aquaculture bill is nearly ready koura farms need a higher...

ISSUE 43 ■ SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 $5.00

THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF NEW ZEALAND AQUACULTURE

Koura farms need a higher profile

NORWAY LOOKS TO KIWIS TO BUILD ITS

CRAB EXPORTS

AQUACULTURE BILL IS NEARLY READY

2 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011

An informative journal for the aquaculture industry

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Ph 09 533 4336 Fax 09 533 4337Email [email protected]@skipper.co.nzwww.nzaquaculture.co.nz

General: Reproduction of articles and materials published in New Zealand Aquaculture in whole or part, is permitted provided the source and author(s) are acknowledged. However, all photographic material is copyright and written permission to reproduce in any shape or form is required. Contributions of a nature relevant to the aquaculture industry are welcomed and industry participants are especially encouraged to contribute. Articles and information printed in New Zealand Aquaculture do not necessarily reflect the opinions or formal position or the publishers unless otherwise indicated. All material published in New Zealand Aquaculture is done so with all due care as regards to accuracy and factual content, however, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors and omissions which may occur. New Zealand Aquaculture is produced bi-monthly.

3 EDITORIAL

4 NEWSA look at what’s happening in the industry

6 BARRAMUNDI IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENTFrustrating beginning now a thriving business

8 NORWEGIANS LEARN FROM KIWI SPINY LOBSTER INDUSTRYKing crab company looks down under to learn about live exports

9 MUSSELS MAY CONTROL SEA LICE IN SALMONAnother strategy in the fight against parasitic pest

10 OCEAN LAW: Little change four months after new act introducedIwi will have to wait until after the election

11 IS AQUACULTURE THE NEW “DIAMOND” INDUSTRY?Fish farms could help feed poor and fast-growing population

12 ARE BUTTERFISH A VIABLE FARMED PRODUCT?NIWA spent several years studying a possible aquaculture species

14 KOURA FARMERS NEED A VOICECollaboration would boost a fragmented industry

CONTENTS

EDITOR:Keith Ingram

ASSISTANT EDITOR:Mark Barratt-Boyes

MANAGER:Vivienne Ingram

ADVERTISING:Hamish Stewart

DESIGNER: Rachel Walker

CONTRIBUTORS:

Sarah Allen, Neil de Jong, Philip Heath,

Justine Inns, Philip James, Dorothy-Jean

McCoubrey, John Mosig, Vince Scully

PRINTER: GEON

DISTRIBUTION: By subscription

and insertion with Professional Skipper

ISSN 1176-5402 ISSN 1176-8657 (web)

ISSUE 43 ■ SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 $5.00


Koura farms need a higher profile

NORWAY LOOKS TO KIWIS TO BUILD ITS

CRAB EXPORTS

AQUACULTURE BILL IS NEARLY READY

ON THE COVER:Norway is seeking Kiwi help to boost its

exports of live king crabs

TM

6 8 12

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ 3

GUEST EDITORIAL

COMPROMISE over billBY JUSTINE INNS

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ISSUE 42 ■ JULY/AUGUST 2011

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WHY NOT FARM MULLET WITH KOURA?

Diploma studentsforge a new pathway


UPDATE ON THE AQUACULTURE BILL

YABBIE FARMER USES CRABBING SKILLS

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The reform of the law governing aquaculture came another step closer when the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hon Phil Heatley, took the unusual

step on August 8 of publically releasing supplementary order papers, or SOPs, proposing a number of changes to the Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill (No.3).

As well as setting out new measures in respect of the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement and the undue adverse effects or UAE test, and establishing a fi nfi sh farming zone in the Hauraki Gulf, the release of the papers provides a clear signal that the bill can’t be far from completing its passage through parliament.

The bill was introduced into parliament in early November last year and was referred to the Primary Production Select Committee. The committee received 120 submissions on the bill, few of which seem to have challenged the bill’s fundamentals. As a result, the committee reported back to parliament in May, recommending a number of changes of a fairly technical nature.

Interesting work was occurring in parallel to the Select Committee’s consideration, however. Late in 2010, the minister established an advisory panel - of which I was privileged to be a member - alongside Hon Sir Doug Kidd and Mark Farnsworth to investigate a proposal for a 300ha fi nfi sh farming zone in the Hauraki Gulf.

After receiving more than 70 submissions and hearing from many submitters in person, we advised Heatley that the proposal should proceed. The zone will allow commercial validation of fi nfi sh farming, but should, in the view of the panel, occur only within an adaptive management framework, and subject, of course, to rigorous testing and monitoring of individual proposals through the Resource Management Act processes.

The SOPs released by the minister will amend Environment Waikato’s regional coastal plan to establish the zone and allow the council to receive applications for resource consents in relation to it, once the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement has been provided for.

When the bill was introduced, the minister stressed that the government intended to uphold the principles of the 2004 Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement, and that it would be talking to iwi over the coming months about how best to do that, with a view to making the necessary changes to the bill later in the parliamentary process.

It must be recalled that the Crown’s obligation to deliver

iwi 20 percent of all new aquaculture space was established in 2004. That obligation was an “easy fi t” with the 2004 regime based on aquaculture management areas, but is more diffi cult to implement in the new regime, where aquaculture will be developed through private applications for resource consents.

The government was adamant it would not be “taxing” such applications for 20 percent of their space, and iwi were less than enthusiastic about the “confetti-ised” form their entitlements would have taken if it had done so. The result is a compromise that empowers the minister to temporarily set aside space for use in settlement and encourages iwi and the Crown to reach agreement over tailored solutions to the settlement, region-by-region.

The settlement might be old news that just needed a new delivery mechanism, but proposed changes to the undue adverse effects regime is most defi nitely new news, and represents the fi rst signifi cant recalibration of the relationship between aquaculture and wild fi sheries since the 1971 Marine Farming Act.

The SOPs will introduce an arbitrated compensation regime, allowing an objective quantifi cation of the impact a new aquaculture activity will have on affected quota owners. If the aquaculture proponent is prepared to pay that level of compensation, they can proceed with their plans, despite any objections from quota owners.

But the changes do not do quite the level of violence to quota rights that that short summary implies. Firstly, MFish has to conduct the UAE test in the same way as it does presently, the government having pulled back from initial proposals to lift the threshold of “undue-ness” to 10 percent.

Secondly, where a UAE is found to exist (or even before that test is conducted), would-be marine farmers and quota owners are free to negotiate any agreement that meets their needs, with arbitration only available after efforts at negotiation have been exhausted.

Thirdly, the arbitration option is only available where, as a preliminary matter, it is established that the proposed aquaculture activities would be of “materially greater economic value to New Zealand” than the wild fi sheries it would impact on.

In reality, the hope seems to be that the spectre of the arbitration process will incentivise reasonable compromises to be reached much earlier in the process, rather than needing to be called on often.

Justine Inns is a partner at OceanLaw.

NEWS


KOURA FARMER IS RED-FACEDFreshwater koura farmer Vince Scully saw red recently after a creek upstream from his property at Mill Rd, Kaikoura, was sprayed with herbicides.

Scully, a director of Waikoura Springs koura farm, said the creek turned red for 40 minutes. Local dairy farmers were angered when Scully blamed them. Further enquiries by the Kaikoura Star revealed an Environment Canterbury (ECan) contractor had sprayed the banks of the creek to control gorse as part of its pest management programme.

Kaikoura ECan manager Kevin Heays said the contractor’s spray contained a non-toxic vegetable dye which turned the water red. “The creek needs to keep running so the spraying is done on demand. The water is tested downstream at the time of spraying, about once a year. So far there has never been an instance where we have put stuff in there that is harmful,” Heays said.

He agreed one area that could be improved was notifi cation. The contractors operated under a resource consent and had fully complied with all its conditions.

STIRLING EFFORTSThe University of Stirling signed an agreement with Guangdong Ocean University on June 24 which will see students from China travelling to Scotland to study aquaculture.

Up to 15 students will transfer from China following their four-year undergraduate BSc degree to pursue a master’s degree at Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture.

Professor Sandra Adams of the Institute of Aquaculture said the agreement grew from close links developed over 15 years. “Our research areas are very similar, focusing on fi sh disease diagnosis and vaccine development.”

Professor Adams, who is now an honorary professor of GOU, has worked on a research

menus. They include Matt Moran, Warren Turnbull and Colin Fassnidge.

The Sydney win reinforced the fact that customer and consumer satisfaction were key elements to its success in global markets, said the chief executive of NZ King Salmon, Grant Rosewarne. “The taste and texture appeal of our Chinook products has some of the world’s best chefs saying our king salmon has superior taste.”

KIWI TECHNOLOGY SAVES RARE MARINE SAMPLESA sophisticated monitoring system from a young New Zealand company that began as an AUT University start-up is protecting rare marine samples used in ongoing research.

When Emma Beatson, a doctorate student and research offi cer at the university’s Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute, and her colleagues, needed to make sure their container of rare marine specimens was always kept cool, iMonitor used its remote monitoring technology to ensure the success of the research.

An incubated technology company from AUT University’s Business Innovation Centre, iMonitor provides solutions that enable assets to be managed anywhere in the world via satellite, cellular and wireless mesh networks.

“iMonitor approached us when they learned we had a refrigerated container,” Emma said. “The iMonitor technology has helped us by providing a continuous stream of data via the web on the temperature of our container. Regular checks of the data give us peace of mind that our samples are always at the required temperature.

“This is particularly helpful, as we are usually based on a different site to where our samples are stored, so we can’t physically be there to check on them as often as we would like.”

The founder and general manager of iMonitor, Allan Weeks, says the case study is one of many where iMonitor is using its technology to protect peoples’ businesses and products.

“Anybody who owns or is in charge of expensive equipment and products is automatically exposing themselves and their company to risks of failure or breakdown. Sometimes insurance will cover the loss and sometimes it won’t. Either way, there is a cost, so the trick is not to let it happen in the fi rst place.”

Weeks says real-time wireless remote monitoring and control can be the 24-hour watchdog for virtually anything and can send alerts automatically at the hint of a problem before it becomes a disaster.

“Most people think because the technology is relatively new, it must be expensive, and yes it was,” he says. “However, costs have come way down in the past

project funded by the Chinese government to develop Vibrio vaccines in fi sh. Last year she advised on their vaccine development programme.

Several Stirling academics have also visited China to give lectures and advise on the research programme of their fi sh disease laboratory. These visits have been reciprocated when Chinese academics visited Stirling to conduct research.

Dr Trevor Telfer, the course director for the master’s programme, said students in the 2010/11 classes were from 22 countries, not including China.

The Institute of Aquaculture says it is the leading international centre in its fi eld and the largest aquacultural institute of its kind in the world. Guangdong Ocean University, founded in 1935, has 18 faculties, including marine science, engineering, economics and management, and 22,600 students.

KIWI SALMON RATED TOP IN SYDNEYNew Zealand King Salmon received further acclaim when it was presented with the prize for the Best Supplier – Aquaculture in Australia at the Sydney Fish Market’s Seafood Excellence Awards on July 30.

The award is for the aquaculture supplier who delivers the most popular and highest quality aquaculture product into New South Wales. All the products must be sold through Sydney Fish Market Pty Ltd, either through its auction or direct sales systems.

New Zealand King Salmon’s products are marketed in Australia under the Regal King Salmon brand. The Australian general manager, Markus Gerlich, said their entry highlighted the company’s farming practices, supported by its Global Trust accreditation and its awards from the British Humane Society.

Gerlich says the brand is defi ned by the calibre of the chefs who serve it in their

AMENDMENTS STRENGTHEN LEGISLATIONSupplementary orders proposed for inclusion in the Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 3) will strengthen the legislation, says the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Phil Heatley.

“This legislation is all about enabling sustainable use of our valuable natural resources to build the economy, create more jobs and get more people into work, especially in the regions. A great deal of work has gone on to ensure we have come up with workable solutions,” Heatley said.

The orders include the mechanism for delivering the Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004 to Maori. It also amends the Waikato Regional Coastal Plan to establish a new 300ha marine farming zone. A further order ensures the interests of commercial fi shing quota holders can be balanced with those of aquaculture.

If the aquaculture enterprise delivers materially greater value to New Zealand than commercial fi shing in the same area, an independent arbitrator will decide what should be paid to the commercial fi sher if the interested parties cannot themselves reach agreement.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ 5SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ 5

couple of years, to the point where the solution costs far less than most insurance policies. In the case of the marine samples, there is no value. They are priceless.”

SALMON GENOME SEQUENCE WILL TRANSFORM INDUSTRYNorway is cooperating with Canada and Chile to sequence the salmon genome. The knowledge could answer several issues involving Norwegian farmed salmon and lead to major competitive advantages for companies taking part in the project.

“As project participants, we gain access to the sequence before it is published and made widely available,” says Dr Petter Arnesen of Marine Harvest ASA, the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon. “This gives us the opportunity to search for genetic sequences that code for desired traits, which could give us a competitive edge.

“Of course our primary motivation for contributing to the sequencing was for researchers to have access to the genome, which will benefi t the entire industry and society at large.”

Genomic knowledge would form a basis for entirely new solutions for preventing disease, improving product quality and utilising previously untried feed ingredients, not only for salmon but also for other production species.

Norway has actively promoted the sequencing of the salmon genome and is contributing 35 percent of the project’s cost of NOK60 million (approximately $12.8 million). Marine Harvest has chipped in NOK2 million, along with other Norwegian contributions from the industry.

Once the genome is fully sequenced, the research possibilities are endless, says Arnesen. “By combining knowledge about the salmon genome and the sea lice genome, which has also been sequenced, scientists will hopefully gain the upper hand in relation to this problem.” Arnesen says it is realistic to expect a solution to the problem of sea lice within fi ve to 10 years.

The Norwegian company Aqua Gen

has already found a key gene for salmon resistance to the costly viral disease infectious pancreatic necrosis. It is now applying gene technology to selected broodstock individuals with this trait, resulting in a specialised fi sh-egg product that provides the starting point for salmon with high resistance to the IPN virus.

The knowledge gained from sequencing the salmon genome will soon be made publicly available. “The entire salmon industry is battling with the same issues, regardless of where in the world the companies operate,” says Arnesen. “This is why it’s so important that research activities are international and lead to useful and accessible knowledge all over the globe.”

SALMON NEEDS BETTER MARKETINGThe staff at the British company Callander McDowell wondered how long it would be following the recent fall in prices before someone brought up the word “over-supply” again.

According to the website www.seafoodnews.com, one Norwegian newspaper has written that salmon prices are declining sharply because of over-supply. This is nonsense. The salmon industry has simply failed to persuade suffi cient consumers to buy and eat salmon.

We have been unsuccessful in getting the message across that salmon is good to eat and consumers should buy more, not less. We have also allowed salmon to be priced out of the marketplace and thus, without any incentive to buy the fi sh, consumers have just walked away.

Before we are besieged by comments from Norway that a great deal of money has been spent on promotion, we should mention there is a big difference between promoting salmon and promoting Norwegian salmon, as the focus is completely different.

Unfortunately, high prices always seem to mask the need for future investment in market and product development to

continue to stimulate demand.A former analyst with DnB Nor Markets,

Klaus Hattlebrekke, said the current drop in prices showed when global supply grew by more than six percent, prices fell. This happened in 2001 and 2007, with prices falling between 20 and 30 percent, he said.

Without investment in market development, continued growth will always result in weakened prices. Consumers are not prepared to pay more on price alone. There is no doubt the recent price fall will be used as further evidence that the salmon industry is cyclical.

This is not true, yet! But it does show salmon farming is no different from any other business in that the market requires constant stimulation.

Demand is not the limiting factor for salmon production, it’s just that demand changes, and the salmon industry must respond accordingly to ensure a long-term and successful future.

CHANGES WILL UNLEASH MAORI AQUACULTUREA supplementary order paper to the Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill offers iwi and the Crown more fl exibility in negotiating settlements under the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004, says Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples.

Aquaculture could boost wealth and jobs, especially in the regions, but the 2004 act created an unworkable solution to settle Maori claims, he said.

The SOP allowed iwi and the Crown to negotiate regional settlements of commercial aquaculture claims, and iwi could negotiate a package that suited their circumstances. A time limit would stop discussions from getting bogged down.

The SOP would allow a marine farming zone to be created in the Hauraki Gulf, by amending the Waikato Regional Coastal Plan, he said. The zone was suitable to try raising hapuku or kingfi sh in sea cages, and iwi would get 20 percent.


Marty Phillips is a partner in Pejo Enterprises. They bought the former banana plantation 10km south of Innisfail in Far North Queensland in 2002 and set about

diversifying into fi sh farming.It took two costly and frustrating years for the company to get

an aquaculture permit, then they had to re-build their sheds after Cyclone Larry, but they are now producing close to 300 tonnes of barramundi a year.

Water is drawn from the Moresby River and a bore alongside the nursery and packing shed. The Moresby is a short, coastal river and the catchment in the nearby Basilisk Range can be clearly seen from the farm. This reduces fl ooding in the wet, in a region where the rainfall reaches 3m a year. “Flooding and fi sh farming don’t mix,” says Marty.

The bore water is soft and low in dissolved oxygen, but both conditions can be corrected relatively easily. The temperature is a constant 26˚Celsius. It is heated to 28˚C for use in the nursery.

The average summer temperature in the district is 30˚C and the mean winter temperature is 24˚C.

Seasonal rain also affects the salinity, which ranges between 25-29ppt. The river is tidal where Marty has built his farm, and during dry spells the tide pushes back against the river fl ow.

In the wet the water becomes fresh, even though the tide still pushes back against the fl ow. Marty says it gives his fi sh a salt bath to remove freshwater parasites and a freshwater bath to remove saltwater parasites a couple of times a year.

They ship in salt water for the marine stage of the hatchery phase and use the bore water in a semi fl ow-through system once the fry have become acclimatised to fresh water.

The 33 ponds on the farm cover 12.6ha and vary in size but

are mainly 50m x 80m x 2.5m deep. Two large settlement ponds create a wetland environment for a few crocodiles and thousands of waterfowl, including the endangered Burdekin duck. Pond temperatures range from 22˚C to a summer peak of 36˚C.

Aeration per 0.4ha pond is a combination of a 1.5kW paddlewheel and a 1.5kW aerojet, giving coverage of 7.5kW/ha.

The property has three-phase power throughout and Marty has a 400kVa diesel back-up generator in place. A re-circulation nursery system handles the barramundi from the time they are day-old larvae until they are 100mm fi ngerlings. This is set up in two stages: saline and fresh water. Food is kept in cold storage and they can hold eight tonnes of chilled fi sh in the coolroom.

PRODUCTION CYCLEPejo Enterprises try to get two batches of day-old barramundi larvae through a year. The larvae are taken in autumn and spring and are in the nursery tanks for 12 weeks, when they are 100mm long. They are inoculated for streptococcus and relocated in cages in the production ponds.

After another six to eight weeks they weigh 200-300g and are ready to swim freely in the ponds. It takes another 18 to 20 months for the fi sh to reach three kilos. Marty says they work on a two-year cycle and harvest 20 tonnes per pond, or 50 tonnes per hectare.

There are two re-circulation systems: a marine system for larval rearing and a freshwater system to grow the fry on to fi ngerlings. They swap the fry over to fresh water as soon as possible.

The re-circulation system isn’t sophisticated and has evolved over time. Marty reasons since he has such good quality bore water it’s cheaper to increase water exchange when the load demands it, rather than spend huge sums buying and operating bells-and-whistles technology.

Water exchange through the re-circulation system is hourly and the water in the system is replenished four to fi ve times a day, depending on the load.

Fish are graded twice during the nursery stage and the poorest 20 percent are culled and discarded before they cost too much. The total throughput is 150,000 fry a year.

The ponds are drained and dried at the end of each cycle and ground limestone added at the rate of 2.5 tonnes/ha during the growing cycle as required. Aeration is increased as the pond loads build up until it is twice the normal level close to harvest.

Pejo employs two full-time permanent staff and two permanent casuals who have developed into a highly effi cient

BARRAMUNDI is a long-term investmentBY JOHN MOSIG

The paddlewheel aerators run 24 hours a day

The final stage of the nursery is partially open to help acclimatise the fingerlings before they go out into the cages

The ponds are dried and limed after each cycle is completed


VIP.AC31

team. Like most fi sh farms it’s a round-the-clock operation. They spend one day a week packing off and the nursery takes constant monitoring and management. “On a big day they earn their keep,” says Marty.

FEEDINGInitially the larvae are reared on enriched rotifers. Enriched artemia are introduced around day 10 and they’re weaned onto dry food at day 20. They are acclimatised to fresh water around the same time.

The company uses both Skretting and Aquafeed, delivered in 1.5 tonne bulker bags and blown across the ponds.

However, the freight difference between Hobart and Brisbane is now about A$150 per tonne, which adds up to quite a bit over the year.

The fi ngerlings are fed a starter ration in the cages until they are 200-300mm long. They are fed to satiation with fl oating pellets. Their appetite drops as the water cools and they feed 50 percent less in the depth of winter. They are adding about one percent of their body weight daily when really on the tooth.

Food conversion effi ciency averages out at 1.4:1. Mart says they were able to get better fi gures, but losses played havoc with the FCRs when jabarus, crocodiles or health issues take fi sh out of the system.

Marty inoculates against streptococcus as a precaution. “We don’t suffer huge losses, but it just seems to pop its head up now and again. It’s the inconvenience. Anything that reduces the level of antibiotic use is positive for the industry. Consumers seem concerned about it.”

Marketing also suffers from any break in continuity. “We really go out of our way to maintain continuity of supply. It’s a big issue, and is probably one of the strongest points of farmed product versus wild-caught.”

Marty is trialling the use of molasses in the ponds to create a bacterial fl ock, which reduces the nitrogen levels and minimises the need for water exchange.

The Environment Protection Agency regularly monitors their TDS, TAN and phosphorous levels. The limits are strict – TDS 25ppm, TAN 0.8ppm and P 0.08ppm – but they have no problem keeping below them.

They use a 70m x 4m knotless net to crowd the barramundi to one end of the pond when they are ready for harvesting. The depth of the net allows for a good belly and the fi sh are not stressed when milling in front of the haul. Once they have congregated, a dip net lifts the fi sh out of the pond into an ice slurry. They can harvest fi ve tonnes of fi sh in two to three hours if everything goes right.

MARKETSThe barramundi are sold through wholesalers in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with a small amount to Canberra. “We take a long-term view. We don’t jump around from agent to agent and we like to build up a relationship.”

The farm makes its own ice and the whole fi sh are packed overnight in 1000 litre Nylex bins surrounded by crushed ice

and then in 18-20 kilo poly boxes the next day for airfreighting to the markets.

Prices have taken a belting over the last two years. “At $8 per kilo we’re not totally happy with the price. It’s down two dollars on what it was a couple of years ago. That’s a 20 percent drop when everything else is going up. We’re barely making money at that level.

“The high Australian dollar is making imports cheaper. It’s one of the reasons why we’re pushing for country-of-origin labelling. Barramundi is an Australian icon and tourists feel cheated if they’re passed off a piece of frozen Nile perch or Asian seabass. They can get that back home.”

Marty’s words resonate for the entire barramundi farming sector in Far North Queensland and, if they only knew it, the Australian consumer. “We need a fair price to justify the risk we take and the money we’ve got invested.”

Contact Marty Phillips by phone on (07) 4 063-2344, or by email on [email protected]

Fingerling cages growing out barramundi before their

release in the open ponds

The hatchery at Pejo


Nofi ma Marin, the largest aquaculture research institute in Norway, is currently developing “post-capture” aquaculture. This involves holding animals after they

have been captured to either improve their quality and value, or until the market offers optimal value for the product.

Until now most of the research has focused on cod, but more recently the focus has shifted to a range of invertebrate species, including the king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus.

King crabs are not endemic to northern Norway, but were introduced in 1960 by a zealous Russian scientist intent on transferring the species from the eastern coast of Russia to the western coast and into the Barents Sea. After several failed attempts, the species fi nally became established and rapidly spread west into Norwegian waters, where conditions are ideal for them.

They have subsequently spread rapidly and their numbers have increased exponentially in some areas. This has left Norway in the fortunate dilemma of having a valuable and abundant invasive species in their northern coastal waters.

There is now a quota fi shery as well as a free-take zone, the latter to restrict the western and southern spread of the species.

The king crab, with its Arctic distribution, huge size and wild deepwater fi shery (made famous by the television series World’s Deadliest Catch), is one of the world’s most valuable crustacean species, particularly if it is caught alive, held and exported live to lucrative Asian markets. Surprisingly, this is not common.

Most king crabs are caught far offshore on large boats where the crew fi sh for several days at a time and store the catch in large live wells as they fi sh. By the time the crabs are landed they are not suitable for exporting live and most are canned.

However, Norway has about 300 small vessels fi shing for king crabs. They operate close to shore, fi sh relatively small pots and land animals in excellent condition. This has provided an ideal opportunity for Norway King Crab, a private company in a small town called Bugøynes in northern Norway, to establish a live holding facility and establish exports into Europe and Asia.

However, there is no history and little expertise in live holding and exporting crustacea in Norway, and Norwegian scientists and businesses have looked around the world for examples of how it can be done effectively.

The New Zealand spiny lobster fi shery is an excellent example of how a crustacean species can be fi shed sustainably and the value of the catch can be optimised. The fi shery was fi rst discovered after the Second World War, when it went through cycles of boom and bust, where the fi shery was heavily exploited and severely overfi shed until the quota management system was introduced in 1990.

The establishment of the National Rock Lobster Management Group in 1992 and the Rock Lobster Industry Council in 1996 has seen the New Zealand rock lobster industry grow into one of the most sustainable and valuable species fi shed in New Zealand and around the world.

Much of its success, and the secret to the value of the fi shery, is that the lobsters are landed in prime condition, held in live storage tanks and fl own overseas to lucrative Asian markets.

Today, almost the entire catch of New Zealand spiny

Norwegians learn from Kiwi SPINY LOBSTER industry

The Norway King Crab holding facility in Bugøynes, northern Norway

1988 1998 2008

Live 15% 65% 93%

Tails (frozen) 60% 21% 5%

Whole (frozen) 16% 11% 1.8%

Other (heads etc) 9% 3% 0.2%

Volume landed (t) ~ 4000 ~ 2500 ~ 2680

Total value (NZD) 72,625,000 101,830,000 156,000,000

Live Frozen TOTAL

2006 32 (4.8%) 632 (95.2%) 664

2007 57 (6.8%) 784 (93.2%) 841

2008 73 (2.5%) 2817 (97.5%) 2890

2009 221 (8.3%) 2528 (91.7%) 2749

TABLE 1: A comparison of the spiny lobster exported live vs. frozen, the total volumes landed and the total value of the catch from New Zealand between 1988 and 2008

TABLE 2: A comparison of the king crab exported live vs. frozen from Norway over the past four years (in tonnes) (percentage of total catch is given in brackets).

BY PHILIP JAMES


lobster is exported live, but this was not always the case. Table one shows the remarkable development of the lobster fi shery in New Zealand in the 20 years between 1988, when only 15 percent of the catch was landed live and the rest was sold frozen, and 2008, when 93 percent of the catch was exported live.

This 20-year period saw a remarkable 78 percent increase in export of live lobster (from 15 to 93 percent of total catch), the commercial catches were reduced by 33 percent (from 4000 tonnes to 2680 tonnes). Yet during this period, the value of the fi shery more than doubled from $72.6 to $156 million, due to optimising landed product through live exports.

This remarkable success story is due to many years of industry development, focusing on the specifi c needs of international markets, sustainable catch rates, an excellent stock monitoring programme and optimal techniques for holding and shipping rock lobsters.

Norway is now exporting approximately fi ve percent of its king crab catch (TACC is approximately 1200 tonnes – see table two) but hopes to emulate New Zealand’s success with spiny lobsters and export the entire catch.

Without even realising it, New Zealand is a role model for invertebrate capture-based aquaculture in Norway, a country with one of the most developed aquaculture industries in the world.

Finally, following the recent discovery of a number of deep-water king crab species in New Zealand waters (See: King-sized feasts lurk deep in New Zealand waters, www.stuff.co.nz, June 29, 2010) it is timely to consider the potential of the king crab fi shery in New Zealand and the possibilities for post-capture aquaculture of this species.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBERR 2011 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ 9

Mussels may control SEA LICE in salmonResearchers at the University of Maine have demonstrated

that the blue mussel can eat the larvae of the sea louse, a parasitic pest which can decimate farmed fi nfi sh.

The fi ndings, published in the journal Aquaculture, have implications for the farmed salmon industry in Maine. If further analysis in the fi eld holds up, using mussels on salmon farms could be another strategy to reduce the infectious pressure of sea lice on a fi nfi sh farm.

Microbiologist Dr Sally Molloy was one of the team who made the discovery in mid-2010.

The paper has implications for developing a concept called integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), an alternative approach to the standard mono-culture aquaculture, in Maine. IMTA is believed to reduce the environmental impacts of commercial aquaculture systems by combining the cultivation of fed species, such as salmon, with extractive species, such as mussels.

“Extractive species are fi lter-feeding, so they’re taking in all the phytoplankton and zooplankton and whatever’s in the water column. They’re also taking in excess fi sh food and faeces and removing all those organics from the water,” Molloy said.

“The idea is hopefully that IMTA practices reduce the nutrients going into the ecosystem because of the fi sh farm. It’s sort of a greener version of farming. There are all kinds of other benefi ts because you’re diversifying your product.”

The sea louse feeds on the skin and tissue of its host and has a life cycle consisting of 10 stages. Most research to eradicate sea lice infestations has focused on the stages of the louse when it has already infected its host.

Farmers of fi nfi sh such as salmon and trout have used a drug called SLICE against the louse, but the parasite has shown resistance to the drug. The Maine research focuses on eradicating the sea louse in its larval stage.

To conduct the experiment, the researchers collected sea lice egg strings from an infected commercial salmon farm in Maine. The eggs hatched and were reared to the copepodid stage. Meanwhile, the team obtained some local mussels and placed them in a system with artifi cial seawater.

After the mussels were exposed to the sea lice copepods for either 30 or 60 minutes, the contents of the mussels’ stomachs were removed and DNA analysis was performed. The analysis determined the mussels had ingested the copepodids.

The team will take its work out of the laboratory and into the fi eld. They will lower a mussel raft into the waters of a salmon farm on the coast of Maine to fi nd out if their results hold up on a larger scale. The populations of mussels, salmon and sea lice will be monitored for several years to determine what effect they have on each other.

“In our preliminary experiments we could see the mussels were capable of eating the sea lice, but we need to get a better understanding of disease dynamics on a farm,” Molloy said.

Should the raft prove effective, the IMTA technique could be combined with other methods, including chemotherapeutic drugs.

King crabs are packed for live export at Norway King Crab

Fishing king crab off the Norwegian coast using relatively small collapsible pots

More than four months has passed since the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act (MACAA) became law. The MACAA was intended to right

the wrongs of the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act, and put the controversy it created behind us. It might not have seen 25,000 people march in parliament in protest, but the MACAA was - just like its predecessor - a catalyst for the formation of a breakaway political party, divisive billboards and who knows how many hours of talkback radio debate.

But what has actually changed in the months since the Marine and Coastal Area Act became law? In practice, the answer must be, not much. No barricades or tollbooths have been erected on the beaches, no marine farmers or other occupiers of coastal waters have been evicted, and no blanket claims have been made regarding ownership of those waters.

In late May, the media reported that two iwi/hapu were seeking to negotiate with the government over their claims to customary marine title in their traditional territories. Both were in discussions with the government on the same issues under the previous regime.

As the architect of the current act, the attorney general, Chris Finlayson, commented at the time, it is hardly surprising they would seek to continue that process. Finlayson also made it clear that those iwi should not expect any progress to be made in respect of their claims until after the election.

Can we take that as a hint the fl oodgates might open after the election? Well, if not a single iwi that wasn’t in the negotiations queue prior to the passage of the MACAA has yet sought to join that queue, it seems somewhat unlikely.

Meanwhile, the one agreement reached under the 2004 regime – with Nga -ti Porou on the East Cape – still awaits the passage of legislation to give it effect. That legislation has been in parliament since 2008.

None of this lack of activity appears to have placated those who worried that the act would result in dramatic changes in managing and governing our coastal waters. The Coastal Coalition, headed by the former Act Party MP Muriel

Newman, has launched a citizens’ initiated referendum calling for the MACAA to be “replaced by legislation that restores Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed”. No doubt similar rhetoric will be heard from some political parties on the election trail.

Meanwhile, by creating the concept of the “common marine and coastal area” (CMCA) the MACAA has offered a tantalising prospect to marine farmers. The CMCA is that part of the coastal marine area (between marine high water springs and the 12-mile limit) not covered by a pre-existing private title, or a customary marine title. The MACAA itself and the imminent reform legislation for aquaculture limit the powers of local authorities in those areas that fall outside the MACAA in a couple of interesting ways.

Firstly, the MACAA provides that local authorities can only levy coastal occupation charges in respect of the CMCA, not areas of seabed covered by a private or customary title.

Secondly, the aquaculture reform package will limit the powers of local authorities to tender or otherwise allocate the right to occupy space for the purposes of aquaculture to the CMCA. Of course, the planning and resource consenting regime of the Resource Management Act will still apply to areas outside the CMCA, just as they do in respect of privately owned dry land, but the distinction is still interesting, at least in theory.

Imagine operating a marine farm located on an area of seabed held in private or customary title and being exempted from the coastal occupation charges neighbouring farms in the CMCA have to pay. Or being in a region where demand for occupation of coastal space is suffi ciently high that the council opts to manage it through tendering or some other allocation mechanism, but discovering that the perfect site for your marine farm is subject to a private or customary title.

There are said to be more than 12,000 areas of foreshore and/or seabed covered by public title, but the vast majority of these are likely to be in tidal or shallow water of little or no value for marine farming.

The prospect of any iwi or hapu being able to meet the MACAA’s high tests for proving customary marine title (tests which apply equally, irrespective of whether claims are litigated in the High Court or negotiated with the Crown) seem even more remote. Nice idea, though …

Little change 4 MONTHS after new act introducedBY JUSTINE INNS

THE CONCEPT OF THE “COMMON MARINE AND COASTAL AREA” HAS

OFFERED A TANTALISING PROSPECT


14 New St, Nelson. PO Box 921, Nelson 7040. T +64 3 548 4136. F +64 3 548 4195. Freephone 0800 Oceanlaw. Email [email protected] www.oceanlaw.co.nz

OCEAN LAW

Justine Inns is a partner at Oceanlaw. She previously spent more than a decade as an advisor to

various iwi (tribes), including several years with Ngai Tahu.


Is aquaculture the new “DIAMOND” industry?

Until recently I knew very little about Sierra Leone, a country situated on the western coast of Africa. My senses only conjured up the pleasant tune of the popular 1983

song Sierra Leone by Coconut Rough, or the sight of Leonardo DiCaprio as the hero in the movie Blood Diamonds.

However, in June I was asked to work with the Sierra Leone government on food safety and fi sheries issues. Soon after landing in Freetown, the busy capital city, I quickly came face-to-face with the harsh reality of living and working in a post-confl ict nation.

Many of those I worked with had survived the effects of the civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2005, yet what they saw and experienced will stay in their nightmares for a lifetime. Others live daily with physical effects; mutilated people are seen frequently in Freetown, as lopping off a limb was a political calling card in the struggle for power domination.

Today, the country still struggles with good governance, and rural poverty means there is a rush to Freetown in the belief the streets are paved with gold. The reality is large shanty towns with no facilities and no work, only corruption and crime.

Yet Sierra Leone is geographically beautiful, with soaring hills, tropical vegetation, 560km of coastal shoreline with white, sandy beaches and the estuaries of three large river networks. All this water means fi shing is a signifi cant industry, with total marine fi sh production estimated to be 83,000 tonnes, contributing to around 9.4 percent of GDP.

Fish is also an important part of the local diet, supplying about 80 percent of the animal protein consumption in the country, and fi sh consumption per capita is approximately 17 kilos per year.

In 1974 the Canadian government assisted Sierra Leone with the raft culture of the mangrove oyster Crassostrea tulipa, but sadly the project failed, due to lack of fi nancial support and the high cost of the inputs (mainly the 44-gallon drums used for fl otation and the polyethylene string used to suspend the oysters on rafts).

Spat was collected from the wild and transferred to the rafts. Although technical problems of fouling were overcome and marketable oysters were produced, they could not compete with the wild stocks, which are easily gathered from the surrounding mangroves.

Freshwater fi sh pond culture started with Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus and catfi sh Clarias gariepinus in 1977 through a joint funding programme with the Ministry of Fisheries,

Catholic Relief Services, USAID and the Peace Corps. These fi sh species are most commonly cultured in earth ponds with the water usually tapped from perennial streams.

Pond productivity is enhanced through the use of NPK fertiliser combinations as well as chicken manure. Rice bran and termites are the most commonly used feed types.

A recent survey shows there are now about 1050 fi shponds in the country. About 80 percent of the ponds are privately owned, and the remainder belong to village communities or fi shing associations. Men play an active role in constructing and managing the fi sh ponds, while women and children carry out the daily maintenance and harvest the fi sh. The village women also smoke the harvested fi sh.

Fish farming is largely done on a subsistence scale, and any surplus is sold locally in the nearest market centre. The unit cost of cultured tilapia species varies between US 17 cents and 33 cents per kilo.

Aquaculture is not a signifi cant industry, but the potential is recognised for farming to make available good quality fresh fi sh that will provide affordable fi sh protein to the poor and fast-growing rural population. This will also reduce pressure on capture marine environments.

For many reasons it is unlikely the Sierra Leone aquaculture industry will ever compete with New Zealand on the export market. But inland aquaculture expansion could provide job opportunities, quality food and improved health status.

To most local Sierra Leoneans, a paying job and regular quality meals are more valuable than diamonds, enabling them to provide for their families and therefore help to break the current cycle of corruption and crime that affects so many.

During the civil war, the buildings and signifi cant technical resources of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources were completely destroyed and the remaining qualifi ed staff struggle daily to improve the fi shing sector.

BY DOROTHY-JEAN MCCOUBREY

The Freetown commercial fishing fleet

Local fishermen departing


Fish farmers and environmentalists share concerns about the sustainability of an industry dependent on fi shmeal in fi sh pellets to survive.

Finding alternative feed sources fast is vital for the economic and environmental survival of fi sh farming. Alternatively, consideration must be given to farming species that don’t require fi shmeal in their diets. One such species is butterfi sh, a large, herbivorous cool water marine fi sh endemic to New Zealand.

To assess the aquacultural potential of butterfi sh, NIWA researchers at Mahanga Bay in Wellington have spent the

last few years doing preliminary growth assessments on captive juvenile butterfi sh and rearing larvae at the hatchery produced from wild butterfi sh broodstock.

Butterfi sh (Odax pullus), otherwise known as marari or greenbone (after the distinctive colour of their bright, bluish-green bones), are found all around the New Zealand coast, particularly in and south of Cook Strait and around Wellington. They have been caught commercially in New Zealand for over a century in set nets.

The juvenile fi sh were easily captured in fi ne mesh nets and brought alive to tanks at Mahanga Bay. Once acclimatised to their new home, the hardy fi sh were weaned onto specially formulated pellet diets.

Butterfi sh graze on seaweed in the wild, so training them to eat pellets involved two steps. The fi rst was teaching them to eat particulate diets by offering them peas, corn and pieces of mussel before switching to the pellets.

Observations of butterfi sh feeding indicate they are both visual and tactile feeders, initially looking at a pellet, then feeling it with their mouths before fi nally deciding whether or not to ingest it. With this in mind, NIWA researchers developed a pellet containing pea fl our, maize fl our, seaweed meal and mussel meal as the main ingredients to entice the fi sh to feed.

Growth trials showed no signifi cant difference between growth on the formulated diets alone, or when supplemented with seaweed or mussels. Growth rates were generally quite low at 0.2 percent or around 0.9g a day and food wastage was high, with the fi sh consuming a little over 40 percent of the food offered to them.

Wild-caught juveniles also tended to suffer sea lice infestations which required regular treatment with formalin. Many of the larger wild-caught fi sh also had large lice resident in their mouths.

Having investigated the challenges of rearing wild-caught juvenile fi sh, the team turned to how butterfi sh would

ARE BUTTERFISH a viable farmed product?BY PHILIP HEATH AND SARAH ALLENNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WATER AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH

A small adult butterfish, capable of spawning

Young butterfish five months after hatching

Larval butterfish enjoy their first feed 20 days after fertilisation

Salmon FARM KEEN to expandNew Zealand King Salmon is seeking to double production

to 15,000 tonnes by 2015 and expand its processing plant in Nelson to meet international demand for its products.

The company has applied to the Environmental Protection Authority for planning permission. It would take about 15 months for the authority to determine if, where and how a new salmon farm would operate in the Marlborough Sounds, says the chief executive offi cer of NZKS, Grant Rosewarne.

The project is likely to create around 70 jobs in Marlborough, but the company needed to fi nd environmentally sustainable water space for at least eight new farms to meet demand. The total amount of space involved would still be very small, Rosewarne said.

The Marlborough Sounds covers 150,000ha, of which 2800ha is used for mussels. NZ King Salmon currently has fi ve hectares for raising salmon and is seeking a further 10ha of surface water space. The expansion would create about 100 more jobs.

“Few agricultural industries have the ability to create such signifi cant export income from such a small amount of space, with a low, localised environmental impact,” says Rosewarne.

“A scientifi c team, including Cawthron, is studying our present site and improving our understanding of the sounds. We are consulting with a number of people in the community. Everyone will be able to submit evidence in the EPA process.”

The company has been identifying sustainable sites to raise premium salmon in areas acceptable to other users. “We have invested millions of dollars and been highly successful in developing lucrative specialty markets overseas, which is great for us and great for the country.”

King salmon require cool temperatures, deep water and good tidal fl ows, he said.

Suitable new sites in the Marlborough Sounds needed detailed research. “The environment and visual impact of the farms are two key areas of concern to the Marlborough community and we are well aware of that,” says Rosewarne. He has been working on new business plans since taking over as chief executive six months ago.

The company is also planning a $16 million expansion of its Nelson processing plant and is seeking to buy property neighbouring its Bullen Street site in Tahunanui as soon as possible. Rosewarne said it would probably double the company’s manufacturing capacity. “We do need to do a lot more with automation.”

The company is already one of Nelson’s biggest businesses, employing about 435 staff. The expansion would create additional jobs but not large numbers, because there were effi ciencies to be gained, he said.

Export orders for NZ King Salmon’s products skyrocketed when fl ight restrictions caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland prevented people from buying salmon from their traditional overseas suppliers.

Rosewarne said the sales continued after the restrictions were lifted. “I think that’s because people really like our product.”


perform in the hatchery. Fish retained in captivity, along with wild-caught fi sh, were stripped of eggs and sperm in order to investigate butterfi sh egg development and larvae performance.

Pre-spawning assessments of wild fi sh indicated they were sexually mature when as small as 300g. Viable eggs were obtained from laboratory-conditioned fi sh weighing just over 500g.

Stripping wild fi sh yielded eggs of varying quality. The smallest volume but highest quality of eggs were derived from fi sh stripped immediately after they were captured. In all, around 180,000 fertile eggs were collected, producing around 3500 larvae at fi rst feeding.

Wild butterfi sh don’t eat seaweed until they are well over 100mm long. Larval fi sh were therefore fi rst reared on live feed and then weaned onto artifi cial diets after 87 days. Around 1500 fi sh made it through the weaning process.

After weaning, their growth rate on commercial larval diets appeared to be a little better than the estimated rate for wild butterfi sh, with juvenile fi sh reaching around 100mm long after 300 days of culture. Juveniles appeared to be just as picky as adult fi sh when it came to food choice, eating few of the pellets offered to them, and well over 70 percent of the expensive weaning diet went to waste.

What do these trials mean in terms of the potential for farming butterfi sh? Philip Heath, NIWA’s principal scientist of aquaculture and fi sheries enhancement says, disappointingly, butterfi sh do not seem to be a viable aquaculture product from either a biological or an economical perspective.

“With butterfi sh being endemic to New Zealand, we thought we might be uniquely placed to develop this fi sh as a viable farmed product that doesn’t require a fi shmeal diet. Sadly, there’s no silver bullet here.

“They were certainly easy to capture and proved to be fairly robust fi sh in culture, despite the sea lice infestations. But their slow growth rate, highly selective feeding habits and early sexual maturation tell us butterfi sh are probably not an ideal candidate for commercial culture.

It’s a disappointing conclusion, but the only one we can draw.”

Contact Phil Heath at [email protected] or phone (04) 380-7987.

Bob Hickman with the first butterfish larvae

produced at Mahanga Bay


Farming koura, or freshwater crayfi sh, is considered a niche industry in New Zealand. It has been established for over 20 years. In the mid-1970s, koura was identifi ed

as a potential species for export markets in France and Sweden. The onset of the crayfi sh plague Amphanomyces astaci, a water mould, decimated European stocks from the turn of the century into the late-1980s. These circumstances established a potential demand for New Zealand koura, since European crayfi sh stocks would exceed supply.

It was estimated that export-quality crayfi sh would fetch $20 per kilo on the open market, based on prices of the European noble crayfi sh Astacus astacus. The research division of the Ministry of Fisheries studied breeding and growing koura in Te Kaha, Bay of Plenty, with Dr Jones in the 1970s.

Additional feasibility studies were also conducted to explore the economics of koura farming. The results were disappointing. Jones estimated farms would have to be 6ha in size for koura farming to be economically viable as a primary income, with animals being 90-100mm long (30-35g) and stocking densities of around 80 koura/m2.

However, Jones only managed to achieve stocking densities of 16 koura/m2. While the outcome of these studies was not positive for the future of the industry, this did not deter many from attempting, and succeeding in some cases, cultivation to provide sustainable profi t margins.

Despite initial advances in New Zealand koura farming, little is known about its present status. The lack of an integrated governing body means there are few mechanisms or controls that would allow for analysis of the status of this freshwater fi shery.

While farmers are currently employing innovative and experimental initiatives for improving production practices, many questions remain.• What is the best practice for rearing koura

• What are the average stocking densities being maintained• What is New Zealand’s annual production• Is koura farming profi table and is it economically viable,

and• Currently, is there a signifi cant local and international

demand?To investigate and establish a base line for the New Zealand

koura farming industry, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (BOPP) and AQUA™ developed a postal survey.

The Ministry of Fisheries supplied a register of all licensed koura farmers. All farmers were invited to participate in the survey, which encompassed the style of aquaculture farming (intensive to extensive), pond sizes, stocking densities, survival rates, water quality, customer base, wholesale price and farmers’ perceptions for the future of the industry.

Of the 17 licensed farms, 10 farmers responded. A number were actively trading but only one listed koura farming as a primary income. Three farmers were researching best practices, one was building stock numbers and three were not farming at all.

Acquiring broodstock is accomplished under a special permit from MFish and in consultation with the Department of Conservation. DoC is mindful that should koura become commercially viable, wild stocks could be at risk through unlicensed or sanctioned harvesting.

Six of the 10 registered farmers had breeding programmes to enhance koura characteristics (eg. tail meat, colour and size) and provide broodstock. This was especially encouraging, since it reduces unnecessary pressure on wild stock, satisfying conservation concerns. In addition, farmers often trade animals to provide broodstock, thereby further reducing the need to acquire wild koura.

Respondents employed a range of aquaculture practices from extensive to intensive cultivation. Most, however, utilised semi-intensive farming, with the average farm being 1.2ha. The mean stocking densities of northern koura were 30.3 koura/m2 (n=4). There were not enough respondents to determine a mean stocking density for southern koura.

The survival rate for northern koura was found to be almost 89 percent ( n=3). On average, koura is sold for $63.75 per kilo (n=5). However, prices can be considerably better when dealing in the aquarium trade. The mean total production of koura in New Zealand is 1.2 tonnes per annum.

Currently there is no standardised grading system of weight and sizes used in koura sales to establish market awareness of good quality characteristics. Farmed northern koura were sold at 50mm and farmed southern koura at 150mm. The selling weight was 52.5g for northern koura and 55g for southern koura. As with any aquaculture venture, good water quality was imperative.

Concerns were raised in the survey about environmental pollution from agriculture farming potentially causing the farms to have to close. As part of this study, the author contacted a number of regional councils and found most were willing to discuss freshwater aquaculture farming, should there be a demand for it. However, none of those contacted had thus far developed specifi c aquaculture polices.

Koura are not considered a high-profi le species and

Koura farmersKoura farmers needneed A A VOICEVOICE

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT KOURATwo species of koura are commonly farmed, Paranephrops

planifrons and Paranephrops zealandicus, or northern koura and

southern koura respectively.

The distribution of koura is allopathic, meaning there has

been no interbreeding due to geographical barriers, namely the

Southern Alps.

Northern koura grow to 70mm and southern koura to 90mm

in the wild. There are four to fi ve age classes. Adults only

become sexually mature in their second year. Females are able

to breed when they reach 20mm carapace length, and seem to

only breed for two consecutive years.

Koura have a long association with Maori, who have utilised

them as a food source. No evidence exists of Maori historically

farming koura, but they developed sophisticated methods to

harvest wild koura and in some cases to transfer koura between

streams. Some of these methods are still used in surveys.

There is even mention of wars having broken out over access

rights to the right type of ferns to trap koura. The Treaty of

Waitangi has not completed claims relating to freshwater

taonga (treasures).

BY NEIL DE JONG


the industry has not benefi ted from government initiatives. Freshwater aquaculture incentives are lacking.

The koura industry is fragmented, with no measures in place to determine the state of the industry or ways to progress. To improve its status, farmers need to create formalised strategies and perform market research.

The industry needs representation and a voice for lobbying. A Koura Farmers’ Association would provide representation and promote collaborate efforts to establish viable markets and improve production yields.

The Australian marron Cherax tenuimanus is the most similar freshwater crayfi sh to New Zealand koura. While production fi gures reached an impressive 90 tonnes per annum in 2006, it took almost 20 years of focused efforts for the industry to establish and consolidate.

Perhaps New Zealand could benefi t examining case study examples of the Australian industry to identify initiatives which might enhance the local freshwater crayfi sh aquaculture sector.

While there have been numerous scientifi c studies on a variety of koura biology-related topics, there is a need for an up-to-date review of the academic literature with

an aquaculture context. Such information would be highly valuable for current and future

koura farmers.For koura farming to be a viable and sustainable industry,

research needs to focus on enhancing stocking densities and improving growth rates. While it is unlikely koura would be competitive in an open market against the American red swamp crayfi sh Procambarus clarkii or the Australian yabby Cherax destructor on price or volume, this does not mean a lucrative market cannot be established targeting high-end value product items.

Contact Neil de Jong, AUT University. Phone 021 744-633 or email [email protected]

What is more important, solvency or the environment? Sustainable, non-polluting industries have been touted as a solution. I believe farming fi sh in ponds

is one of these.My wife and I are developing a freshwater crayfi sh farm

in Kaikoura. We recently harvested 250 kilos of freshwater crayfi sh, or koura, from a 1000sq m pond, for a yield of 2.5 tonnes/ha. On top of this, I wish to branch out and farm an omega 3 fi nfi sh with our koura.

We effi ciently produce healthy protein with minimal or moderate use of renewable resources. We create ecosystems and we don’t impact on the community or the environment.

I estimate a water budget for a hectare of ponds of four litres per second. This rate of water consumption is so low it does not require metering under new legislation. Electricity consumption for mechanical aeration of a hectare of water is 10 kilowatts, infrequently at night, over the summer. Some households may have a bigger power bill.

The food conversion ratio to grow protein can’t be beaten with cold-blooded fi sh. Fish do not use energy to stay warm or buoyant.

We are raising tens of thousands of a native species in decline. We also create habitat for threatened frogs and a food

chain of phytoplankton and zooplankton. In essence, the latter is what we do.

We apply just enough fertiliser to water to generate an algae bloom to support a sustainable food web. We focus on growing species that are herbivorous, detrivorous or omnivorous, or eat a wide range of insects, vegetables and decaying matter.

The growing season ends with the coming of winter. We stop applying fertiliser to our ponds and the algae abate. The saturation level of oxygen in the water increases as the temperature decreases. The paddlewheels are turned off and whatever sediment they agitated has settled. Smelling the roses around the ponds becomes subtle with clear water.

Then we drain the ponds. Our resource consent states water samples can be taken 50m downstream of our discharge point to allow for dilution, which in our case is 7:1.

However, last winter, water samples were taken from inside all three of our ponds. We were looking at harmless data. We were 80 percent compliant with contaminant criteria at source, never mind the dilution. We were, proudly, squeaky clean.

Vince Scully is a master mariner, the author of Poles Apart with Northanger and a koura farmer in Kaikoura

FARMING FISH in ponds should be encouragedBY VINCE SCULLY

VIP.ACACVIP.ACVVIP.ACVIP.ACP.AP.A 4224242

aquaculture bill is nearly ready koura farms need a higher...

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