Aquaculture Nutrition

This project coordinates, manages and implements research projects that address nutritional, environmental impact and commodity development issues limiting the development of aquaculture or enhancement of grain or oilseed industries in Western Australia. To date, this project has in 2002-2003 resulted in the development of three major externally funded projects;(a) the development of the potential of key Western Australian produced commodities, such as lupin and canola meals, for inclusion the in aquaculture feeds, both domestically and internationally;(b) the development of environmentally sustainable barramundi production in the Kimberley with key activities of improving feed design and management and characterisation of the Lake Argyle environment with a view to developing cage-culture carrying capacity estimates; and * a third project has objectives of improving feeds and feeding technology for freshwater aquaculture species, with key activities in Vietnam and Cambodia, with local components on barramundi in the Kimberley. Also included within this project are two PhD projects, one on the development of "eco-diets" for pink snapper, with a second examining the benthic impacts associated with sea-cage farming in coastal ecosystems.Knowledge gained is anticipated to be available directly to industry to allow rapid adoption and practical development.Time : ongoing.