Thanks for the memories, BarryDr Barry Mendelawitz has given Applecross an amazing array of guest speakers during his tenure coordinating our weekly program, and Curtis Lind’s presentation on Aquaculture was a fitting finale.
Curtis Lind has been involved in the aquaculture industry for close to 20 years and has worked throughout Africa, South Asia and the Asia-Pacific. He is currently based in Perth working for the CSIRO, specialising in the use of breeding and genetics to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of aquaculture in Australia.
Aquaculture is the process of breeding, rearing and harvesting of aquatic flora and fauna with commercial value in saltwater or freshwater, in controlled aquatic environments. It is the fastest food production sector globally. It has grown six-fold in the past 20 years! It currently produces twice as much food as the beef industry, according to Curts. More than half of all seafood consumed is aquaculture - the term aquaculture broadly refers to the cultivation of aquatic organisms
The Australian aquaculture industry occurs in marine, estuarine and freshwater locations. The industry is predominantly based in regional Australia and makes a significant and positive contribution to regional economies.
And if some smarty-pants asks you how is it different from pisciculture, you can tell them that pisciculture is the culturing of fish (fish farming) to obtain fish and fish products as food - so no seaweed or shell fish like oysters, clams, prawns, scallops or mussels.
Curtis told us that the world population is expected to grown by an extra 2 billion people by 2050, and aquaculture will play a key role in providing the food needed to feed them. It is environmentally and financially responsible:
- Low water consumption
- Low environmental impact (including low CO2 emissions)
- Efficient land use
- Outputs are greater than inputs.
Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon is currently the largest aquaculture industry in Australia (70,000t/yr) and two main players dominate in our supermarkets - Tassal and Huon. Around 5,000t/yr of black tiger and banana prawns are produced, mainly in Queensland. Barramundi is farmed in all mainland states and is targeted to reach 20,000t by next year. However a lot of Barra is also imported, but while less expensive, is not well regarded by fussy pescatarians.
What’s the future look like? Northern Australia is set for rapid developments in aquaculture
- Extensive prawn farming with indigenous partnerships
- Low input, low intensity
- Tropical oyster farming
- White-flesh fish farming - Barra, pompano, groupers
If you want a horse to back, it’s called Tropical Prawn Aquaculture!
Curtis is also enthusiastic about White-flesh fish increasing its presence alongside salmon in the supermarket chillers.
It’s not wild-caught but it’s not entirely happy either!
Thank's again Barry.