18 March 2012 AUSTRALASIAN AQUACULTURE 2012: The next ten years Roy Palmer1 and Graham Mair2 Melbourne is the capital city of the Australian state of Victoria, where arguably aquaculture was first practiced in the country. Melbourne is playing host to the next Australasian Aquaculture Conference and International Trade Show, taking place May 1-4, 2012. The theme of the conference and the whole week’s activities is “The Next Ten Years.” Before we look forward, let us look back. In southwestern Victoria, specifically at the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape at Lake Condah, there is evidence of a large, settled aboriginal community (Gunditjmara) from thousands of years ago, systematically farming eels for food and trade. This activity is considered to be Australia’s and possibly the region’s earliest and largest aquaculture venture. This complex enterprise took place in a rugged landscape carved out by natural forces and full of meaning to the people living there. They built stone dams to hold water, creating ponds and wetlands where they grew southern shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) and other fish. They also created channels linking wetlands that contained weirs with large woven baskets to harvest mature eels. The trees close by were hollowed out and used as smoking ‘ovens’ to cook the eels. The modified and engineered wetlands and eel traps provided an economic basis for the development of a settled society with villages. With European settlement in the area in the 1830s came conflict. When this conflict came to an end in the 1860s, many aboriginal people were displaced. However, land was eventually returned to the people of Gunditjmara in 1987. Nowadays aquaculture in the area is managed under the Fisheries Act (Victoria) 1995. The Act provides for the management, development and promotion of an ecologically sustainable and viable aquaculture industry. Over the years there have been major efforts to support aquaculture development, with both government and industry investing in a range of projects. The production value (farm gate) of Victoria’s aquaculture sector increased by 60 percent between 1998 and 2006, from $13.7 million to $21.9 million, or approximately 6 percent per year. The new vision (the Victorian Aquaculture Strategy) is to “grow the value of the Victorian aquaculture industry from $22 million to $60 million by 2015 in a sustainable manner.” Victorian aquaculture is undertaken in a variety of offshore, coastal and inland facilities and includes the production of rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon (including hand-milked caviar), abalone, blue mussel, aquarium finfish, eel, Murray cod, barramundi, silver perch, golden perch and yabby. However, the aquaculture sector in Victoria is confronted with a number of challenges that affect competitiveness. The abalone industry is recovering from the impact of a virus outbreak and the trout and eel industries have major production problems associated with frequent drought. There is an urgent need to attract investment to the sector to achieve economies of scale, and the conference is seen by locals as a means to this end. Future challenges include adapting to climate change with associated water shortages and biosecurity risks, increasing competition in local and global markets, declining terms of trade, and meeting consumer demands (including the sustainability of production systems and integrity of seafood products). There is little doubt that key challenges must be addressed for the Victorian aquaculture sector to capitalize on opportunities associated with the pristine environment and the increasing global demand for seafood, and to be part of global aquaculture, now valued at more than $70 billion per year.
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