Like any thriving aquaculture industry, the Atlantic salmon industry needs to continually address biological challenges, market and development opportunities and production efficiencies through a coordinated research effort. This enables the industry to ensure sustainability, profitability and to develop to its full potential. The salmon industry does this through a mix of tactical (projects that addresses issues of immediate concern) and strategic (projects addressing longer-term development issues) research. This is achieved through industry strategic plans and to developing collaborative research projects that address industry bottlenecks and avoid duplication and unnecessary expenditure of a finite research funding base.

The SAS provides the delivery mechanism for this approach by ensuring that research is:
- addressing strategic research priorities,
- outcome focussed,
- supported by industry and management,
- adequately funded,
- properly managed and reviewed,
- properly delivered to stakeholders.

The SAS Aquaculture Implementation Committee is also a fundamental management instrument of the Aquafin CRC, providing a vehicle through which the objectives of both the FRDC and Aquafin CRC are realised.

The need for a more cohesive national approach to recreational fisheries RDE has been recognised by Recfish Australia and FRDC for some years. The first move towards a more cohesive approach occurred in 2001/02 with the establishment of the National Strategy for the Survival of Released Line Caught Fish. For the first time a national approach was developed to a priority issue for the recreational fishing industry and over the following years a new very inclusive approach was taken. Key priorities have been addressed through the strategy, leading to a significant improvement in our knowledge on the survival of released fish and an improvement in the best practices for releasing fish.

In 2005 the FRDC Board recognised the need for a new approach to the broader range of recreational fishing RDE priorities and identified the need for the recreational sector to form a body to take these issues forward. The recreational fishing industry needs information on the social and economic benefits provided by recreational fishing to inform resource sharing and access, counter falling participation rates and facilitate growth of the sector in line with changing community values. Research and promotion of best fishing practices is needed to meet community concerns regarding sustainability and ethical conduct of recreational fishing. Extension of new knowledge needs to be improved as past R&D projects have not adequately used recreational fishers communications networks to transfer new knowledge. This proposal seeks to provide for the formation of that body, to provide for the ongoing planning and coordination needed at a national level in a way that adds value to work undertaken by the States. It will also address FRDC’s requirements for effective extension and adoption of R&D results which is reflected in the adding of E to the traditional R&D.

Metazoan parasites threaten the sustainability and profitability of the Australian finfish aquaculture industry. It is critical, therefore, to identify local parasite species and determine which are potentially harmful. There have been many studies assessing metazoan parasite fauna of wild fish and fish farmed in sea-cages in the northern hemisphere, but such research is notably absent in the Australia. With current low stocking densities and dispersed farm locations in Australia, the potential for parasitic disease problems in sea-cage aquaculture may not yet be realised.

In the sea-cage environment farmed fish can acquire infections found in local populations of wild fish. The natural occurrence of wild fish near sea-cage farms provides an opportunity for transfer of parasites between wild and farmed populations. The parasite assemblage of the wild fish species and the potential risks of these parasites for sea-cage aquaculture are largely unknown. By gathering biological data about parasites, we will gain a better understanding of how to manage and control them on fish in captivity.

Parasite identification, knowledge of parasite biology, diagnostic tools and how parasites impact on their host is critical for effective parasite management. This project will use a powerful combination of morphological and molecular genetic techniques to provide a comprehensive understanding of copepod, monogenean and trematode parasites infecting selected aquaculture, recreational and commercial finfish species in southeastern Australia, plus barramundi in the northwest.

This research will enable proactive parasite management and rapid identification of pathogenic parasite species. It will also identify appropriate site selection for expansion of the industry away from infection sources. Appropriate husbandry practices and management practices can be put in place to control parasite infections thereby reducing morbidity and mortality in fish stocks.

The vast majority of the Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) farmed in South Australia is sold fresh for sashimi production in Japan. Premium prices are obtained for sashimi grade tuna with a high fat content. Unfortunately, fatty fish tissues with their high polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content are prone to oxidation. This results in poor flesh quality, reduced shelf life and significant trimming of the tuna carcass at the market.

FRDC Project No. 2004/209 investigated the impact of dietary supplements on the flesh quality of farmed SBT. Specifically, it investigated the impact of the dietary antioxidants vitamins C and E and the mineral selenium. Project No. 2004/209 showed that these supplements can extend the shelf life of muscle samples taken from farmed SBT fed diets containing higher than normal concentrations of the antioxidants.

Although Project No. 2004/209 has been very successful, performing diet trials with live SBT is expensive and logistically difficult. It is also time-consuming and the statistical power of the experiments is limited by the fact that it is economically unfeasible to have multiple replicate sea-cages for each dietary treatment. As a result of these constraints, experiments must be repeated over several years to obtain statistically valid results.

Recently, we produced the world’s first SBT cell line and to our knowledge the first cell line for any tuna species. The cell line has the potential to reduce the number of experiments with live SBT and to greatly increase the number of dietary supplements that can be screened in a given period of time. With the cell line, it takes only one week to screen 24 different supplements with 3-4 replicates of each. This compares with years for similar experiments with live SBT.

This project will evaluate the cell line as a platform for testing dietary antioxidant supplements for SBT.