Fishing Australia

In my travels I have been lucky enough to visit some of the larger aquaculture ventures around Australia.

Some that spring to mind include Tassie Salmon and Sea Run trout, two products which I personally am very fond of and are readily available around most of Australia.

The bluefin tuna, hirashima kingfish, coffin bay oysters and other farms along South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula are also stand out operations when it comes to quality world class produce. One of the major players down there, Hagen Stehr and his folks, recently beat the rest of the world in being the first to breed southern bluefin tuna; a huge achievement that.

There are also many other extremely successful (and tasty) aquaculture ventures around Australia, too many to mention here.

Aquaculture is far from being environmentally perfect, the feed has to come from somewhere and this can put huge pressure on baitfish stocks.

There is also the waste products that have to be dealt with and there are usually strict rules that have to be adhered too so that the local environment is not too adversely affected.

The species themselves can also cause an imbalance when they escape and put extra pressure on the local species and /or breed with genetically pure species in the area.

Other problems also exist, although that being said I for one believe that the pros far out weigh the cons when the environment takes priority. For instance having good supplies of farmed fish takes a lot of pressure off wild fish stocks.

Love it or hate it aquaculture is here to stay and hopefully lots of the money generated is used to continue the research into sustainable practices.

The NSW government has became a lot more serious about aquaculture; they recently launched a strategy to encourage the growth of a viable and environmentally sustainable land based aquaculture industry in NSW, Primary Industries Minister, Steve Whan, announced recently.

The NSW Land Based Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy, aims to assist future aquaculture development by providing information on business planning, species and site selection, planning and design, and best practice guidelines for aquaculture.

“NSW provides the ideal setting for most forms of land based aquaculture,” Minister Whan said.

“The State offers a range of ideal species for culture, a clean growing environment, suitable infrastructure and ready access to local and overseas seafood markets.

“The strategy has been developed through a whole of government approach by the Department of Planning; Industry & Investment NSW; Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water; Department of Local Government; Department of Lands, and the NSW Food Authority, overseen by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.”

Industry & Investment NSW Aquaculture Manager Ian Lyall said it also simplifies the application and development processes by cutting through red tape, with all government agencies involved working co-operatively together.

“This whole of government approach sends a clear message that NSW is open for aquaculture investment,” Mr Lyall said.

“The strategy applies to land-based aquaculture, including:
Estuarine and marine pond and tank based aquaculture growing such species as prawns, mulloway, snapper and bream. Freshwater pond and tank based aquaculture growing such species silver perch, golden perch, Murray cod and yabbies.

“Aquaculture has been the fastest growing primary industry in Australia with growth of over 8% per year.

“In Australia, aquaculture production comprised over 30 per cent of the total gross value of production for Australian fisheries.
“In 2007-08 the NSW aquaculture industry contributed $52 million to the economy and provided over 1500 valuable jobs in regional NSW.

“The NSW Government is committed to encouraging the sustainable development of aquaculture through the preparation of sustainable aquaculture strategies, to protect the industry for generations to come,” Mr Lyall said.

Copies of the strategy are available from the I&I NSW website at www.industry.nsw.gov.au/fisheries

See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos