Exploratory Tuna Longlining Off The Western Australian Coast, For Export Sashimi
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Summary
Objectives: 1. Investigate the feasibility of longlining for yellowfin & bigeye tuna off the WA coast from Exmouth south to Cape Naturaliste, initially for the fresh sashimi markets using proven methods of catching and handling
The Proposed Workshop - "Population Dynamics For Fisheries Management" - Will Focus On What Are The Processes Leading To The Development Of Management Advice
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$214,531.30
Summary
Objectives: 1. To maintain existing databases and continue provision of services whilst ex;ploring new avenues for dissemination and technology transfer 2. To implement a program of promotion and marketing of the NSIS throughout Australia with a view to maximising the level of cost recovery.
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Content And Nutritional Quality Of Aquaculture Feedstocks
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$236,043.00
Summary
Objectives: 1. Measure concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids 20:5(n-3) and 22:6)n-3) in microalgae & other feedstocks used in Australian hatchies. 2. Survey the lipid and fatty acid content of microalage to determine characteristic distributions for the major algal classes and to identify new species of use to the Australian mariculture industry, particularly in tropical hatcheries. 3. Identify the effects of different environmental conditions on fatty acid and lipid c ....Objectives: 1. Measure concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids 20:5(n-3) and 22:6)n-3) in microalgae & other feedstocks used in Australian hatchies. 2. Survey the lipid and fatty acid content of microalage to determine characteristic distributions for the major algal classes and to identify new species of use to the Australian mariculture industry, particularly in tropical hatcheries. 3. Identify the effects of different environmental conditions on fatty acid and lipid composition of microalgae by comparing cultures grown under a variety of defined conditions, and hence determine how to optimise fatty acid content . 4. Assess the effects of algal foods with different fatty acid contents on animal production in support of animal growth trial with bivalve molluscs, particularly the oyster Crassostrea gigas, carried out as part of FIRDC grant 90/063. 5. Identify the effects of various diets (rotifers and copepods) which have different fatty acid compositions on the growth and survival of fish larvae in support of experiments carried out by the staff from the Tasmanian Division of Sea Fisheries 6. Assist the fishing and mariculture industries with advice on the nutrition of marine organisms, and provide a service for the analysis of polyunsaturated fatty acids and other lipids in marine samples. Read moreRead less
Assessing The Nutritional Value Of Australian Barramundi
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$16,000.00
Summary
The omega‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n‐3 LC‐PUFA) and minerals are essential nutrients to the health of humans are a major contributors that fish makes to the human diet. Consumers are increasingly aware of the nutritional requirement for n‐3 LC‐PUFA and are therefore seeking products high in n‐3 LC‐PUFA such as Atlantic salmon and fish oil capsules.
Barramundi has high oil and n‐3 LC‐PUFA. Based on samples collected in 2010, the absolute content of n‐3 LC‐PUFA of farmed ....The omega‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n‐3 LC‐PUFA) and minerals are essential nutrients to the health of humans are a major contributors that fish makes to the human diet. Consumers are increasingly aware of the nutritional requirement for n‐3 LC‐PUFA and are therefore seeking products high in n‐3 LC‐PUFA such as Atlantic salmon and fish oil capsules.
Barramundi has high oil and n‐3 LC‐PUFA. Based on samples collected in 2010, the absolute content of n‐3 LC‐PUFA of farmed barramundi was similar to that of Atlantic salmon and four times greater than that of wild barramundi (Nichols et al., 2014). Not only did this information fail to reach food agencies or health organizations but some such as the Australia Heart Foundation (NHFA, 2015) continue to use information generated 15 years ago to categorize farmed barramundi as of inferior quality to farmed salmon or other market competitor species such as Australian snapper. Similarly, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, 2017) encourages fish consumption as a major supplier of iron, zinc, iodine, calcium and magnesium to the human diet. However, the mineral content in fillet of fish is poorly documented, differs across species and culture conditions (Antony Jesu Prabhu et al., 2016), and has not been documented for barramundi.
This project will examine the variability in the nutritional value of Australian farmed barramundi and will categorize it in relation to other fish products available to the Australian consumer.
The ABFA will then use the findings as part of their marketing program to sell the nutritional benefits of Australian farmed barramundi to consumers and relevant food agencies. Objectives: 1. To assess the variability in nutrient composition, specifically omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA) and minerals, in the fillet of farmed Australian barramundi (Lates calcarifer). Read moreRead less
Tactical Research Fund: Developing A Dynamic Regional Brand - Focus On Flavour
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$74,923.00
Summary
The Eyre Peninsula seafood industry formed Brand Eyre Peninsula in 2006, a collaborative market development program aimed to increase sales and market position in the domestic and export market. Integral to the brand is the education of the species’ attributes to all key stakeholders of the value chain including seafood wholesalers, retailers, food service and media. The results of market development initiatives have been communicated to the owner, head buyer or executive chef of businesses, ....The Eyre Peninsula seafood industry formed Brand Eyre Peninsula in 2006, a collaborative market development program aimed to increase sales and market position in the domestic and export market. Integral to the brand is the education of the species’ attributes to all key stakeholders of the value chain including seafood wholesalers, retailers, food service and media. The results of market development initiatives have been communicated to the owner, head buyer or executive chef of businesses, however, the program failed to support training for key staff such as restaurant front of house and retail counter staff. There is a need for a simple, cost effective training tool due to the high turnover of these positions.
Australian and export clients have consistently requested a “Seafood Flavour Wheel” to assist in menu planning and tasting notes for chefs and sommeliers. Once developed, this tool would be distributed to an initial 500 existing clients to support immediate industry and consumer education. The development of the “Seafood Flavour Wheel” has an extensive level of support from its current client base.
The proposed “Seafood Flavour Wheel” will be a training guide benchmark and has the potential to expand to an Australian guide, inclusive of all seafood species. Specifically, the development of the Eyre Peninsula “Seafood Flavour Wheel” will assist the lack of knowledge and appreciation for the flavours of a target group of seafood species specific to that region.
Equipped with this knowledge, a united industry marketing approach will effectively connect customers with an experience of the unique regional flavour qualities of Eyre Peninsula’s premium seafood. Through this experience, customers will learn to recognise the sensory attributes of Eyre Peninsula seafood and distinguish these products from those originating from other Australian and international regions. Objectives: 1. To develop a set of accurate and informative educational tools delivering against trade requirements 2. To establish the basis of a uniform and coordinated educational program that features a target list of seafood species available on the Eyre Peninsula including Southern Bluefin Tuna, Mussels, Pacific Oysters, Spencer Gulf Prawns, Yellowtail Kingfish, Sardines, Suzuki Mulloway, Marinescale, Abalone, Deep Sea Trawlfish and niche seafoods 3. To capture highly synchronised technical and creative communications Read moreRead less
'99 Innovations For Seafood - An International Conference
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$33,000.00
Summary
Objectives: 1. Provide a forum for communication between all sectors of the seafood industry, focussing on innovations in seafood products and technologies. 2. Present an opportunity for showcasing developments in the Australian seafood industry and for acquiring knowledge of latest international innovations. 3. To strengthen the integrated network between all sectors of the industry. 4. The conference objective is to reveal innovations in seafood products, technologies and ....Objectives: 1. Provide a forum for communication between all sectors of the seafood industry, focussing on innovations in seafood products and technologies. 2. Present an opportunity for showcasing developments in the Australian seafood industry and for acquiring knowledge of latest international innovations. 3. To strengthen the integrated network between all sectors of the industry. 4. The conference objective is to reveal innovations in seafood products, technologies and processing which enhance the competitive advantage of the Australian seafood industry including: advances in harvest technologies, implications of technologies in enhancing the quality and utilisation of seafood, latest international seafood research technology and development results, commercial application of research in seafood processing, latest advances in consumer protection and developments in monitoring safety in seafoods and innovative product concepts for the retail and food service sectors beyond 2000. Read moreRead less
Development Of Value-added Prawn Products Through Assessing And Refining The Cold Chain And Freezing Techniques Of Brine Immersion Freezers
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$39,760.00
Summary
The Queensland production of aquacultured black tiger prawns (P. monodon) was 1104.3t in 1995/96. The product is mainly bulk packaged fresh and frozen, and is sold onto the domestic market. Only 2% of Australia’s black tiger prawn production was exported in 95/96. The ex farm gate value of black tiger prawns rose only slightly during the 95/96 season to record an average price of $13.41/Kg. Production of this species is expected to rise in subsequent seasons (Lobegieger 1997). The value of blac ....The Queensland production of aquacultured black tiger prawns (P. monodon) was 1104.3t in 1995/96. The product is mainly bulk packaged fresh and frozen, and is sold onto the domestic market. Only 2% of Australia’s black tiger prawn production was exported in 95/96. The ex farm gate value of black tiger prawns rose only slightly during the 95/96 season to record an average price of $13.41/Kg. Production of this species is expected to rise in subsequent seasons (Lobegieger 1997). The value of black tiger prawns can be improved through assisting the development of a retail and wholesale frozen product.
The foodservice industry is rapidly growing in Australia, and seafood is a popular choice for consumers when dining out. The National Seafood Consumption Study (1992) found that this was more than likely due to the mess and waste involved with home preparation of seafood products such as prawns but also found that customers were willing to pay premium prices for convenience and top quality. An opportunity exists to target the catering and restaurant trade with high quality and convenient prawn products especially frozen ones due to the capacity to store them. Increased competition has forced producers world wide to look at the downstream activities and increasingly ask the question - "What does the customer want and how can I best satisfy these wants?". The industry recognises that aquaculture shrimp producers from Asia are now providing stiff competition in price and quality (National Seafood Consumption Study 1992).
This project needs to be performed because of a series of extremely valid reasons:
1) Spiral blast freezers, although producing individual products frozen to -35°C through the use of conveyor belts, are expensive to purchase and run. Small room type blast freezers offer a cheaper alternative but unfortunately because the product needs to be packaged before freezing the resultant form is block or bulk frozen. Consideration must be given to the economic status of small to medium domestic and export businesses (SME's & SMD's). These business are unable to expend the capital required to install units such as spiral blast freezers. The growth of small to medium export and domestic businesses needs to be fostered to allow improvement in Australia’s economic status. SME’s and SMD's greatly outnumber the larger companies in the aquaculture and seafood processing industries
2) Brine freezing offers a rapid reduction in temperature for the product to approximately -15°C, but during the steps of glazing and packaging the temperature will rise. During commercial production we have logged temperature rises to between -4 to -9°C (refer to attachment 1). This places the product into the critical freezing zone and causes damage to the texture and water holding capacity as well as magnifying the risk of oxidation. Because the temperature is not low enough the glaze does not instantly freeze onto the prawn so that during storage some degree of fusing together occurs. The standard industry solution to this problem is to simply drop the package onto a hard surface such as the floor to loosen the attachments. Unfortunately, this also results in breakage to the feelers, legs and tails of the prawns detracting from the visual appeal of the product.
3) The product temperature after packing causes a heat load on the storage freezers increasing production costs for manufactures. It also damages products from previous harvests already stored in the freezers compounding the problem. The only alternative economically viable course of action is for the producer to place the product into a standard room type blast freezer to reduce the temperature and industry recognises this as potentially damaging to the product and inefficient due to the slow rate of heat transfer of the combination of packaged product and these freezers.
4) Temperature fluctuations damage the glaze allowing parts of the prawns to be subjected to freezer burn and desiccation. This makes the prawns unattractive to consumers and lowers the value.
5) The producers need to pack the prawns quickly so they are transferred to the storage freezer as soon as possible. This limits the producer to packing in bulk packages, a very unfriendly method for consumers and lessening the likelihood of retail products being produced.
6)Freezing to a lower frozen temperature and more stable storage conditions combined with the protection of an ice glaze will markedly increase the storage stability and shelf life. This makes it easier for producers to plan their years harvest and sales. It also makes retailers and wholesalers/caterers more confident in continuity of supply.
7) Woolworths is currently importing 5 Kg bulk packs of brine immersion frozen Black Tiger prawns from Thailand. Examples of this product were recently viewed / evaluated by the co-investigator of this project and found to be vastly inferior to Australian product in both appearence and taste. This product could easily be produced in Australia and be of a much higher quality. There is also the added benefit of producing a future export commodity for the growing Asian seafood markets.
8) The current solution used in brine immersion freezers is a 26.4% salt solution. With the increasing health awareness of today’s society, there is greater demand for low or reduced salt and fat products. Our proposal would reduce the amount of salt required by the brine immersion system because the freezing point of the refrigerant would be lowered by means other than brine. In fact we would call our system the immersion freezing technique as brine is usually associated with saturated salt solutions.
9) The only change to the refrigeration units envisaged to enable lower temperatures is the replacement of the expansion (TX) valves and refrigerant gas. The current environmental move is to replace Chloro-Fluro-carbons (CFC’s) with non ozone depleting substances as quickly as possible. It is therefore likely that the operator will be required to cover the cost of replacing the gas in his refrigeration system with a newer less damaging gas in the future as services and repairs occur.
10) The challenge associated with the brine immersion system is simply to achieve a lower immersant temperature. A new solution can be used as a substitute for salt brine. One which has a lower freezing point and results in lower product temperature, when removed from the immersion freezer. By doing this the temperature rises during glazing and packing would result in minimum damage to the product. For example, temperature fluctuations between -35 and -25 °C do not damage the product as do fluctuations between -5 and -15 °C. This procedure would involve the minimum financial outlay by small to medium businesses. It also opens up opportunities for producers to increase the amount of value adding they perform and enhances the likelihood of new retail products being developed. Objectives: 1. To facilitate the development of a convenient and high quality frozen prawn product suitable for the catering / foodservice trade. 2. Determine a more efficient and effective freezing medium and / or handling procedure for use with brine immersion freezers. 3. Develop a suitable packaging system that is compatible with enhanced freezing techniques and provides greater flexibility in wholesale and retail marketing and facilitates more efficient processing, handling and storage and assured quality. 4. Develop a quality assured handling procedure for the product that ensures a high level of consumer confidence in product quality and safety. Read moreRead less
Enhanced Usage Of Contemporary Scientific Findings On Health Benefits Of Seafood To Promote Fresh Seafood Consumption
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$39,902.00
Summary
Considerable scientific information on the health benefits of eating seafood is accumulating, yet relatively little of this information has been effectively communicated to the general public or translated into opportunities to promote fresh seafood consumption. There is a need for this to be done, since the FRDC-funded Sydney asthma study demonstrated clearly the commercial potential of communicating research findings to the mass market.
The seafood industry and the general public need ....Considerable scientific information on the health benefits of eating seafood is accumulating, yet relatively little of this information has been effectively communicated to the general public or translated into opportunities to promote fresh seafood consumption. There is a need for this to be done, since the FRDC-funded Sydney asthma study demonstrated clearly the commercial potential of communicating research findings to the mass market.
The seafood industry and the general public need an organised mechanism to identify important health issues, to seek out scientific findings and to translate these into a format that can be used by the seafood industry marketers and others to promote the consumption of fresh seafood in a responsible, accurate and safe manner.
There is a need also for the general public to become more aware of the health benefits of seafood. Objectives: 1. To translate the complex findings of nutrition science research into a format (ie. in the form of research summaries) that make such findings accessible to marketers of seafood and the general community (by: compiling health research findings, summarising the results of those findings, and translating them into a format that can be readily adopted by marketers of seafood, health workers and others to communicate to the general public) 2. Develop guidelines for the selection and communication of nutrition information to be used for marketing and promotion to ensure an image of high scientific integrity. 3. Outline food standards code section A1(19) relating to health claims made about food etc. to ensure that usage of research summaries complies with Australian food regulations. Read moreRead less
Seafood CRC: Prevention Of Muddy Taints In Farmed Barramundi
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$202,351.42
Summary
• The issue of muddy tasting framed barramundi has a long history yet has not been resolved. End chain customers have learnt to expect muddiness and this causes a negative barrier to purchase. The impact of market perception is farmed barramundi has remained at 7-$10/kg (farm-gate price) for >10 years, despite the species having an ‘iconic’ name with consumers.
• There is a huge body of information existing around freshwater algal bloom growth resulting in production of muddy taints in ....• The issue of muddy tasting framed barramundi has a long history yet has not been resolved. End chain customers have learnt to expect muddiness and this causes a negative barrier to purchase. The impact of market perception is farmed barramundi has remained at 7-$10/kg (farm-gate price) for >10 years, despite the species having an ‘iconic’ name with consumers.
• There is a huge body of information existing around freshwater algal bloom growth resulting in production of muddy taints in water and fish. There is also existing experience in freshwater farm systems of mitigation methods, although not all of these will be appropriate to farmed food production. This wealth of information needs to be summarised in a concise document as a basis of relevant knowledge for the industry.
• The overview needs to be pulled together in a simple summary of aspects pertinent to Australian fish farming conditions, from which best practice options can be selected for trialling in situ within the different grow-out systems used in Australia.
• Specific protocols to manage water quality for the prevention of taint occurrence are needed to: - assure the flavour quality of farmed barramundi - underpin quality standards being developed within the ABFA Code of Practice - meet requirements for certification as written into the ABFA EMS standards - underpin other current initiatives, for example repositioning barramundi in the marketplace
This project proposal seeks to address these needs by summarising current knowledge, identifying likely effective mitigation protocols and trialling selected protocols on-farm and assessing the effectiveness. Additionally, there is an opportunity to further assess the potential to enhance barramundi flavour.
Objectives: 1. Develop a simple muddy taint flesh evaluation method for use by industry 2. Summarise current knowledge on prevention of algal blooms that cause taints 3. Select best protocols specific to grow-out system for the restriction of algal bloom and trial these on-farm 4. Recommend best practice effective for ABFA members 5. Extend knowledge to the entire industry value chain Read moreRead less