Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

Project Progress Report

062/04VIE: Intensive in-pond raceway production of marine finfish

MS3: FIRST SIX-MONTHLY REPORT

1. Institute Information
Project Name Vietnamese Institution Vietnamese Project Team Leader Australian Organisation Australian Personnel Date commenced Intensive in-pond raceway production of marine finfish University of Fisheries Dr. Hoang Tung Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries Mr Michael Burke 15 April 2005 (01 August 2005 in Vietnam) Completion date (original) Completion date (revised) Reporting period 15 April 2007 15 September 2007 First 6 months as in original plan

Contact Officer(s)
In Australia: Team Leader Mr Michael Burke Name: Biologist Position: Organisation DPI&F In Australia: Administrative contact Michelle Robbins Senior Planning Officer, R&D Coordination Organisation DPI&F Name: Position: In Vietnam Dr. Hoang Tung Name: Rectors Assistant for R&D Position: Organisation University of Fisheries Telephone: Fax: Email: +84.914 166 145 +84.58.831147 htunguof@gmail.com Telephone: Fax: +61 7 3346 2711 +61 7 3346 2727 Telephone: Fax: Email: +61 7 34002051 +61 7 34083535 Michael.burke@dpi.qld.gov.au

Email:

Michelle.robbins@dpi.qld.gov.au

2. Project Abstract
This project aims to develop the larval rearing and nursery capacity of marine finfish production in Vietnam through the use of accessible, cost effective and environmentally sustainable technologies. Through the development and use of in pond floating raceways (FR) this project will assist farmers to develop their own intensive but durable and manageable larval rearing capacity. This capacity will be used to improve fingerling supply to the industry which is currently both costly and limited. In addition, advanced nursery capacity will also be developed using the same principles. Grow out of finfish in raceways to market size will also be investigated in this project in conjunction with Australian researchers. Researchers from the Queensland DPI&F will provide expertise in systems management, water quality management and waste remediation. Species proposed for study include grouper, cobia and barramundi. All activities will be conducted using zero discharge principles where there is no net discharge of effluent. Information from these activities will be used to train staff from the UoF, its students, industry and other relevant stakeholders. Active involvement and contribution of different stakeholders will make this research highly relevant and applicable to the local aquaculture industries.

3. Executive Summary
The initial phase of this project involved the development of raceway infrastructure as a demonstration and training facility at the Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Centre (BIARC) and securing similar development through the University of Fisheries in Nha Trang. The facilities at BIARC have been used to successfully rear two species of marine finfish at high densities. These trials will continue to take the fish to market size within the next 6 months. Trials in Vietnam can only start from February 2006 due to seasonal availability of fish fry. The first Vietnamese MSc student has been trained at BIARC from October to December 2005. A study tour was organized for three senior staff of the University of Fisheries to visit farms that are using raceways and discuss project implementation with the Australian team. Preparations for project workshops are planned for January 2006 in Australia and February in Vietnam. The only potential threat to the project concerns the later than expected start to the project which may affect access to larvae and fingerlings of particular species in both countries.

4. Introduction & Background

Aquaculture plays an important role in the development of Vietnams economy and has been widely considered as an effective means for poverty alleviation by the FAO. The country aims to produce 2 million tons of aquaculture products, mainly with marine species, by 2010. This ambitious target has been supported by a great amount of financial and technical assistance from the Ministry of Fisheries and several international agencies including CARD. In Australia, aquaculture has been the fastest growing primary production sector over the last five years with increasing interest in species like barramundi, yellowtail kingfish, and more recently grouper and cobia.

Nonetheless, growth of the marine finfish industry in both countries has been constrained by the absence of cheap, robust production technologies that alleviate the negative environmental impacts associated with marine aquaculture. In Vietnam, marine fish are farmed mainly in small sea cages and partly in coastal ponds with wild-caught fingerlings. To reduce collection pressure on the wild stocks and supply more fingerlings for grow-out, tremendous efforts have been spent on development of artificial seed production of important species such as groupers, cobia and barramundi. While successful at producing larvae, the lack of an efficient, highly secure yet financially accessible system for the nursing of fingerlings means a production bottleneck still exists for Vietnamese finfish growers. Fish are too small for nursing in cages while survival is low if nursing is conducted in ponds. Nursing fingerlings in tanks is expensive and limited in production. In Queensland the traditional sea cage approach to marine fish farming is also viewed as damaging to coral reefs and other sensitive aquatic habitats. Intense scrutiny of sea-cage operations indicates these have limited prospects for marine fish farming in Queenslands inshore waters. New sustainable yet profitable land based production methods must be employed in order to return value from the ongoing effort into marine finfish production. This need is heightened considering that prawn farmers are seeking alternative cropping opportunities in the wake of global oversupply and the impact of cheap imports on Australian prawn markets. Currently, no cost effective commercial systems are available for the intensive production of marine finfish in closed zero discharge systems. Tank based marine recirculation facilities are cost prohibitive and would fail to take advantage of Queenslands favourable climate and existing pond aquaculture infrastructure. This CARD project is addressing the aforementioned issues by developing a new and more sustainable farming system for coastal areas and also with potential for application to inland waters. The developing system combines the innovative design of floating raceways (FRs) with the concept of bioremediation. FRs, either made of plastic or cheap materials, have been trialled successfully in Japan, Australia and US. They function as flow through culture units that exchanges water at a rapid constant rate, thus enabling intensive stocking rates (up to 100 kg/m3) at low capital and operational cost. In comparison to net cages, FRs return lower FCR, produce less waste (up to 30%) and require almost half the labour. Further, a combination of FRs and bioremediating secondary crops could result in a closed/semi-closed system that would help remedy environmental impacts of marine aquaculture. A special feature of this developing system is its high applicability to small-scale farms using existing infrastructure with no major change in pond design. This project is expected to help boosting production of marine fish fingerlings and better use the existing shrimp ponds, many of which are abandoned in coastal areas. These fit nicely into the CARDs framework and aims, i.e. promoting productive technology addressing social, environmental and human resource development issues.

5. Progress to Date
5.1 Implementation Highlights Trials are being conducted in Australia while preparation is underway in Vietnam for the first trials.

Research facilities in Vietnam are now ready for the first trials. Plans are completed for training and extension activities. Arrangements involving stakeholders are finalized. Project routines are established among partners.

5.2

Smallholder Benefits

In Australia: Consultation with Australian industry partners has resulted in supply of eggs for research trials from collaborative farms and other government agencies. Plans are being discussed with these farms to also fabricate raceways for use in their nursery facilities. The nursery application and grow out of marine finfish at high densities in raceways has been demonstrated to several industry, university and training organisations in the first period of the project. An industry awareness program to promote and discuss options for finfish production in coastal prawn ponds has been proposed for mid 2006. In Vietnam: Through collaboration with Khanh Hoa Fisheries Extension Centre (KFEC), University of Fisheries (UoF) aims to bring the potential benefits to local farmers instantly. Furthermore, under instruction of the Project, additional trials will be implemented using own resources of the centre and possibly a number of small farms later on (when benefits are more clearly demonstrated). The Project has finalized the plan for an Introductory Workshop on the Potential of Using Floating Raceways for Aquaculture Production for 50-60 local aquaculture farmers in mid February 2006. Initially, this workshop was planned for late November 2005 but flooding in the area had hampered the activity. This workshop aims to introduce the principles of raceway design and operation, the prototypes that are developed by the project and field demonstration. Experience in both countries will be presented by project staff with two experts from Australia participating. It is expected that local farmers and companies with their creativity would develop a wide range of low-cost designs and innovate different possibilities of using floating raceway for aquaculture production. This would help quickly spread out the developing technology and allow the idea (of using floating raceway) more rigorously tested in different situations. 5.3 Capacity Building

In Australia Additional staff members from the BIARC have been trained in the construction and function of floating raceways. These include Blair Chilton and Paul Palmer. The collection of cobia broodstock plans to re-commence in mid 2006. This broodstock will represent the first captive cobia assembled for aquaculture research in Australia. In Vietnam

Mr. Ngo Van Manh a junior lecturer of the Faculty of Aquaculture, University of Fisheries has completed his 3-month (Oct-Dec 2005) training in Australia where he experienced raceway design, construction and operation and had implemented an experiment on nursing of barramundi fry. Mr. Manh is now assisting with the project activities in Vietnam. Contract was signed in October 2005 with Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung (the first technician) and in November 2005 with Mr. HUYNH Kim Khanh (the second technician) to assist with experiments and extension. These two technicians will be trained in water quality management and analysis according to the project plan and are expected to play key role at UoF and KFEC, respectively regarding this developing technology of using raceway for marine finfish production. A study tour was organized in late November for the Vietnamese Project Leader and two other staff of UoF by BIARC. The participants visited raceway facilities at BIARC and commercial farms, discussed with technical persons regarding the design and operation of raceways. The delegation also met with DPI&F administrators to strengthen relations and support from both sides for the project; discussed with Dr. Adrian Collins regarding the implementation of the project, research strategies and the organization of the February workshop in Vietnam. Training on water quality analysis and monitoring are under preparation and will also take place in February 2006 for project staff and young faculty members at the Faculty of Aquaculture, UoF.

5.4

Publicity Brief information about the Project has been published on the website of the Faculty of Aquaculture, University of Fisheries. It is planned that once document for the introductory workshop is finalized, an article will be submitted for publication in one of the national fisheries journals and possibly in international magazine such as The Advocate (Global Aquaculture Alliance) or World Aquaculture Magazine (World Aquaculture Society). This article will also use information obtained from the Stakeholder Beneficiary Analysis that had been conducted during the development of this project. A poster summarising the project was displayed at the recent Australian Prawn and Barramundi Farmers Association conference on the Gold Coast (September 24 27th). Farmers who join the Introductory Workshop in February 2006 will receive a T-shirt from the project. This is an attempt to promote the use of raceway and the project to publicity in Vietnam. A short script about the workshop will be broadcasted in local and national TVs.

5.5

Project Management Details of collaboration between UoF and KFEC have been finalized by a legal contract. The University of Fisheries has appointed the research team of five persons with clear responsibilities according to the request of the project leader in Vietnam. For monitoring and evaluation purposes, project

documents were submitted to the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Planning and Finance of the university. Routines for information exchange and coordination have been established and practised between the Australian and Vietnamese project leaders. The first request for funding transfer has been placed to QDPI&F by UoF and was handled effectively by QDPI&F. Funding is now available for activities in the first six months of the project in Vietnam.

6. Report on Cross-Cutting Issues

6.1 Environment To be mentioned in the next report 6.2 Gender and Social Issues To be mentioned in the next report

7. Implementation & Sustainability Issues

7.1 Issues and Constraints Availability of fry and fingerlings at certain time when experiment needs to be conducted is foreseen as a challenge, not to mention diseases threat in Vietnam. Due to the later than anticipated start to the project (as the result of contract negotiations) some difficulty may be experienced with pond water quality as funds were not available in time to build the system in its complete form before it was stocked with fish. This may pose some risk with respect to future maintenance of water quality. Options 7.3 Flexibility in species of choice given ample justification provided. Sustainability Appeared not to be an issue as more interested parties involved in the project.

7.2

8. Next Critical Steps

In Vietnam (for the period from February 06 to August 06) Testing the experimental systems and research facilities/equipments Further training technicians in Vietnam Organizing the Introductory Workshop to local farmers Conducting the first trials on barramundi, followed by either milkfish or sea horses and then cobia. Preparation of the first scientific article

Preparing one-year progress report

In Australia (for the period from February to August 06) Finalising waste collection system for raceways including purchasing equipment and collecting samples to assess performance and impact on water quality. Assess the suitability of pond conditions for introduction of secondary crops. Testing the experimental systems and research facilities/equipments Facilitating research and training activities for staff from UoF. Participation in Industry workshops in Vietnam and Australia. Preparing industry and project publications and reports on activities.

9. Conclusion
Project is progressing according to plans in both Australia and Vietnam. The unexpected delay in contract negotiation has forced project duration in Vietnam to extend for 5 more months (due to seasonal availability of fish fry).