Research Brings Aquaculture Industry Closer

The breeding programme is part of the research at the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute.

The Institute says that Tasmania’s cool temperate climate makes it ideal for the development of aquaculture.

"Research in this area has concentrated on investigating the aquaculture potential of native marine species, propagation and production, aquatic animal health, growth and nutrition, and environmental management," the Institute says.

The current focus of TAFI’s aquaculture research includes work on new species for aquaculture including striped trumpeter and rock lobster; fish physiology and reproductive management; the developmental biology of several aquaculture species; plankton ecology and physiology; and aquatic animal health.

This week scientists at teh institute announced they had managed to artificially grow the striped trumpeter fish to maturity in captivity.

Several batches of fish are now the subject of aquaculture pen trials off southern Tasmania.

Stephen Battaglene from the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute told ABC News that the next step is to grow the fish economically.

"The difficulty we've had in the past is getting high quality juveniles," he told ABC.

"We've been able to solve a couple of problems, we're now at the stage where we can grow tens of thousands of animals, we can put them into sea cages and assess their growth and survival."