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Developing methods to
artificially spawn and increase the growth of tropical
abalone species is the aim of a joint research program
currently under way at Bribie Island.
The University of
Queensland researchers, Associate Professor Bernie
Degnan, PhD student Tim Lucas and Department of
Primary Industries principal research scientist Dr
Wayne Knibb are involved in the project which is
seeking to develop an aquaculture industry for the
fastest growing abalone on the planet.
PhD student Tim Lucas
has recently completed a second season of abalone
spawning at the DPI’s Bribie Island Aquaculture
Research Center (BIARC). Based on the success of last
season, Mr Lucas and the research team are expecting
to raise around 100 000 abalone young or spat this
year for grow-out trials at Bribie Island, elsewhere
in Queensland and possibly Vietnam and Israel.
Abalone are highly
desired by Asian consumers who prize the shellfish.
The industry in Australia is hampered because they are
forced to rely heavily on limited catches of stocks
from the wild. Existing aquaculture operations in more
temperate regions use slower growing greenlip and
blacklip abalone.”
“Despite the slow
growth of these cold water species, a supermarket
price of around $200 per kilo (frozen) ensures that
they will continue to attract interest from investors
and researchers alike. The faster growing tropical
abalone could provide a more viable alternative,” Mr
Lucas said.
He said the joint UQ-DPI
team is seeking to develop artificial spawning so
researchers can begin to develop faster growing
abalone. A breakthrough in artificial spawning would
mean the team would not have to rely on wild
broodstock and help to develop breeding programs.
The team is building up
broodstock families of abalone so that individuals
which achieve speedier growth than their counterparts
can be reared over successive generations and studied
to determine genetic and other factors which help them
achieve faster growth patterns.”
“Researchers will use
broodstock from wild populations in a spawning season
which will run from November to April. Given adequate
conditions, farmed abalone should approach or exceed
growth rates seen in wild population on Heron Island
Reef of up to 90 mm/year and reach sexual maturity
within one year,” Mr Lucas said.
The tropical abalone
species being trialed is currently being cultured
successfully in both the Philippines and Thailand,
although a lack of spawning technology leaves these
operations with low efficiencies.
The research group from
UQ, headed by Associate Professor Bernie Degnan, has
been refining production technology and molecular
know-how using the tropical abalone for almost a
decade, after carrying over technology from Professor
Dan Morse’s lab researching the red abalone at the
University of California, Santa Barbara.
Mr Lucas said the work
at Bribie Island includes experiments that will
determine the amenability of the abalone to selective
breeding, and search for genes involved in growth.
He said this would be
the first time the DPI-UQ team had grown abalone on a
large scale under such optimal conditions with
previous research already sorting out small teething
problems.
Mr Lucas said success
in abalone spawning and fast growth selection could
see this species becoming one of Australia’s most
exiting new commercial aquaculture species.
Further
Information:
Ross Lobegeiger, Ph: +61 7 3400 2000
Tim Lucas, Ph: +61 7 3400 2000, email:
tlucas@zen.uq.edu
Bernie Degnan, email:
bdegnan@zen.uq.edu.au,
Dr Wayne Knibb, +61 7 3400 2000, email: wayne.knibb@dpi.qld.gov.au
Media Officer: Mark Dawson. Ph: +61
7 5430 4951, Mob: 0407 756 859
Department of Primary Industries Media Unit
PO Box 5165 Sunshine Coast Mail Centre 4560. Ph: +61
7 5430 4911 Fax: +61 7 5430 4994
DPI Call Centre 8am-6pm weekdays on local call 13 25
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