Tasmania gets $6.5m aquaculture research facility

The University of Tasmania has officially opened its new $6.5 million experimental aquaculture facility in what it says is the first of its type in the southern hemisphere.

The facility will allow scientists to examine climate change effects relevant to local conditions using specially designed systems to control environmental conditions including light, water quality and temperature.

This will support development of different types of feed, feeds that optimise the use of marine ingredients, feeds that can be used to supply health treatments, and feeds that produce efficient growth over a range of temperatures, according to the University of Tasmania.

The facility will also support the control of amoebic gill disease, Tasmania’s most costly disease. It will speed up finding suitable treatments because it removes external environmental influences and shows more clearly the effect of different treatments.