Australian volunteer assists in development of an ornamental fish hatchery in Indonesia

Alexander Basford was a volunteer at Mars Symboscience in Indonesia from May 2015 to February 2016 under the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program. Below he shares his recent experience traveling to several aquaculture production and research facilities in Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

The final stage of microalgae culture at BBPBL Lampung - 30 tonne tanks that are the base of the food supply of the entire hatchery. Photo: Alex Basford

Why migratory fish are an important food supply and livelihood for millions of people around the world

For a huge number of fish and other aquatic animals, migration is a part of life. Atlantic salmon return to the same river they were born to lay eggs, whales swim from frigid Antarctic waters to the warmer climes to calf, and whale sharks never stop looking for food (covering thousands of kilometres in the process). There is a belief that fish migration only occurs between salt and fresh water (as in the case of our salmon) but fewer than 1% of species change habitat so drastically. Rather, the vast majority of migrating fish species feed in one place, then migrate to another to breed, all within the same system.

Tuna fishing in Indonesia. Photo: ACIAR

ACIAR project leader announced as Australia’s ASPIRE award nominee

Congratulations to Associate Professor Lee Baumgartner, an ACIAR project leader, on his nomination for the prestigious 2016 APEC science prize for innovation, research and education (ASPIRE) Award. Dr Baumgartner supervises a series of ACIAR-funded fish way projects in Laos and has won the nomination for his work on food security and fisheries in developing nations. The recognition is due to the ground-breaking work in conjunction with Lao scientists in designing and implanting effective fish passage solutions to increase fisheries production, household income, food security and biodiversity.

From left: Professor Warren Bebbington, Vice Chancellor, University of Adelaide; Professor Bob Vincent FAA, University of Adelaide.; Matt Murray, Economic Counsellor, Embassy of the United States of America; Australian nominee Associate Professor Lee Baumgartner, Charles Sturt University; and Christopher Pyne MP, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. Photo: T. Edwards, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

PARDI market day proves huge success

Over 150 researchers, farmers, agribusiness and government representatives from Australia and across the Pacific came together in Fiji this week. The occasion was the PARDI Impact Workshop and Market Day. An event marking the completion of the first phase of the Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI) and a chance to network, share experiences and see firsthand the impact of agribusiness research on economic and social development in the region.

ACIAR's Tara McKenzie learning about breadfruit from stallholder Livai Tora. Source: ACIAR

Blueprint for brilliant beche-de-mer

A brand new guidebook to processing sea cucumbers is already making a splash internationally. Thanks to ACIAR-funded research aiming to improve livelihoods of village fishers in the Pacific, the booklet has been developed by project partners Southern Cross University and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

Fisher in Kiribati collecting a leopardfish (photo S. Purcell)

Sea cucumbers have been hand-collected and exported from the Pacific Islands since the 1840s. Once processed to a dried product known as ‘beche-de-mer’ in the food world, they are particularly popular in China, used as a key luxury ingredient of festive dishes.

Oysters opening up opportunities for Fiji communities

Engagement in the pearl farming supply chain is bringing economic opportunities and social harmony to many island communities in Fiji. Dr Chris Barlow, ACIAR’s Fisheries research program manager, recently visited Fiji and describes how...

Pearl farming is often considered big business, a rich man's game. Not so in Fiji, where communities, particularly women's groups, are increasingly involved in various aspects of the complicated animal husbandry process that ultimately leads to pearls being sold in jewellery shops around the world.

Emele (front) and Kelera (back) at J Hunter Pearls,
processing Pteria penguin oysters that have previously
been seeded for mabé pearl production. Mabé pearls
are ideal for handicraft and jewellery production,
at which Fijian ladies are particularly adept.

The first step in pearl farming involves collecting spat (or baby oysters), either from natural spawning in the open ocean, or from adult oysters spawned in hatcheries. In Fiji, the great majority of spat is collected from the ocean using "long-line spat collectors". These are basically fibrous ropes, set in the ocean for several months, onto which free-floating larvae settle and grow to juvenile oysters.

The collection of spat is not difficult, but it does require maintenance of the lines and careful handling of the juvenile oysters. Skill is required to recognise the species being farmed and then to separate them from the many other species that settle on the ropes. 

Commending an industry legend on World Fisheries Day

Cletus Oengpepa - in his element
(photo: Frederique Olivier)

World Fisheries Day, November 21, is celebrated throughout the world by fishing communities. It is fitting that this year, on his retirement, we commend the contributions to fisheries research from Mr Cletus Oengpepa.

Cletus, WorldFish research station manager at Gizo in the Western Province of Solomon Islands, has been a valuable partner with ACIAR more than two decades. He has been an inspiration in his efforts to ensure sustainable fisheries and resource management in the Pacific Island region.

"Cletus Oengpepa is a mentor, a leader, a colleague and friend," said Delvene Boso, Country Manager for WorldFish in the Solomon Islands. Her words were echoing how Cletus was described by colleagues in a farewell luncheon held to mark his final week with WorldFish.

Ponds for prosperity in Papua New Guinea

There’s more to constructing a pond than just digging a hole and filling it with water—just ask Francis Gako, who has been helping out with an ACIAR project in Papua New Guinea (PNG) aiming to improve smallholders’ fish production for food security and income generation. 

Tilapia farming in PNG can improve food security and generate income
(Photo: F. Gako)

There are more than 10,000 small-scale fish farms in PNG, and interest in aquaculture is growing fast. The PNG government has recognised the important role of fish in food security, particularly in inland areas. However, despite the peoples’ interest in aquaculture, current production levels are low when compared with other South-East Asian systems.

All creatures great and small

In the first post of a 3-part series to help celebrate National Science Week, we're profiling ACIAR Graduate Officers. Our 'grads' help demonstrate the variety and opportunity a career in agricultural science can provide.

Dr Emma Zalcman is a young Australian scientist working for all creatures great and small

Each year ACIAR hires recently-graduated students from Universities across Australia. Emma Zalcman is one of three graduates from various science fields to work in our research programs.

IN THE FIELD – Myanmar in a new era

(in-country visits by ACIAR’s research managers)

The children we met were not shy from the camera.
Gyoke Pin Village in the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar.
Photo by Jenny Hanks

In June, ACIAR’s ­ Principal Regional Coordinator for Mekong countries and China, Dr Gamini Keerthsinghe, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to implement a research project in a country ACIAR has been working with for over a decade. The smallholder farmers and rural poor are set to benefit from opportunities for the Australian Government to work at a greater level of cooperation with the Government of Myanmar, which is undergoing a period of ambitious reform that is unprecedented in its recent history...

IN THE FIELD – Mabe, baby: Commemorating World Oceans Day

(in-country visits by ACIAR’s research program managers)

In May this year, ACIAR’s Fisheries program manager, Dr Chris Barlow, visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) to check out the progress of several fisheries projects (the inlandaquaculture project in Goroka and a mariculture project at Nago Island, Kavieng). Highlights of the trip included 'finding Nemo' and seeing some of the amazing work coming out of a pearl-development project...

Clownfish
(Image courtesy of Zelko Slamaj)

Australia Awards: Ensuring there are plenty more fish in the sea

Commemorating World Oceans Day tomorrow (8 June), we relay the story of an Australia Awards recipient and the work she has done to help alleviate pressure on global fish stocks.

Dr Lilis Sadiyah is an Australia Awards graduate working at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Republic Indonesia (MMAF-RI). She completed her PhD in 2011 at The University of Tasmania through the John Allwright Fellowship (JAF) program, which is administered by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) as part of the Australia Awards.

Australia Awards graduate Dr Lilis Sadiyah undertaking project work

Are fisheries important?

World Fisheries Day (21 November) is celebrated throughout the world by fishing communities. Dr Chris Barlow, Fisheries Research Program Manager with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), provides a few fisheries facts about Australia and nearby countries. Images in this post were extracted from ACIAR's Fisheries Program project profiles 2012 summary.

Fisheries is one program of work within ACIAR. Why fisheries? After all, when most of us in Australia think of fisheries, we think of recreational fishers—those brave souls who spend countless hours by the sea, rivers and lakes, catching (but most often not catching—at least that is my experience) fish.

A big Bass caught in Papua New Guinea

Sure, we have some commercial fisheries too, but their economic importance in Australia is much less than livestock and cropping. 

Grow-your-own sea cucumbers

Sea cucumbers have a high market value both as a food and a medicine in China and other parts of Asia. These sausage-shaped marine invertebrates have for centuries been collected in the shallow waters of the Pacific and South-East Asia. However, overexploitation in recent decades has left wild populations of sea cucumbers greatly depleted.

Since wild sea cucumbers have become hard to come by, there has been a growing interest in producing them using aquaculture techniques.

A new ACIAR publication, ‘Asia-Pacifictropical sea cucumber aquaculture’, brings together the Proceedings of a symposium held in New Caledonia last year, organised by ACIAR, together with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. The publication includes a wealth of new research on aquaculture techniques, as well as reviewing hatchery production, sea-ranching, export markets and tenure issues. 

Priorities for Indian agricultural development

One of India’s most senior agricultural research leaders presented a seminar on the country’s research priorities in a seminar in Canberra earlier this year.

While the visit was a few months back, the presentation has been in such high demand that another mention wont hurt.

Seminar icar challenges ayyappan_180112

View more presentations from ACIAR

Fish farm future for PNG

A/Professor Jes Sammut (c), with lead farmer Mr A1 (r) who is fostering aquaculture technologies with other farmers in the Eastern Highlands Province (Photo: Cathy Hair)

The experience of ACIAR project leader Dr Jes Sammut helping people in Papua New Guinea grow fish inland, is featured in the February edition of the Qantas ‘Australian Way’ magazine in a story about scientists working in remote locations.

The Associate Professor at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales travels to a range of locations in the Western, Eastern Highlands and Morobe provinces of PNG on a regular basis.

From the Murray to the Mekong

New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) researcher, Jarrod McPherson, is relocating from the Narrandera fisheries centre to Laos until May 2012 to take up a volunteer position to assist with the development of a fish passage program for the Lower Mekong Basin.

With more than five years experience in fish migration in the Murray-Darling Basin, Jarrod will apply this knowledge to fish of the Mekong River, in his role as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development

He will be working on a $2.2 million five-year ACIAR project that is helping develop fish passage technology for the lower Mekong River to help prevent future fish declines which may occur as the river becomes increasingly developed.

 Jarrod McPherson during one of his visits to Lao PDR.

The bivalve mollusc

When I think of oysters I think of The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll, which is this poem about a walrus and a carpenter who go for a stroll on the beach one sunny night, and trick some naive oysters into joining them, only to eat them. In real life this probably wouldn’t happen. I’m not sure if oysters are really that sentient.

Oysters are filter feeders. They feed on particles in the water, leaving the surrounding water particle-free. This results in oysters being quite environmentally friendly. Pollutants such as sediment and algae are either eaten by the oysters, or shaped into small packets that are deposited on the bottom of the sea where they are harmless.

Mr Chau Ngoc Hong, from the Quang Ninh province in Vietnam is also quite a fan of oysters. He is a farmer involved in an ACIAR project to build bivalve hatchery production capacity in Vietnam. The program has had an amazing economic and social impact on his life.

“With oyster farming, my family had money
to build a boat as a transport means,
moving goods and materials for oyster farming,”
said Mr Hong.