“Quicklook” Assessment of Greater Adelaide's Assets & Challenges ...

opportunities. South Australian research has very much been instrumental is the
development of this industry having and continuing to provide the national focus
on propagation, system design, feed development and nutrition, and most
recently genetics. Opportunities exist for further expansion of this industry
through increased production, reducing operating costs and diversifying products
(eg. abalone pearls).
• Suitable areas for aquaculture. Although access to sites can be difficult,
aquaculture companies and local government have developed roads and vessel
servicing sites in some areas. The low population level in the state means a lot
of the coastline is uninhabited and is pollution free. Freshwater runoff is also
mostly absent along the state coast which again results in environmentally clean
waters.
Weaknesses
• Import about 60% compared to export 40%. (The import of the 60% is of lower
quality and priced fish, however, the export is of high quality like tuna.) The
weakness is in the fact that more fish is imported than exported.
• Danger is that such a large portion of the sales goes to the Japanese markets,
that if a hiccup in the market on a particular species of fish that they like – could
cause ramifications.
• Snapper farming – The three year research project was successful in generating
initial interest and the development of commercial hatcheries and growout
operations. It has not however gone on to bigger things because of the
discovery of a potentially more economically profitable species for farming
(yellowtail kingfish) and the effects of a number of issues that could be
addressed through appropriate research if it were funded (eg. poor quality of
farmed as compared to wild product resulting in lower than expected market
prices; need to improve production through enhanced growth, which has been
shown to be achieveable through genetic selection overseas – about 14% per
generation).
• Aquaculture as a strategic plan. Three state based aquaculture strategic plans
have been produced over the last decade and a national one is presently being
completed by the National Aquaculture Council. The recently formed SA
Aquaculture Council is also active in this area. The main problem has been
integrating the diverse and rapidly changing needs of the various sectors of the
aquaculture industry in a government environment where existing resources for
new industries were very limited and new resources are largely dependent on
once off concessions, cost recovery or fee for service. A lack of consensus on
direction has also been an issue between major government departments with
involvement in aquaculture. Problem is that industry is developing rapidly, need
cash flow, and industry requirements change rapidly – know some things like fish
health is an area that needs to be targeted, but since it is not a problem right
now, will wait until cash is available
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