He added that one of the successes of the facility had been
the way that they had managed to get Pacific Oysters to
spat. These have settled and now developed into juveniles.
"This was very important to us," he continued, "because it
shows that our water quality is excellent." These shellfish
have a carefully controlled diet of algae.
Their success with finfish
has been just as impressive. The facility also hopes to have
a trial spawning of Kingfish in November. He pointed out
that the system was in place and they were just waiting for
the water temperature to rise so that the fish would be
encouraged to spawn. Niwa has also managed to rear snapper
to juveniles in the new system.
The larvae of both these
species are fed rotifers. This is a live feed that is
specially grown at Bream Bay. As these finglerlings develop
both these fish will be fed atemia which is another live
feed specially cultivated at the facility.
They are also working with
glass eels little more than a few centimetres long. These
are collected from the Waikato river when they are very
small and will be ongrown at Bream Bay to assess their
commercial viability for a new aquaculture species.
Another species that is on
site at Bream Bay is paua. This is one of the shellfish
under pressure in New Zealand. At Bream Bay they are looking
to get them to spawn in captivity and commercially on-grown
to market size.
Already there is further
capital expenditure at the site. A fish and shellfish
pathology lab has been established. This will be fully
equipped and a pathologist has been employed. This is the
first such dedicated lab associated with an aquaculture
facility in New Zealand.
Dr Hooker is delighted
because within six months of opening the facility it is
fully utilised and looking to expand.
By Jenny Haworth
FIS.com
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