New and Emerging Aquaculture Species Subprogram: review of FRDC investment policies and strategies and development of a management framework for new and emerging aquaculture research
Since 2000 FRDC has invested, through its public good, considerable resources in emerging and developing aquaculture species. There have been some slight changes in the direction taken, but overall very little has changed. For example, abalone and barramundi aquaculture are now seen as mature sectors that should not obtain the degree of public good investment they received in the past. These areas have traditionally been managed as individual sectors with little cross fertilisation.
In the recent funding round, six new applications in the emerging and developing species aquaculture category were submitted. As such, it was considered that the FRDC should revise its investment strategy in this area. This would involve FRDC ceasing its individual sector based approach using public good funds and initiating a Emerging and Developing Aquaculture Species Program.
In addition, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) has been involved in the development of new rural industries and has recently published reports regarding critical success factors (Critical Success Factors in New Rural Industries, RIRDC Publication 09/002, March 2009) and turning good ideas into profitable ventures. The RIRDC has also been involved in the investment in fisheries related programs regarding the development of aquaculture species. The FRDC is keen to engage in this process and co-invest in fisheries related R&D.
Final report
Evaluating the Southern Bluefin Tuna cell lines as a platform for testing the effectiveness of antioxidants in preserving flesh quality
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.