Cathy Hair and Paul Southgate of James Cook University Townsville Presentation at during the marine pre-conference workshop prior to the 5th GEF Biennial International Waters Conference

1. Mariculture and aquaculture
livelihood options for the
Pacific Islands region
Cathy Hair and Paul Southgate –
James Cook University, Townsville

2. ACIAR Project Background
Development of aquaculture based
livelihoods in the Pacific Islands
region
and tropical Australia
 James Cook University (Partners: Secretariat of the Pacific
Community, WorldFish Center, Uni of the South Pacific)
 Duration: October 2007 to October 2011
 Primary objective is to carry out “mini-projects” –
small, targeted interventions to address bottlenecks to
sustainable aquaculture.
 ACIAR target countries for Phase II mini-projects:
 Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu

3. Mini-project features
 Target PICT aquaculture bottlenecks
 Flexibility
 Rapid implementation
 Country partner ownership
 Institutional collaboration
 Private sector and NGO involvement
 Focus on achieving real benefits to PICTs,
including follow-up where necessary
 Ability to “test the water”

4. Phase I mini-projects (2004-07)
Pond
stud
y
Tilapia White
teatfish
reseeding
Microalga
e
trainingTilapia
restockingMIRC
facilitie
s
Eel
surve
y
Microalga
e
training
Spong
e
farmin
g
Cage
culture
Shrimp
viral
study
Feeds
study
Mabe
pearl
M. lar
trials
14 projects
AU$184,000

5. Phase II mini-projects (2007-11)
Sandfish
culture
Clownfis
h culture
Pteria
trials
Siganid
cage
culture
Shrimp
viral study
Macrobrachiu
m lar
Mabe
pearl
Spat
collection
Herring
fishmeal
Tilapia
grow-out
12 projects
commenced
Live rock
and coral
culture

6. Example 1:
Sandfish culture & ranching in Fiji
 Large mini-project (>AU$40,000)
 2.5 years duration
 Project partners – Fiji Fisheries,
J. Hunter Pearls, NGO (USP FLMMA), USP
ACIAR student, community
GOAL – To investigate the potential for
sea cucumber culture and sea ranching
in Fiji.

7. Sandfish culture and ranching in
Fiji
- Objectives
 Transfer sandfish hatchery technology to the
government (MFF) and private sector (J Hunter Pearls)
 Produce large numbers of 3-5 g sandfish
 Evaluate the ease of transferring culture techniques to a
pearl hatchery

8.  Evaluate growth and survival of juveniles sea ranched in
community managed qoliqoli
 Improve capacity of Fijian counterparts (hatchery
technicians,
fishery officers,
students)
 Explore
management
options
for future
sandfish
sea-ranching
Sandfish culture and ranching in Fiji
- Objectives

9.  Trained hatchery staff
 3 successful larval production
runs
 Limited number of juveniles
produced
 Experimental sea ranching
activity
 Staff trained in monitoring
and data collection
 Community engagement
in project
Sandfish culture and ranching in Fiji
- Results to date

10. Example 2:
Live rock and coral culture, Tonga
 Medium mini-project
(~AU$25,000)
 1.5 years duration
 Project partners –
Tonga Fisheries, Walt Smith
International (aquarium
exporters)
GOAL – Produce cultured
live rocks and corals to
augment the supply of
marine ornamentals for
export.

11. Live rock and coral culture, Tonga
- Objectives
 Develop protocols to farm
artificial live rocks and
compare different habitats
 Identify suitable species of
corals for farming and
develop simple culture
protocols
 Facilitate technology
uptake by private sector
and community farms for
these commodities

12.  Protocols developed, staff trained in coral culture
and live rock production
 Sea and land-based trials commenced
 Identified suitable grow-out sites
 Ongoing trials
Live rock and coral culture, Tonga
- Results to date

13. Example 3:
Pearl oyster spat Collection, Fiji
 Small mini-project (~AU$10,000)
 1.5 years duration
 Project partners –J. Hunter Pearls, USP-ACIAR
post-grad student
 Spatial/temporal
distribution of spat
 Industry-oriented,
improved methods
of spat collection

14. Example 4:
Fly River Herring fishmeal, PNG
 Small mini-project (~AU$15,000)
 6 months duration
 Project partners – Ok Tedi Development Fund
 Determine quality of
fishmeal to support
aquaculture initiatives
(barramundi cage
culture) in the
Fly River

15.  Fish samples collected under experimental conditions
 Fish sample proximates and biogenic amines
analysed in Australia
 Preliminary test results show that herring samples can
be left unrefrigerated for more than 8 hours and still
be suitable for fishmeal production
 Implications for livelihoods: local artisanal fishers can
access this market without needing to ice their catch
Fly River Herring fishmeal, PNG
- Results to date

16. Summary
 Mini-projects are a novel way to support
sustainable aquaculture livelihoods in the Pacific
Islands region
 Provide important capacity-building opportunities
 Allow many commodities and techniques to be
trialled, and problems to be addressed quickly
and economically
 Value-add to larger projects by “filling in gaps”
 Indicate where larger, more expensive
interventions are needed

17. Thank you