aquaculture

There’s an interesting range of information available on the net relating to controlling algae with barley straw. The UK Centre for Aquatic Plant Management have developed a number of methods of dealing with aquatic and riparian plants, including a novel method of controlling algae. They have published a report describing the application of barley straw to water. The method has had widespread international testing and has proved to be very successful in most situations with no known undesirable side-effects. It offers a cheap, environmentally acceptable way of controlling algae in water bodies ranging in size from garden ponds to large reservoirs, streams, rivers and lakes.

The Maryland Aquafarmer has researched the use of barley straw to control pond algae and their findings are inconclusive. In laboratory studies, some types of algae could be controlled effectively by barley straw extracts, but the main target, green mat-forming algae, did not seem to be inhibited. However, barley straw did control several species of microscopic algae that often cause unusual odors or flavor in pond-cultured products. Follow-up studies found that some dinoflagellates – the single-celled phytoplankton that have been associated with fish death – are inhibited by barley straw.

Further to using barley straw to inhibit odor causing algae, a two-year project jointly funded by Australian Pork Limited and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries found that supported barley straw covers were effective in reducing odour emissions by up to 90% from anaerobic piggery effluent ponds.

The Office of Primary Industries and Resources South Australia has produced a fact sheet about the farming Barramundi (Lates calcarifer Bloch, 1790) in South Australia.

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in Victoria, have produced a set of guidelines for farming barramundi in the State of Victoria.

The material produced by the Victorian DPI is more focussed on the administrative and legislative requirements than the South Australia focus on the husbandry of Barramundi.

Barramundi are a tropical fish and, in South Australia, they must be reared in a totally enclosed temperature controlled environment. They cannot survive in outdoor ponds south of their natural distribution. The farms consist of a fully enclosed, insulated building in which grow-out tanks are housed. A biological filter treats the dissolved wastes in the water, while at the same time providing aeration. General biological water quality requirements for barramundi are as follows:

A joint study on bay ecosystem modelling with oysters has been undertaken in Korea by Korean and USA universities. Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) or Cham-Gull as they’re locally known, have been the focus of this study.

The study was undertaken in Kamakman Bay – a semi-closed bay, famous for its oyster culture. In 1995, a total of 191,156 metric tons of oysters were produced in Korea using aquaculture. Some 20% of the total oyster yields were from Kamakman Bay. The Kamakman Bay area is also certified as “clean sea” by the USA FDA and is therefore suitable for oyster productions. Oysters produced in this bay are exported to the USA.

The oysters are cultured using hanging rope lines and rifters (buoys). The local government lease (license) the oyster grounds to the growers. Each grower may get one to two hectare of the sea surface as a oyster farm. The growers also form unions to assist each other with the oyster husbandry. There are two oyster grower unions in the area.