-product of this industry, but quickly became the main focus and eventually farming methods were adopted from... Japan. Market fluctuations and a poorly understood viral disease have caused big challenges for the industry over the last decade or more. There are now only 4 pearl farming companies remaining in this region of Australia. My family spent 3 days at Cygnet Bay Pearl farm on the Dampier Peninsula. This farm was started by Dean Brown in 1946 and is now managed by his grandson, James. The farm has recently branched out into tourism to diversify the business, including accommodation, a restaurant and providing tours of the farm and the area. We learned how the farm uses a combination of wild-harvested and hatchery-reared oysters, seeding pearls at 3 years of age and growing for a further 2 years. At around five years of age, pearls are harvested and re-seeded up to 4 times, with the size of the nucleus growing larger each time. The pearls are grown in panels on long-lines at around 10m depth and cleaned every 6 weeks by high pressure water and then fouling is also scraped by hand. I hired a boat to see where they are grown, near the mouth of the bay, and I can see how the massive 10m tides in this area are both good for oyster growth but challenging for farming! Lastly, we learned about pearl grading and the 5 virtues; lustre, surface, shape, colour and size, then they showed us some really expensive nacre! Fair to say we had a great time. See more

17.01.2022 Last week I visited 888 abalone farm in beautiful Bremer Bay, Western Australia (and had a sneaky taste of their product).

15.01.2022 There are a couple of delicious freshwater crayfish species in Australia but large scale farming has not yet been realised. Since I wasn't able to visit any of the existing farms on the trip here's a recent article:

14.01.2022 Just a few more photos to share from salmon farming in Tasmania, with thanks to Tassal

05.01.2022 Some photos from the visit to Mainstream barramundi

04.01.2022 Daintree Saltwater Barramundi I came across this farm on the incredibly scenic drive between Cairns and Mossman and briefly caught up with the Manager, Mark Hober. At the industry level, a big hurdle has been trying to improve product labelling to distinguish between local and imported products in restaurants. Also reducing the risk of disease posed by imported fish products. ... At the farm level, this pristine location comes with turbulent weather, and floods have impacted production this year. Market volatility has also been difficult to manage, although recently demand has been very strong and the farm is preparing for significant expansion. This has come after a strong coordinated marketing campaign by the industry. This farm has chosen to supplement income through tourism, and I checked it out with tour guide Jesse. In fairly quick time he caught a nice healthy fish from a production pond for a photo. Tough job but someone's got to do it!

04.01.2022 Some photos of Hutt Lagoon, Western Australia. This is the world's largest microalgae production plant, farming Dunaliella salina, which is naturally occurring here, for production of -carotene. In this hypersaline environment, the brine shrimp Artemia parthenogenetica can be a pest for microalgae production. In 2010, a commercial facility was launched to produce brine shrimp alongside the microalgae, and this is now used as live feed in fish and prawn hatcheries across Australia. I wasn't able to stop here long enough to find out more but please feel free to add a comment if you can contribute.

02.01.2022 On the Dampier Peninsula I found this awesome place. The Ardyaloon trochus hatchery and aquaculture centre is owned by the local community. It began 30 years ago when there was a need to help wild trochus populations to recover from poaching. Some shells were sold for use as buttons, which supplemented the re-stocking program. These days trochus shell value has dropped and although they are still farmed here from September to December, the main income is from tourists who can learn about indigenous culture, see marine life up-close in tanks, and buy trochus shells and jewellery. The challenge for the future is to use the great potential of this place for commercially viable aquaculture while still maintaining tourism revenue and working with the great knowledge and values of the local people.

01.01.2022 I'm in Tasmania at the moment- amazed to visit Tassal and see these futuristic control stations, feeding sea cages with precision from the comfort and safety of the office! I will post a note separately with more details.