Wednesday, February 20, 2013

20/03/13: Australia special

There's a bit of a buzz about cobia at the moment. The species is being earmarked as 'the next big thing' in aquaculture thanks to its quick growth and firm flesh. One farmer keen to explore the potential of the species is Alistair Dick, of Pacific Reef fisheries, near Ayr, Australia.Dick told ABC Rural that the financial potential for fish farmers is significant considering cobia can grow up to 10 kilograms within their first year - double the speed of barramundi and triple the speed of Atlantic salmon.
If you're a cobia fan, look out for the next issue of International Aquafeed has a cobia expert topic.

There are successful fish farms in South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia and now there are plans for a farm in New South Wales. However, the proposal to build a farm four kilometres off the Central Coast is running into trouble. Aquaculture advocates argue that the New South Wales Fisheries Institute farm will take the pressure off wild fish stocks while other believe the farm will be a polluter.

PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture has released a proposal to introduce snapper spatial closures for public consultation.
The proposed spatial closures encompass several snapper spawning aggregation sites within Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent, which would be closed to Snapper fishing between November and January each year, when Snapper are known to aggregate in South Australian waters. This is a temporary management measure that would be reviewed on an annual basis.


Australasian snapper
Australasian snapper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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