This project has been developed to address the following needs:

• Non- scientific people in the seafood industry need to have concise and clear guidance on how to assess shelf-life and quality of new products and advice on selection of packaging options
• Foodborne pathogens currently considered to be of low risk in seafood products may become a high risk in new product types, these need to be clearly identified within appropriate guidelines so that industry can ensure product safety.
• Current CRC projects have focused on the development of new product types and assessment of product shelf-life. This project will utilise knowledge gained in these projects and increase the uptake of current CRC outputs
• There is a need to reduce costs of unnecessary tests for new products

Due to oversupply issues and competition from imported product, the price paid to prawn farmers and fishers has declined in real terms in recent years. Collectively, and in response to these market pressures, the ACPF, APFA and QSMA have committed to plan a collaborative market development strategy to build demand for prawns in the domestic market. Increasing demand should ultimately improve the price paid for the Australian prawn product.

This project will result in a deliverable national market development strategy. Funding to implement the strategy is anticipated to be through funding mechanisms deemed appropriate and agreed to by industry associations. Given the current market situation there is an incentive now for all prawn producers (both wild capture and farmers) to work together to clarify the most effective market development activities that such funding mechanisms could support.

The TSGA strategic plan to 2030 targets a 100% expansion to a $1 billion industry over the next 20 years. The challenge for the Tasmanian Atlantic salmon industry is for sustainable strategic growth. The strategic plan recognises that to achieve this industry needs to examine alternate production technologies and/or strategies, and to adopt a collaborative approach with Government and other stakeholders with respect to key social and environmental issues and mitigation strategies.

Continued growth of the industry beyond 2015 is constrained by availability of sheltered inshore sites and regulatory limitations on expansion associated with nutrient limitations in the receiving waters. Therefore an examination of alternate technologies and or strategies for production is essential if the strategic target is to be achieved. Such technologies could be financially viable if measured against the current environmental costs of net pen salmon farming in existing areas; for example the costs associated with controlling and managing amoebic gill disease (AGD).

The challenge for this project is to identify and evaluate the production, health, environmental and societal costs/benefits and risks associated with production expansion options. Opportunities and strategies need to be evaluated that could be adopted in either existing farming areas, or in new areas such as more exposed high energy waters or onshore. This appraisal needs to consider associated management practices, whilst preserving / enhancing the environmental sustainability credentials of the Tasmanian Atlantic salmon industry, and the Australian aquaculture industry.

This project will review currently available and proven technologies which have the potential to address the key environmental limitations facing industry development, will critically evaluate the technical, environmental and economic feasibility of the most applicable options and in the final component will recommend and develop a pilot project to test the theoretical assumptions under local conditions.

Consistency of colour as well as overall colour intensity are essential elements to seafood product acceptability, marketability and dollar value. This is particularly true for the deep red colour of cooked crustaceans. Farmed crustacean species commonly have suboptimal colour consistency and/or colour intensity. There is an industry driven need to therefore optimise colour consistency and intensity of farmed crustacean product.

Farmed crustacean colour is enhanced by a critical but costly feed additive, the carotenoid astaxanthin. The increased outlay in production is offset by gains in market value of between $2 to 5 / kg, in the case of prawns. To achieve consistent premium colour grade scores, our most recent research in penaeid prawns and hard-shelled lobsters showed that the cooked colour of the animal is not related solely to the total carotenoid content of the animal, but it is essential for the carotenoid to be bound with high levels of a colour protein called crustacyanin (CRCN).

To expand our scientific knowledge in this area, future research needs to extend beyond carotenoid inclusion levels in diets, and begin to explore natural variation in abundance of this novel colour protein complex or simple methods that can increase the protein abundance and enhance colour. This baseline information will support the development of commercial procedures that maximise crustacean colour consistency and intensity, allowing farmers to maximise product quality, price, marketability and acceptability.