An aerated redclaw pond with bird netting. Note the droppers supporting the mesh hides and the buoys marking the tubular hides
SHORT-TERM RETURNS F
Hatchery rewards beat BY JOHN MOSIG
ish farming doesn't always have to be in a straight line. Andrew Shaw farms jade perch and spawns a mixture of warm water species on an existing redclaw (Cherax
quadricarinatus) farm at Beerburrum on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
His aquaculture strategy utilises the existing farm structure to maximise the output from the property. He cut his teeth on David Rose's Redgate Fish Farm at Murgon. "David asked me to help with the breeding, which gave
me my start back in 2001. Three years ago we took on this place. We also have 17 ponds out at Murgon that cover around 12ha. "It's great black soil country and produces a huge amount of food. We rear yellowbelly (Macquaria ambigua) and Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii) out there, as well as saratoga (Sceleropages jardini) silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) and sooty grunter (Hephaestus fuliginosus)." The Beerburrum farm falls 6m to an arm of Coochin
Creek, a tributary of the Bribie Passage, one of the sources of water for the farm. They also collect water from the district's 1300mm annual rainfall and recycle pond water. The ponds are in three tiers. The fi rst consists of seven netted ponds ranging from 1000m2 to 1600m2 in size, dedicated to redclaw. These ponds are aerated by airlift aerations popular among crayfi sh growers. Andrew says there was a noticeable difference in yield
between redclaw ponds that were netted and those that weren't. "They would have paid for themselves 10 times over.
An algae culture tank at Australian Native Fish Enterprises
6 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ MARCH/APRIL 2012
You've really got to be on the site all the time if you haven't got your crayfi sh ponds netted," Andrew says. "The dogs also love chasing the birds, which is a big help." The next two tiers are un-netted and the bottom tier is un-aerated. There are 10 ponds in the second tier and nine in
