Fisheries Technician - Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Centre
Luke completed a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Aquaculture at the University of Qld St Lucia Campus and post graduate honours (class 1) at the University of Qld Aquaculture Research Facility at the Pinjarra Hills Vet Farm. The honours project was titled “Polyculture of Red Claw Crayfish and Freshwater Prawns” and involved pond grow out trials and lab based behavioural experiments.
In 2000 Luke was employed as hatchery manager to establish a marine hatchery at Millers Forest NSW using saline groundwater. Established Australia’s first commercial mulloway hatchery and first commercial operation using saline groundwater. Produced mulloway, snapper and Australian bass fingerlings, as well as mulloway grow out.
In 2005 Luke worked in a unique strategic alliance between private sector production (Clearwater Marine Farms) and public sector research (NSW DPI, Port Stephens Fisheries Centre), to re-establish sea cage aquaculture in NSW. Luke's position was a shared resource under contract through Aquafin CRC as part of an industry/government partnership that was developed to ensure the efficient exchange of information and technologies between government and industry. During this period Luke worked with the PSFC Marine Fish Breeding team producing mulloway, (pictured right) Australian bass and yellow tail kingfish. Luke's concurrent role was as manager of sea cage operations in Botany Bay, primarily producing mulloway, with some snapper and kingfish production. Luke's role was to ensure operations were conducted with a strong scientific base, whilst maintaining commercial viability.
Luke joined DPI&F Qld in Sept 2006, working with the integrated aquaculture group. Current projects include “Evaluation of the Potential for Aquaculture in Cotton Catchments - Assessment of the Potential for Aquaculture using Coal Seam Gas Water” and “In Pond Raceway Production of Marine Finfish”.
Both of these projects and how some of the outcomes are applicable to the freshwater aquaculture industry will be conveyed at the conference.
“Evaluation of the Potential for Aquaculture in Cotton Catchments - Assessment of the Potential for Aquaculture using Coal Seam Gas Water”
The Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) is undertaking a project supported by the Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research Centre and industry partners, Arrow Energy NL and McVeigh Enterprises Pty Ltd, to evaluate the potential for aquaculture in cotton catchments. Presently we have been evaluating the potential for aquaculture using coal seam gas (CSG) water.
The Condamine Catchment in Queensland is a major cotton growing area, dependent on groundwater extraction and flood harvesting for irrigation. This agricultural area also overlaps major CSG reserves which have recently been commercially developed. A feature of CSG extraction operations is the necessary uplift of associated water from coal beds to liberate the adsorbed methane gas. The water brought to the surface is slightly saline, similar to the water within many of the region’s aquifers and as such is not always suitable for many direct beneficial uses such as irrigation.
The ionic composition of CSG is unique and will require some fortification before use in aquaculture. This fortification will not be to the detriment of possible future water treatment options (e.g. reverse osmosis) for irrigation.
The Bribe Island Aquaculture Research Centre has for the past 18 months being trialling CSG water for potential aquaculture operations on a range of native fish species including the freshwater Murray cod and euryhaline marine (wide salinity tolerance) species such as barramundi, mulloway and the sand whiting. All trials without exception required the addition of potassium (K+) to facilitate normal survival and growth. Potassium is the principal intracellular cation of animal tissue and also plays a major role in the osmoregulatory Na+ K+ ATPase reaction.
“In Pond Raceway Production of Marine Finfish”
This is a collaborative project between the DPI&F Queensland and Nha Trang University in Vietnam, funded by the Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program.
Growth of the marine finfish industry in Australia and Vietnam has been constrained by the absence of cheap, robust production technologies that alleviate the negative environmental impacts associated with marine aquaculture. In Vietnam, marine fish are farmed mainly in small sea cages and partly in coastal ponds with wild-caught fingerlings. New sustainable yet profitable land based production methods must be employed in order to return value from the ongoing effort into marine finfish production. This need is heightened considering that prawn farmers are seeking alternative cropping opportunities in the wake of global oversupply and the impact of cheap imports on Australian prawn markets.
Floating raceways function as flow through culture units that exchange water at a rapid constant rate, thus enabling intensive stocking rates (up to 100 kg/m3) at low capital and operational cost. In comparison to net cages, floating raceways return lower FCR, produce less waste and require significantly less labour. Tank based marine recirculation facilities are cost prohibitive and fail to take advantage of Queensland’s favourable climate and existing pond aquaculture infrastructure. The aim of the project is to build low-cost floating raceway, designed and made with locally available materials to increase accessibility of local farmers once the technology established or for trials at local farms.
The project has been successful in developing nursery and grow-out system for barramundi, mulloway and whiting production that is accessible, cost effective and environmentally sustainable. Mulloway and whiting have been produced at densities of up to 80kg/m³. Further research including market appraisal of the fish produced will be conducted to determine the volume requirements and economic feasibility of the system.
