Sustainable aquaculture development in Pacific Islands region and northern Australia

• Secretariat of the Pacific Community, New Caledonia
• WorldFish Center, New Caledonia

Aquaculture in the Pacific has been dogged by low production levels and few success stories. The main export commodities are non-food products (pearls and seaweed), due in large part to long transport distances and high costs. The familiar barriers to aquaculture - high mortality rates in post-larval fish capture and culture, and issues of sustainability and reseeding in sea harvesting - have hampered food production. But research has made significant advances to overcome these barriers. Specifically, ACIAR-supported research has addressed some of these issues in grouper aquaculture in Indonesia, developing methodologies applicable elsewhere, including nations of the Pacific. These countries, with their large, clean and sheltered areas of seawater and high biodiversity, are ideally suited to a range of aquaculture activities.

The project supported the SPC Pacific Aquaculture Program's strategic development of economically, socially and environmentally sustainable aquaculture in the Pacific Islands region, by:
identifying and implementing targeted research activities and technology transfer to assist the development of sustainable aquaculture in the Pacific Islands region;
extending the outcomes of completed and ongoing ACIAR and WorldFish projects to other communities/countries of the Pacific region and northern Australia.

Two specific areas of research were identified:
post-larval fish capture and culture - this was addressed through a training workshop at Gizo, together with the establishment of demonstration sites at two village sites in Western Province, Solomon Islands and in at least one other Pacific Island country (PIC). These trials were also the basis of extending the work to villages elsewhere. An Extension manual for Capture and Culture of Postlarval Fish was also developed.
sea cucumber production and reseeding - broodstock collection and maintenance were undertaken, with trials in bioremediation ponds. Hatchery technology for sea cucumbers was then transferred to Australia. Training in sea cucumber hatchery technology was undertaken in Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
Technical and research skills in aquaculture were enhanced in the Pacific Islands region and northern Australia through within-project 'on the job' training, specialised training courses, student projects and use of specialised personnel from partner institutions in outreach research activities and technology transfer.

The objectives of the project were addressed through its three core technical components:
(a) miniprojects
(b) capture and culture of pre-settlement coral reef fishes and invertebrates
(c) sea cucumber aquaculture/reseeding.

The aim of the miniprojects component was to provide solutions to identified research gaps/production constraints of multi-country significance and hence address specific in-country bottlenecks to aquaculture development. During the course of the project, 14 miniprojects were approved and funded, for a total expenditure of $184,000 in nine PICs on eight aquaculture commodities. Some outcomes include:
identification of the viral disease status of Penaeus monodon shrimp stocks in Fiji, leading to the development of improved quarantine and testing procedures
demonstration that the native freshwater prawn Macrobrachium lar can be successfully cultured in ponds in Pacific Island countries as an alternative to the introduced M. rosenbergii
improvements in husbandry for artisanal fish farmers in PNG and Fiji have been provided through formulation of cheap, locally available fish feeds
fisheries officers and university students in Fiji were trained in specialised techniques for collecting juvenile eels
improved cage culture techniques for fish farmers in the PNG Highlands have resulted from trials comparing fish density and feeds for caged tilapia in a freshwater reservoir
improved sponge culture methods have been developed in Solomon Islands and the markets investigated for Pacific bath sponges. An EU-funded follow-on project will support a farming operation to produce sufficient quantities of sponges for marketing.
The most important contribution to capacity building came from the technical advisors who provided the expert skills during the execution of each miniproject. For example, local farmers and aquaculture officers learnt how to collect and/or breed and culture species such as Nile tilapia, indigenous freshwater prawns, anguillid eels and sponges. Fisheries officers also increased their skills in many areas including feed formulation, feed management, mabe pearl production, survey techniques, water quality monitoring and data recording.
In the work on capture and culture of pre-settlement coral reef fishes and invertebrates (PCC) outputs included:
consolidation of PCC operations in the Western province of Solomon Islands, where the methods were developed
extension of the techniques to other Solomon Islands' provinces and three other PICs.
Western Province, Solomon Islands has been the principal area for success in technology transfer. This was due primarily to the proximity of the WorldFish Center facility at Gizo (and the relevant expertise that resides in that centre). The first training workshop in PCC techniques was held there for the community and National Fisheries officers in June 2004. Soon after, two Western Province villages began catching and rearing post-larval tropical lobster, cleaner shrimp and fish. In 2005 and 2006 training took place in Isabel Province, although problems with reef access and transport to markets have hampered the start-up. Exports of shrimp, lobster and fish to the Honiara-based aquarium fish exporter have generated income of ~SB$23,000 (approx. $A3,800) since the first training workshop.
Training workshops have taken place in Fiji (three visits), Kiribati (one visit) and Tonga (one visit). Fiji is the most advanced operation: a village has been identified with high potential and community members fully trained. Although not at commercial stage yet, the University of the South Pacific (USP) is assisting with developing the fishery. Fisheries officers in Kiribati and Tonga have received the basic training to determine if the methods have potential for their countries.
An important output of the PCC component has been in increased capacity of the Solomon Island WorldFish Center project staff, who have accepted an expanded role in planning and running training courses in the techniques while continuing to reduce operational costs, improve environmental sustainability and increase profitability for the PCC farmers.
Outputs from the sea cucumber hatchery production component include:
increased skills of project staff at DPI&F Northern Fisheries Centre (NFC) in Cairns, Australia
capacity-building in hatchery techniques for Pacific Islands' hatchery technicians (PNG and Tonga)
assessments of the potential for use of sea cucumbers for bioremediation in Australia
support for an Australian/PNG postgraduate student at James Cook University studying nutrient utilisation by sea cucumbers.
The project constructed hatchery facilities and trained three DPI&F staff members in all aspects of broodstock management, spawning, larval rearing and juvenile grow-out of sandfish (Holothuria scabra) - a new species for NFC. Three successful hatchery runs took place at NFC in Cairns. Two PNG trainees attended the second hatchery season and two Tongan Fisheries Division aquaculture officers attended the third and final hatchery season - all received full training in production techniques. Both countries claimed they had potential for further development of sea cucumber production and expressed an interest in obtaining skills to produce them.
The project contributed to knowledge of the growth and survival of sea cucumbers in coastal shrimp/effluent/bioremediation ponds. Adult sandfish did not grow in an operational shrimp culture pond and bioremediation channel, most likely because of unsuitable substrata. Researchers found little potential for co-culture of sandfish with shrimp in far northern Queensland. Juvenile sandfish kept in bag nets in shrimp farm bioremediation channels, intake channels and earthen ponds (without shrimp) grew well in the intake channel, survived but did not grow well in an earthen pond, and did not survive in the bioremediation channel - indicating that sandfish is unsuited as a bioremediation species for Australian shrimp farms.
However, small juveniles can be on-grown in the comparatively clean waters of unused shrimp ponds and intake channels using techniques developed by WorldFish. Additionally, juvenile sandfish may be grown-out to commercial size using extensive methods in large ponds with minimal inputs. In late 2006 a final trial commenced to grow-out sandfish produced at NFC in an unused shrimp pond, with results available in early 2008.