Aquaculture in Australia is mainly located in Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland. The largest sector is seawater Atlantic salmon aquaculture in Tasmania, which accounts for well over half of Australia’s aquaculture production. Atlantic salmon have been farmed commercially in Tasmania for over 35 years. There are production advantages related to the comparatively warm climate which considerably shortens the production cycle and time in the water. Unfortunately, Tasmania is now a climate change global marine hot-spot and seawater temperatures are increasing at more than four times the global average. This means that over the summer there may be periods when environmental seawater conditions are suboptimum, particularly due to elevated temperature and lower dissolved oxygen. The consequences of suboptimum environments on salmon feeding and nutrition impact key aspects of production: management of feeding; ingredient and nutrient composition of feeds; growth and production efficiency; and product quality. The aim is to overview research orientated approaches taken to understanding salmon production biology in suboptimum environments alongside current and emerging mitigation strategies with an emphasis on feeding and nutrition. Key findings include the design of effective translational research, validation of on-land tank facilities to inform aspects of commercial selective breeding, and the importance of growth performance after a suboptimum environmental event as well as during it. Successful nutritional mitigation is centred around better understanding the impacts of biotic and abiotic factors on energy and nutrient requirements to allow greater precision in formulating to meet requirements across a wider range of situations including production cycle stage (size of fish), season (summer and autumn) and ingredient use (including protein and oil sources). Atlantic salmon aquaculture is a valuable local industry in Tasmania and provides globally relevant information for developing translational research on feeding and nutrition under suboptimum conditions. In the future, translational research platforms will support relatively rapid identification of differences in feeding and nutrition as well as approaches for mitigation.
We would like to acknowledge the numerous and significant contributions made by our research partners and collaborators.