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Friday 28 November, 11.30am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart and via videoconference to
Floreat and Cleveland
Nigel Preston
CSIRO Marine, Cleveland
Integrated Sustainable Aquaculture
Aquaculture currently provides more than 30 percent of
global supplies of food fish and offers considerable potential for increased
seafood production. However, the industry faces significant challenges
in meeting the global demand for seafood, particularly if it is to sustain
the rapid growth of the past 20 years. Integrated Sustainable Aquaculture
(ISA) aims to overcome some of the key challenges by providing a sound
scientific basis for enhancing the production efficiency, environmental
management, profitability and market penetration of Australia’s
aquaculture industries.
One of the major constraints to the future growth of
aquaculture industries is their current reliance on wild or unselected
genotypes. Centuries of experience with terrestrial agriculture have
demonstrated that domestication and selective breeding provides a highly
effective means to achieve cumulative gains in production efficiency.
A central goal of ISA is, therefore, to provide industry with the knowledge
and technology to produce genotypes that are optimally adapted to aquaculture.
As part of the new Agrifood Top 5 (AFT5) Flagship, ISA is working in
close collaboration with several other CSIRO research groups to determine
the underlying genetic and biochemical processes that govern the traits
that permit optimal production of aquaculture species. Little is known
about the genomes that we are investigating, thus the results will be
of value in elucidating genetic processes that are unique to the targeted
species and also to those that are more universal.
Genetic improvements to aquaculture species will also be critically
dependent on parallel advances in feeds and production systems. Accordingly,
ISA research has adopted an integrated approach to improving aquaculture
breeds, feeds and production systems. This follows the path successfully
adopted by most of the intensive terrestrial livestock industries. Although
the aquaculture sector continues to benefit from knowledge gained from
terrestrial agri-food research, some of the benefits of ISA research
may flow in the opposite direction. For example, within the AFT5 flagship
ISA and other CSIRO research groups are exploring the potential of transferring
the unique omega-3 fatty acids biosynthetic mechanisms of marine microbes
to terrestrial crop plants.
In species such as prawns and abalone, for which the life-cycle has
been closed, ISA research will encompass all aspects of egg to adult
production within closed (self-contained) production systems. This will
permit us to better understand the synergies between biology, genetics,
physiology and the physical, chemical and biological nature of their
production environments. For other emerging species, such as southern
blue fin tuna or lobsters, for which the life-cycle has not been closed,
it is not yet possible to adopt a fully integrated approach, but this
will not preclude examining key factors affecting the sustainability
of these sectors. Overall we anticipate that the more integrated approach
developed by the ISA will maximise our potential to achieve fundamental
and significant advances in knowledge. This potential is being further
enhanced by strengthening the one-CSIRO, multi-disciplinary approach
that we have adopted in the past.
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