Queensland Australia is leading the way with farmed fish

Our aquaculture industry now produces prawns, oysters, red-claw crayfish, soft-shell crabs, barramundi, Murray cod, jade and silver perch, pearls and pearl oyster meat, scallops and sleepy cod.  The produce has passed the taste test of leading chefs.Upscale restaurants such as Vanitas on the Gold Coast and Restaurant II and Jellyfish in Brisbane regularly feature farmed fish on their menus.

Crystal Bay prawns from north Queensland, which won a gold medal at the Sydney Show, are even available in supermarkets. And now there are high hopes that one of the ocean's most sought-after eating fish, coral trout, will be successfully farmed. The State Government is backing aquaculture, says Tim Mulherin, the Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Rural and Regional Queensland.

He told Parliament recently the first Australian production of coral trout was achieved by Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) scientists at the Northern Fisheries Centre in Cairns in late 2007. He said: "This breakthrough has been one of many by DEEDI's Tropical Marine Finfish program that is developing new aquaculture opportunities for tropical Queensland.

"The focus remains on developing species that are best able to fit within Queensland's existing aquaculture industry. New aquaculture species such as goldspot grouper and cobia are now being produced in north Queensland and sold in Brisbane and Sydney as a direct result of the DEEDI finfish program." Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.