A project initiation and planning meeting was held in Nha Trang in August 2009, where all project participants attended and discussed implementation of the project. Following the project planning meeting, the first of a planned series of annual Regional Aquafeed Forums was held at the University of NhaTrang.
Follow-up visits by Dr Brett Glencross and Dr David Smith have taken place in November 2009 and March 2010, respectively, to address any arising concerns of the project partner participants.
During the November 2009 visit Dr Glencross was joined by a leading Australian feed extrusion consultant to begin the planning process for a series of training workshops to be held in Vietnam in 2010 and 2011. This opportunity was also used to provide direct extrusion advice on processing and feed formulation to Vietnamese feed companies.
Consistent with the project objectives, protocols have been developed for a series of information gathering exercises:
- Socioeconomic surveys of marine-fish, Mudcrab and Spiny Lobster farmers to understand the real and perceived limitations to the adoption of pelleted feeds.
- Feed mill survey to characterize the feed production industry and raw material options available locally in Vietnam
- Production survey and sample collections to underpin the development of growth models for each of the project core species (Asian seabass, Cobia, Grouper - Epinephelus coioidies and E. fuscoguttatus, Mudcrab and Spiny Lobster).
The protocols have been developed by the leader of the socio-economics component of the project (Dr Elizabeth Petersen) in close consultation with each of the collaborating partner country institutes. These protocols/survey forms have then been translated from English into Vietnamese by the lead institution (Mr Dinh Van Trung).
Progress in Vietnam in implementing these surveys has been delayed due to the late signoff of the project, but began in May 2010.
Work has begun on each of the components of the project that have been earmarked activity in Australia:
- To identify barriers to feed technology uptake by aquaculture sectors
- To define the protein and energy digestibility of suite of locally available and/or key raw materials
- To explore mechanistic elements of fish nutritional modelling systems
Several fish farmers and feed manufacturers have already been canvassed regarding the issues affecting fishmeal replacement technology in Australia for the production of diets for marine species. The outcomes of this survey will be used to guide the research priorities to address the issues that are most pertinent to each sector.
Two experiments have been conducted already to evaluate the nutrient and energy digestibilities of a suite of raw materials. The acquisition of digestibility data for these ingredients was identified as being highly desirable by the feed production sector in Australia during discussions with the Project Leader. These studies have also been used to add additional data and strength to NIRS calibrations so as to be able to use NIRS to estimate protein and energy digestibility of both ingredients and feeds.
The basis for a mechanistic model, that represents actual discrete biochemical processes in fish, is in the process of being constructed. This component of the project will require a range of empirical experiments to measure critical growth parameters of barramundi . The first of these experiments is due to begin in late 2010.