China’s neighborhood includes

another 10 of the 15 leading

aquaculture countries; aggregated,

Asian aquaculture represents 89

percent of global volume and 79

percent of global value.

Looking at the high-value luxury end

of the seafood trade, premium prices

are paid for fish of the right species,

at the right size, kept alive right up

until the time that they are selected

from a tank in the restaurant.

In many Chinese restaurants, one of

the most common and preferred

species is Groupers. It is supplied by

the Live Reef Food Fish (LRFF) Trade,

a US$1billion trade centred in Hong

Kong.

The problem with farmed fish

Groupers are the mainstay species of

the LRFF trade, and some consumers

believe farmed grouper are inferior

to their wild-caught counterpart. This

perception is based on past realities

and it is no longer appropriate to tar

all farmed fish with the same brush.

Not all aquaculture systems or

husbandry methods are equal. Many

operations in Asia follow outdated

protocols, and are far less advanced

than new systems. The majority of

farmed grouper are raised in sea

cages or ponds. These fish are often

fed only once a day, and are fed trash

fish – usually a mix of pieces of fish,

entrails, and other leftovers. It is

often not refrigerated, and there is

rarely any structured quality control

in place.

THERE IS NO DENYING China’s love

of seafood. China is a major

player in the fish and seafood market

– it is the largest consumer, importer,

exporter and producer of seafood in

the world.

China is also the largest global

producer of aquaculture products,

and the only country where farmed

fish production exceeds wild catch.

Water quality is questionable and

uncontrolled, often affected by a

build-up of rotting uneaten food and

faeces. In extreme cases this can

result in eutrophication of the water

but at the very least it can

compromise the health of the fish –

and therefore their taste. I can

guarantee that if you were raised in

an environment like this you’d taste

pretty average as well.

The problem with wild-catch

According to Austrade, in 2009

Australia exported 592,790 kg of live

fish (99.4 percent of which went to

Hong Kong), comprising mainly wild-

caught P. leopardus, and mainly

through Cairns airport.

But at the macro-level, world capture

fisheries production has hardly

moved since 1990, and it peaked

overall in 2004.

In the context of the LRFF trade,

severe over-fishing and habitat

destruction has decimated wild

populations of many species. The

trade has had to expand its capture

footprint over recent decades,

looking further and further afield for

supplies. What started as a local

trade now encompasses tens of

millions of square kilometres.

In many parts of Asia, fish are caught

using destructive fishing techniques

including blast fishing – where

crudely constructed explosives are

thrown onto a reef to stun the fish,

or cyanide fishing - where potassium

30 2013 ACQ VOL 1

Fishing for global food solutions:

AS FISH-EATING HUMANS multiply and increasingly overfish the oceans,new solutions are required to nourish the population. While fish farming

receives a bad rap from many quarters and wild-caught stocks are underthreat, Australian know-how has created a game-changing third way.

Gar

eth

Lott

Not all wild-caught fish are caught sustainably – heredeadly cyanide is added to reef water to stun fish atthe cost of the whole marine environment.

Case study #2

cyanide solution is squirted into the

reef, again to stun the fish. Both

processes kill the surrounding coral

and any other living organisms

nearby. At best half of the fish

survive the capture process but they

are weakened and severely stressed.

Of those that survive the capture

process, only half survive the journey

back to the markets.

Overfishing and habitat destruction

has resulted in 22 species of grouper

being threatened with extinction,

and significant loss of habitat for

those fish that remain.

When fish are stressed their quality

decreases. In an aquaculture system

fish that are stress-free will grow

more rapidly and are much less

susceptible to infection or disease.

Even handling a fish too many times

will have a negative effect - imagine

the deterioration in a fish that starts

its journey to market by being nearly

blown up or receiving a face-full of

potassium cyanide!

A solution

Aquaculture technology, feed

products and husbandry techniques,

as well as hatchery production and

survival rates, have improved over

recent years. In the context of

groupers and the live reef food fish

trade, many of these advances have

happened here in Australia and are

about to add to our growing bilateral

trade with China.

In modern tank-based systems with

advanced husbandry protocols, fish

can be raised in a ‘better-than-

nature’ environment, and growth

and survival rates can eclipse those in

traditional systems.

A new aquaculture technology has

been developed in Australia that is

designed specifically around the

biology of groupers. The SICRA™

system developed by South

Australian company Aquanue Pty Ltd,

takes into account the fish size,

metabolism, water temperature and

other parameters and provides a

platform for optimal water quality

312013 ACQ VOL 1

In modern tank-based systems withadvanced husbandry protocols, fishcan be raised in a ‘better-than-

nature’ environment.

Coral Grouper, also known as Coral Trout, ata North Queensland export facility.

>>

traditional hatcheries. This modern

enclosed facility in far north

Queensland has recently had great

success with the Giant Grouper (also

known as Queensland Grouper) and

can breed and produce fingerlings in

a number of other species as well.

The Giant Grouper is the largest of

the true reef fishes and is rarely

available – partly because it is now

protected within most of its natural

range due to severe overfishing in

the past. It has the excellent eating

qualities of the grouper family, with

large white flakes of flesh when

cooked, and has the classic large

grouper appearance favoured by

consumers. Wholesale prices can be

as high as $US100/kg for small size

individuals.

Summary

With wild-catch of groupers

collapsing, and decreasing availability

and feeding regimes. Fish can be

kept active and healthy, which

ultimately leads to a better tasting

product.

For aquaculture to be successful in

the long term a reliable supply of

healthy fingerlings is required. Many

traditional farmers in Asia simply

catch babies and hold then in cages

until they reach market size. This is

not sustainable in the long-term

because grouper take several years to

reach sexual maturity and the

removal of so many juvenile fish

means that natural repopulation is

being put under intense pressure.

There may soon be no babies left to

fatten up!

Many years of scientific and technical

research at the Northern Fisheries

Centre in Cairns has developed the

ability to breed several species of

grouper and produce fingerlings with

greater larval survival rates than

of potential sites for coastal sea-cage

aquaculture, we are fast-approaching

a time where advanced land-based

aquaculture technology is our only

option to keep up with demand

Aquanue’s SICRA™ system brings

additional benefits by being able to

ensure fish health, predict and

manage production output, and

deliver exactly what the market

needs – and all with much lower risk

than traditional methods.

Australia is well-positioned to

respond to this opportunity by

exporting this new technology into

China – the hatchery IP as well as the

grow-out systems and husbandry IP.

Information and resources provided

by the ACBC have helped Aquanue

develop its China strategy.

Gareth Lott is founder and CEO ofAquanue Pty Ltd.

32 2013 ACQ VOL 1

Nothing goes into the fish inthe SICRA™ system other

than fish food and oxygen. Noadded steroids, no malachitegreen, no hydrogen peroxide,

just fish-food pellets.

Aquanue is a new aquaculture company that iscommercializing a new, proven tank-basedaquaculture system called SICRA™. This systemrecirculates the water and passes it throughmultiple stages of filtration to maintain apristine marine environment. With strict controlof water temperature, dissolved oxygen andother critical parameters, the SICRA™ systemcan grow marine species year-round, in somecases twice as fast as sea cages ,with one-tenththe mortality.

Sea-cage aquaculture often causes problemsinvolving fish waste, nutrients and drugsaffecting the surrounding environment. Theseissues don’t exist with the SICRA™ system as it

is completely self-contained and operatedentirely on land. Advanced husbandry protocolsreduce the amount of fish waste and uneatenfood – this not only lowers the feed cost per kgof fish produced (and therefore the Fish-In-Fish-Out ratio), it also reduces the cleaning andfiltration requirements within the system. Thedesign of the system around the biology of thefish means there is no need for drugs andchemicals to be added. Nothing goes into thefish in the SICRA™ system other than fish foodand oxygen. No added steroids, no malachitegreen, no hydrogen peroxide, just fish-foodpellets. Intensive sea cage systems produceapproximately 7.5kg of fish per sqm per annual

season. The SICRA™ system can reliablyproduce more than 25kg of live fish per sqmper year, year-round, with a far lower riskprofile.

In current sea cage systems, some of the high-value grouper species take 14–18 months toreach market size with up to 50 percentmortality due to the species’ sensitivity. TheAquanue system grows these species to size innine months, with less than 5 percent mortality.

There are two sizes preferred by the market:600-800g (‘Plate Size’) and 1.0-1.2kg (‘BanquetSize’).

For information visit www.aquanue.com

>>

Aquanue’s high-tech solution

Source countries forlive reef food fishimported into HongKong – approximateboundaries over thedecades.

Source: Asian Development Bank, Philippines.