Professional Skipper Magazine from VIP Publications

species other than the mussels, oysters and salmon commonly farmed in NZ, such as the paua that Oceanz Blue raise in Northland, and the hapuku and king���sh farming that the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research is researching. $26M INVESTMENT IN MUSSEL RESEARCH Prime Minister John Key visited the Cawthron Institute in Nelson in November to announce a seven year innovation contract to selectively breed mussel spat. The Ministry for Primary Industries and Shell���sh Production and Technology New Zealand deal, will fund work at the Cawthron Aquaculture Park north of Nelson, using research established by Cawthron���s MBIEfunded Cultured Shell���sh Programme. The new contract will see MPI and SPATnz each put $13 million into the project. It has been hailed as the most signi���cant research, development and commercialisation investment made in New Zealand���s GreenshellTM mussel industry since the ���rst marine farms were established in the 1970s. The Rt Hon John Key, Prime Minister, at Cawthron Institute in Nelson viewing plans for the new $5 million high-technology laboratories and looking at the science behind the organisation Currently all mussel seed is collected from the wild, making it dif���cult to guarantee supply and quality. Cawthron���s research will enable the mussels to be grown from hatchery seed that have been speci���cally selected for desirable characteristics such as health promoting bene���ts, rather than from wild spat. Around 70 percent of New Zealand���s mussel production is based in the Top of the South. Mussel exports are worth $220 million annually to the New Zealand economy. The SPATnz mussel selective breeding programme will see a new shell���sh hatchery built at the Cawthron Aquaculture Park. Construction will begin in 2013, with a hatchery building, nursery building and three ponds of approximately 1500sqm each being built on site. The ���rst signi���cant quantities of commercially bred mussels are planned for 2015. NEW SALMON BREED FOR FINE DINING After two decades of research South Island salmon producer NZ King Salmon launched a premium breed of salmon called Ora King to New Zealand���s professional chefs in October 2012. Ora King has been developed especially for the ���ne dining market. Company CEO Grant Rosewarne compares Ora King to Wagyu beef. ���Ora King represents the pinnacle of our company���s achievement, founded on more than two decades of classical breeding, reinforced by our world leading expertise in growing King salmon.��� The company has been testing the waters in overseas markets and the new salmon was served at the Governor General���s dinner in honour of New Zealand Olympians in London in July. Feedback from chefs has been ���extremely positive���. Ora King is been selectively available in Europe, Australia and China while it is soon to be launched in the USA and Japan. genetics that will meet market requirements and enable selective breeding, in the same way as has occurred in other primary production industries such as kiwifruit and dairy. MPI Deputy Director-General Dan Bolger says adding value to products in this manner is a key theme of the Primary Growth Partnership Fund. ���This is also an exciting development in collaboration between the primary sector and New Zealand���s science community.��� Sanford managing director Eric Barratt said Sanford has made a signi���cant commercial investment in the mussel industry over the past few years and this new programme will ensure and improve the sustainability of the mussel business. ���This programme will create a step change for aquaculture. If successful this Primary Growth Partnership programme would achieve the biggest single development in aquaculture in nearly 40 years.��� SANFORD IN PARTNERSHIP TO BOOST GREENSHELL MUSSEL EXPORTS The Government is supporting a $26 million initiative that seeks to boost aquaculture by domesticating the New Zealand Greenshell Mussel. SPATnz is a venture led by Sanford which has received a commitment of up to $13 million from the Government���s Primary Growth Partnership Fund for a seven-year project. Formal contracts have just been signed, following development of a business plan. The farmed mussel industry is currently reliant on wild-caught spat, which varies in quality attributes. This research will identify THE LATEST IN AQUACULTURE MUSSEL RAFTS With so many restrictions on mussel farm development in the north, new investors are seeking innovative ways to establish new marine farms albeit on a small scale. But who knows this may option may catch on. CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 FLESH-EATING LICE KILL 39 PERCENT OF SALMON An international study found ���unexpectedly large��� numbers of wild salmon are dying in European waters every year, with 39 percent killed by ���esh-eating lice. Co-author Professor Christopher Todd, specialist in marine ecology at the St Andrews Scottish Oceans Institute, warned: ���This high percent mortality attributable to sea lice was unexpected. For the ���rst time, we can effectively place a reliable value on the predicted mortality loss of free-ranging salmon subject to infection from this parasite.��� Mortality was due to amoebic gill disease, proliferative gill in���ammation and chlamydia among the salmon stocks. The sea lice paper, published in November 2012, in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal, stated that ���the parasitic crustaceans were probably acquired during early marine migration in areas that host large aquaculture populations of domesticated salmon, which elevate local abundances of ectoparasitic copepods (sea lice).��� Alex Kinninmonth, of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: ���Sea lice are naturally occurring, but ���sh farms provide ideal breeding conditions which create unnaturally high populations which juvenile wild salmon are very susceptible to when they migrate to sea.��� JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 ��� NZ AQUACULTURE ��� 5

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