| Sea Cage Aquaculture AIMS’ Water Quality and Environmental Health team is
involved in two projects to investigate the environmental effects
of sea cage aquaculture in tropical environments.
 ‘Planning
tools for environmentally sustainable tropical finfish
cage culture in Indonesia and northern Australia’ is
funded by the
Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research
(ACIAR).
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It has been running
since 2003 and has study sites in Indonesia and northern Australia.
Partner
agencies include the University of New South Wales
(UNSW), the Research Institute for Coastal Aquaculture
(RICA), South Sulawesi, and the National Seafarming
Development Centre, Lampung, Indonesia.
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The engagement with ACIAR has made it possible for
AIMS scientists to undertake research in Indonesia, where
aquaculture is more intensively developed than in
Australia, and where the coastal zone is more heavily
impacted by human activities.
In this way, it is hoped to be able to forecast
environmental impacts of existing and new aquaculture
activities in Australia before they occur, and to be able
to better manage aquaculture both in tropical Australia
and in Indonesia.
Results so far
indicate that in northern Australia, strong tidal currents are
the primary mechanism of aquaculture waste dissipation, and there
is little accumulation of wastes under the fish cages and only
localised effects in the water column. In the microtidal
environments of Indonesia, measurable effects are discernable
only within a 100m radius of the farms.
A computer model is available to assist sea cage aquaculture managers
 CADS_TOOL
(Cage Aquaculture Decision Support Tool) is designed to optimise the
choice of sites for placement of cages and calculate carrying capacity.
Environmental
Impacts of Sea Cage Aquaculture in a Queensland Context
– Hinchinbrook Channel Case Study (SD576/06)
is a project commissioned by the Queensland State
Government and co-funded by Lyntune Pty Ltd., trading as
Bluewater Barramundi.
| This project goal is to
investigates the environmental impacts of sea cage
aquaculture at the Bluewater Barramundi farm in the
Hinchinbrook Channel area, the only farm of its kind in
Queensland. Bluewater Barramundi is in both the Wet
Tropics World Heritage Area and the Great Barrier Reef
World Heritage Area, and the activities of the fish farm
must be compatible with World Heritage values.
AIMS is conducting system-orientated research to understand the
effect of the fish farm within the mangrove environment as a whole.
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Sea cage aquaculture barra farm on Hinchinbrook.
Photo: S. Clarke.
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The project outputs will enable aquaculture managers to set up
accurate improved environmental monitoring and farm management regimes at the
Bluewater site, which can then be used as a model for other farm locations.
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March 13, 2008
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