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of tonnes of trout are grown in countries including Chile and Norway and traded on world markets. Other coastal sites in New Zealand could also be suited to sea-farming of trout. The 1987 Conservation Act used to prohibit the farming of salmon and trout, he said. About 20 years ago, government lifted the ban to allow salmon-farming and recreational fi shers' fears that this would cause problems including trout disease and mass escapes, have proven unfounded. MBARI's lead engineer Scott Jenson launching the ESP in Tasaman Bay May 1 2012 600 tonnes of mussels a year they produced would not be lost. Cliff Marchant who has lived at Port Gore for 26 years, and Friends of Nelson Haven and Tasman Bay, have been fi ghting the farms for more than 20 years. Their lawyer, Philip Milne of Wellington, said that this was the fi rst time the Environment Court had acknowledged operational impacts of mussel farming as well as visual effects. It was also the fi rst case considered in the light of the 2010 New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement. The court recognised that farming and harvesting mussels was noisy, intrusive and involved a large number of servicing and harvesting boats. The applicants proposed submerging their farms, but lighting would be visible at night. Milne said the farms were developed in an area where aquaculture was later prohibited by the Marlborough District Council. Steffan Browning, of Friends of Nelson Haven and Tasman Bay said that the court had accepted that the eastern side of Port Gore was an outstanding natural landscape, remote and wild, where marine farming was inappropriate. Marlborough District Council's decisions to renew two of the consents and decline one, for a Sanford farm, were appealed in the Environment Court. Judge Jon Jackson and commissioners Helen Beaumont and Alex Sutherland heard the appeal. MBARI "LAB IN A CAN" IN TASMAN BAY Scientists from New Zealand and America have begun trialling a robotic analytical laboratory in Tasman Bay. The Environmental Sample Processor or "molecular lab in a can" will provide site collection and analysis of water samples in the bay and communicate results back to the Cawthron Institute and the US-based Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The ESP has previously been deployed at depths of 1,600 metres below sea level in coastal waters around the United States as part of a NASA sponsored project, in part to model the search for life on other planets, but this will be the fi rst time the technology has been deployed in the Southern Hemisphere. TROUT FARMING IN MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS? Fisheries company Sanford is lobbying the Government to lift its ban on farming trout in the sea so that they can grow the fi sh species in places including the Marlborough Sounds. Sanford farms salmon at Stewart Island but grows only shellfi sh in the Marlborough Sounds. It would aim to convert some of its existing 300 mussel farms to trout. It would not seek to farm fi sh in places where the Marlborough District Council had prohibited aquaculture. Sanford managing director Eric Barratt says that the Sounds would be more suited to cage farming of trout than salmon because they could tolerate higher water temperatures. "In our mind, sea-farming of trout is one of the best opportunities to expand aquaculture and would be economically viable." Mr Barratt said hundreds of thousands STUDY: FISH BETTER THAN FISH OIL A recent study in Australia has shown that eating fi sh with omega-3s may very well be more benefi cial to general heart health and well-being than dosing up on supplements. The study published in Nutrition and Dietetics, the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia, compared the effect of long chain omega-3 oils from fresh salmon and fi sh oil capsules on heart disease risk factors. The study featured 11 heart disease patients from St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne. It showed that eating fi sh twice a week could be more effective in lowering blood pressure than popping a fi sh oil pill. Both the fi sh and the capsules increased the 'omega-3 index' to the level thought to be linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease. However, eating fi sh, but not fi sh oil capsules, was also linked with a marked reduction in blood pressure. ''It may be that eating fi sh replaces other less healthy foods, meaning a better diet overall,'' says study researcher Catherine Itsiopoulos. A single 100gm piece of salmon is the equivalent of 14 standard fi sh oil capsules and is a whole lot tastier. Plant and Food is also investigating the use of fi sh peptides (found from eating fi sh rather than supplement equivalents) to positively infl uence metabolic syndrome. Studies have already shown that fi sh peptides can help control insulin resistance. CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 SANFORDS TALK ABOUT NZKS SUBMISSION Sanford managing director Eric Barratt said the board's recent visit to their new Havelock mussel-processing factory was a chance to talk about whether the company should make a submission on New Zealand King Salmon's application to develop nine new salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds. A decision was not reached but the consensus was, that coastal marine zones where the Marlborough District Council had prohibited aquaculture should be respected. However, board members were disturbed at the "inaccurate science" being put forward by opponents, Mr Barratt said. Sanfords are considering a submission to the Environmental Protection Authority to inform them about Sanford business operations and philosophy. JULY/AUGUST 2012 ■ NZ AQUACULTURE ■ 5