| The
Fisheries Research and Development
Corporation (FRDC) has announced funding of
$1.9 million for new research and development projects
in Victoria. FRDC
Chairman, Mr Denis Byrne announced details of the FRDC's
2002-2003 funding round today.
"Victoria's fishing
industry and other stakeholders will benefit from
funding to five new research projects to be conducted
over the next few years by state government fisheries
research institutes, industry groups and other research
providers.
"Projects funded this
year reflect the industry and governments' commitment to
ensuring the sustainability of Australia's fisheries
resources, developing leadership within industry and
building on previous success to deliver benefits to
Victoria.
"Fisheries need good data
to be managed effectively, but collecting this data is
often quite expensive. In an attempt to curb the growing
cost of collecting data in small fisheries the FRDC has
funded a project to develop cost-effective collection
techniques," he said.
"The project aims to
ensure that fisheries in the South East region continue
to provide a diversity of fresh local seafood for
Australian communities.
"Victoria is also set to
implement an environmental management system (EMS) for
its bay and inlet fisheries under another FRDC-funded
project.
"Seafood Industry
Victoria will work with industry to document fishing
practices and improve EMS skills. This will enable the
right EMS to be developed for each fishery - it may be
simple, with an informal plan such as a code of
practice, or more complex such as a formal system using
a standard such as ISO 14001.
"In either case FRDC
believes demonstrating publicly that industry is
managing its environmental impacts accountably is an
important step towards community acceptance for all
fishing sectors," he said.
"Another innovative
project involves the use of marker assisted genetic
breeding to improve farming of abalone and the
development of abalone products. The high husbandry
costs to grow abalone stock to market size is a
significant impediment to the commercial production of
abalone in southern Australia."
"Genetic improvement
programs have the potential to significantly shorten the
production cycle and at the same time produce stock with
traits that will enhance marketability. Selective
breeding programs can potentially increase abalone
growth rates by a third over three generations which
would substantially reduce farm operating costs and
increase industry profitability," he said.
"Flow-on work from this
project will help fulfill other needs in the wild and
cultured abalone sectors. The additional microsatellite
markers derived from this project can also be used to
examine genetic diversity within and between domestic
and wild abalone stocks," Mr Byrne said.
The FRDC is responsible
for planning, investing in and overseeing fisheries R&D
and facilitating the dissemination, adoption and
commercialisation of the results. The FRDC is a
statutory authority of the Commonwealth Government
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry -
Australia.
Contact:
Kylie Paulsen, Communications Manager - Extension, Ph
0438 630 491
Data Collection
Techniques: Dave Smith, MAFRI, ph 03 5258 0272
EMS initiative: Ross McGowan, Seafood Industry Victoria
Inc., ph 03 9824 0744
Genetic breeding of abalone: Nick Robinson, DNRE, ph 03
9217 4200
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