Guidelines for constructing and maintaining aquaculture ...

3.2 Undertaking the risk assessment
Section 2 lists characteristics of the site that should be considered in a risk assessment and
included in the detailed site report (see Section 4). These characteristics are:
• topography
• geology
• soils
• groundwater
• acid sulfate soils
• sensitive environments
• local and regional land use
• separation distances.
In addition, the nature of the proposed operation will determine the level of risk of environmental
harm. The following questions should also be considered:
• Is the production system different in salinity from the underlying groundwater?
• What is the proposed intensity of operation? (This may affect the nutrient load in the
production waters.)
• What is the time period of the production season?
• What is the scale of the proposed operation? (The greater the volume, the greater the potential
impact of leakage.)
A risk assessment should evaluate farm layout and options to achieve the best practicable design
for the proposal and should be based on the design standards and management strategies that are
to be adopted. Based on the risk assessment, actions that result in serious, large-scale or long-term
consequences such as serious contamination of regional groundwater or complete alteration of
ecosystem functioning, would normally be considered to involve a high or extreme risk, even if it is
unlikely that the action will occur. In contrast, actions with minor, transient or localised impacts, such as
temporary or reversible damage to ecosystem functioning would generally involve low or medium risk.
The following generalised examples further detail how the categories may apply to various
consequences in the risk assessment process:
Low risk
• Containment area 10ha
• Marine aquaculture
• Soils suitable (e.g. clayey sands [SC], inorganic clays [CL])
• Regional groundwater saline or unsuitable for other uses
• Sufficient separation distance to sensitive environments
• Containment area