Health is one of the major issues associated with intensive culture industries, including aquaculture. Unhealthy stock relates to unhealthy industry – higher production costs, reduced viability, poor market and public image. Outbreaks of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) in Scotland resulted in some salmon companies going into receivership. The use of medication increases production costs and negatively impacts on the market.
In Australia, salmon aquaculture is relatively disease free, which provides a possible marketing advantage. However, Amoebic Gill Disease costs are 9.4% of the gross value of production; a significant production cost for farming Atlantic salmon in Tasmania. The disease outbreaks seem to intensify as the industry develops and now are prevalent not only during summer months but also in winter. Outputs of the CRC Health Program such as improved treatment of AGD infected fish, AGD risk forecasting ability and vaccine production against AGD will increase the profitability and competitiveness of the Australian salmon industry.
AGD is severely limiting further expansion of the industry because it ties up resources that could be directed elsewhere, and it limits farming sites due to reliance on freshwater for bathing. Current treatment of AGD while environmentally friendly is not viable in the long-term and alternatives are required. Other treatments may be more reliant on antibiotics or chemicals, a risk to the image of the industry. Although vaccine development can be seen as a high-risk research target the potential rewards justify the risk
Project number:
2004-217.20
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$482,334.32
Principal Investigator:
Robert Raison
Organisation:
University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Project start/end date:
29 Jun 2004
-
21 Jun 2008
Contact:
FRDC
SPECIES
1. To identify potential protective antigens from N. pemaquidensis using a combined DNA/protein approach.
2. To identify and characterize attachment molecules involved in the infection process of Atlantic Salmon by N. pemaquidensis..
3. To demonstrate protection of Atlantic salmon against clinical AGD via cDNA and/or recombinant protein vaccination.
Authors:
Robert Raison
Margarita Villavedra
Kevin Broady
Michael
Wallach
Joyce To
Susan Lemke
Rohan Panwar
Gaganpreet Sandhu
Philip Crosbie
Michael Attard
Mark
Adams
Mark Powell and Barbara Nowak.
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2023-087
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
Macquarie Harbour oxygenation trial
1. Develop plume model and run scenarios to inform injection depth, flow volume, concentration, and distribution of injection points for oxygenation trials.
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2023-071
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
Development of an Experimental Aquaculture Facility (EAF) specific Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) challenge model that can reliably evaluate treatment interventions to support industry focused AGD studies
Commercial in confidence
ORGANISATION:
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) Hobart
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2023-051
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
Ecologically sustainable aquaculture growth through Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) – Incorporating IMTA nutrient modelling into regulatory frameworks.
1. Review current literature on IMTA, including existing models and data requirements.
ORGANISATION:
Flinders University