Over 20 marine fish species have been studied for farming or stock enhancement in Australia. However, commercial production has been dominated by the cage culture of Salmo salar in Tasmania, Thunnus maccoyii in South Australia, and to a lesser extent Lates calcarifer in Queensland. A major impediment to the commercial production of new species has been the large-scale production of juvenile fish. The development of marine fish larval rearing technology in Australia has had four main influences over the last decade: culture system technology from France, live food culture and nutritional enhancement from Belgium, artificial diets from Japan and extensive pond culture from the USA. Microalgae and live food culture is based on traditional aquaculture species and methods. Recent Australian research has focused on induced spawning, the role of stress in inhibiting ovulation, factors influencing initial swim bladder inflation in larvae, larval nutrition, extensive culture and diagnosis of disease. Over the next 5 years, Australian aquaculturists should be able to produce industrial quantities of a range of native marine fish, either in intensive fish hatcheries, or in combination with extensive pond culture.
(ICLARM, Coastal Aquaculture Ctr., POB 438, Honiara, Solomon Islands)
home