|
Industry partners were
an integral component of the grant process. Major
partners are: Deakin University; Warrnambool Trout
Farm; Australian Aquaculture Products; and
Australian Aquaculture Systems. Minor partners are
Northern Territory University, School of
Biological Environment and Chemical Sciences; and
South West Institute of TAFE.
The bid is welcome at
the campus in other ways as well. Three new staff
will be appointed as part of the project to help
service the SAS program. STI funds together with
significant contributions from Warrnambool Trout
Farm will see the establishment of a 20-tonne
commercial unit at the farm, ten minutes drive
from the campus. For the initial three years of
the project a major part of WTFs’ operation will
be to function as an industry scale test tube for
research findings from the Deakin facilities.
On the Deakin
Warrnambool campus, four systems (1 x 20 tonne and
3 x 6 tonne) are to be established in a purpose
built facility, in which pure and applied
aquaculture research will be conducted.
As would be
expected with this type of project governance is
comprehensive with many points of accountability.
A Board of Management is ultimately answerable to
the STI for reports and deadlines and to aid the
boards operation an Independent Reference Group
comprised of eminents in the field make
opportunity recommendations to the board. A
Technical Advisory Group, which is the engine room
for industry linkages and research directions,
advises the Board on research and technical
matters and liaises very closely with the two
Facility Managers responsible for the day to day
running.
The consortia
hopes to see the stimulation of a robust and
commercially viable RAS aquaculture industry
assisted by this initiative. Deakin also sees the
opportunity to increase its applied research
capacity and industry relevance in the RAS field
while strategically targeting new links with other
industry and lead agencies at state, national and
international levels. Also it will allow an
increase in Deakins' educational capacity and
efficiency at all levels from workshop /
conference, vocational to PhD, using world class
facilities.
At the time of
writing this article the Warrnambool Trout Farm
facility is about 70% complete and scheduled for
kick off around the end of April 03. Deakin works
are not scheduled to begin until Jun-July 03
In anticipation of
starting, The Board has already given approval for
the first projects, which once facilities are
officially on line will tackle the broad areas of
nutrition and propagation of Murray cod in RAS.
For further
information and regular updates about developments
plug in to the STI / SAS website at,
www.deakin.edu.au/research/STI/SAS
|
