The project was initiated on 1st January 2010 after a delay due to documentation issues in Indonesia. Clive Jones travelled to Indonesia and Vietnam in January and again to Indonesia in April/May to coordinate project activities and ensure all components were activated. Although progress has been slower than anticipated all components of the project have now been started and are meeting the milestone schedule.
The projects first priority in Indonesia is to assess puerulus resources in NTB, NTT, Sulsel and Aceh. A supply of lobster seed must be confirmed in areas other than Lombok, before other project activities will follow. To that end, the standardised puerulus assessment tool, the tripod collector, will be deployed in numerous locations, each site having 4 replicate tripods for robust data. These are in place in Lombok, and have now been deployed at two sites in West Timor, near Tablolong. In South Sulawesi and Sumbawa, sites are yet to be determined. Three locations at Pulau Simeulue in Aceh have been identified and deployment will occur shortly.
Project leader Clive Jones attended inception workshop for FIS/2007/124 which is linked to the lobster project. The linkage provides opportunity to extend the puerulus assessment activities to Aceh province, which would otherwise not fit to the scope of the SMAR program. Workshop provided clear understanding of the diversification project. Subsequently, that project's leader Mike Rimmer accompanied Clive Jones and Bayu Priyambodo to Simeulue Island in Aceh to establish lobster project activities there.
The first demonstration growout farm (demplot) has been established at the village of Awang in Lombok, and will be fully operational by mid June, including use of pellet feeding. This provides a test for the design and BMP to ensure readiness for other sites where puerulus availability is confirmed.
The experiment program at BBLL has been started with two lobster nursery experiments underway, the first examining density and the second assessing use of pellet food as an alternative to fresh flesh. These experiments are being co-managed by BBLL staff and UNRAM students as described above.
In Vietnam the experimental cage facility for the environmental assessment study by Institute of Oceanography has been built and trial should begin later in May. Supply of Lucky Star lobster feed has been negotiated and importation arrangements finalised.
The assessment of pond-based growout of lobsters by Nha Trang University has been identified as under budgeted, due to higher than anticipated cost of seed and pellet feed, In response the scale of experiments has been adjusted to meet budget available, and two trials will be initiated by June, the first a replicated experiment examining density and a free-range growout trial.
An information audit of lobster disease in Vietnam was completed in September 2009 and a report generated (Appendix 1). MARD organised a workshop in December 2009 to discuss the lobster disease issue and formulate a coordinated response. It was not possible at the time to have Australian ACIAR personnel attend that workshop. Nevertheless, given the coordinated approach to lobster disease from within Vietnam it was deemed unnecessary to hold a second ACIAR sponsored workshop as per this projects objective. We recommend that the lobster disease situation be monitored with a view to future ACIAR response.
In Australia the field program at Pacific Reef Fisheries has been initiated with preliminary assessment of raceway system using juveniles lobsters. The first full replicated experiment will examine shelter and will begin in late May using sub-adult lobsters.
For the scoping study for indigenous lobster aquaculture development, Jaragun Pty Ltd have been engaged, and attempts were made to leverage ACIAR funds to broaden the study. These were unsuccessful and consequently the scope of the assessment was reduced to five communities close to Cairns. Subsequent discussion of the terms of reference for the assessment indicated that proximity to Cairns and particularly to the necessary support from research personnel would be the most significant factor. It was decided therefore to focus the scoping study to Yarrabah where several potential sites for lobster growout are available. These sites are to be assessed in June. The subsequent phase for a lobster pilot growout will be a business planning exercise which is not yet funded. Additional ACIAR funds will be necessary to implement this phase, with a view to use ACIAR funds to leverage additional funds from other stakeholders including the Indigenous units within DAF and DEEWR.
A variation should be considered in the near term for this project to enable:
more effective engagement, training and capacity building in Indonesia, particularly at BBLL Lombok
expansion of the assessment of pond-based lobster production in Vietnam
progress to phase 2 of the Australian Indigenous lobster pilot growout.

The project was initiated on 1st January 2010, and this report represents progress for the first full year of operation. The project is making good progress against all objectives and all milestones are being met.
An annual project meeting was held in Lombok Indonesia on 25th of January 2011 including participation of project team members from Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia. This provided an opportunity to review the past year's progress, discuss issues and plan the activities for 2011. Much of the information reported here has been compiled by the project collaborators based on that presented at the workshop.
Attendant to the project meeting, an industry development workshop was held in Lombok on January 26, 2011 to communicate project objectives and results to industry and prospective lobster farmers. This workshop will be an annual event in Indonesia, supported by the project, with a view to its running being progressively taken on by industry. DGA were well represented at the workshop and have committed to supporting it in future.
Dr Le Lan Huong (Institute of Oceanography, Vietnam), Dr Le Anh Tuan (Nha Trang University, Vietnam), Bayu Priyambodo (BBLL, Indonesia) and Dr Clive Jones (project leader) will all attend the Ninth International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management (ICWL9) in Bergen, Norway from June 19-24. Five papers from project work have been accepted for presentation.
A project variation was approved to improve the experimental program and facilitate increased capacity building / training at Balai Budidaya Laut Lombok (BBLL), the Marine Aquaculture Development Centre in Lombok. Additional funds will enable Australian project staff to travel to Lombok more frequently and for longer duration to assist in experiments and undertake the training. The variation also supports a continuation and expansion of the Indigenous lobster project at Yarrabah in north Queensland.