Understanding water quality risk for the sustainable and efficient production of pacific and sydney rock oysters
BUDGET EXPENDITURE: $85,791
PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR: Assoc. Prof. Shauna Murrary
ORGANISATION: UTS
PROJECT CODE: 2021-075
PROJECT STATUS: Current
WHY IS THE RESEARCH BEING UNDERTAKEN?
Water quality is an important determinant of the success of oyster farming, and can be impacted by many
factors. The top four ranked problem priorities by NSW oyster farmers in a recent industry survey were:
prediction of harmful algal blooms (HABs); longer harvest opening times; reduced stock mortalities/disease;
and more information of stock growth/production. The threat of disease and productivity loss for the industry
is particularly prevalent in 2021 given post-bushfire impacts and climate forecasts.
To ensure a safe product, farmers must respond to instructions set by regulators following ASQAAC
guidelines, such as the NSW Food Authority, and otherwise be as reactive as possible to disease/HAB risks.
Using a backlog of environmental, biological and oyster growth data from the Oyster Transformation Project
(a multidisciplinary collaboration between oyster farmers, researchers (UTS, DPI Aquaculture and Fisheries),
regulators (DPI Biosecurity and Food Safety), industry partner The Yield Technology Solutions Pty Ltd (now
ICT International), Hunter Local Land Services and the CRC Food Agility), this project aims to deliver tailored
prediction of water quality and Sydney Rock and Pacific oyster production in the Georges and Hawkesbury
Rivers. As part of Phase 2 of the Oyster Transformation project, this project will expand to include 15
estuaries in NSW as well as Western Australia. Sensor deployment and biological sampling will begin in the
Macleay River, NSW, as part of Phase 2 of this project. Phase 2 of this project will see the development of a
suite of modelling tools based on water quality for estuaries and oysters.
In South Australia, issues such as diseases (POMs in Adelaide Harbour, SAMs) and food safety risks (HABs,
closures due to rainfall, low salinity, sewage spills, etc) are similarly of concern for oyster farming. In
Tasmania, seasonally recurrent outbreaks of POMs occur, as well as HABs of Alexandrium catenella,
closures due to rainfall, sewage spills and low salinity occur. As such, the modelling done in these example
estuaries will be directly applicable to the situation in other states.
The Macleay River is a typical oyster farming estuary in that it is impacted by poor water quality from time to
time. In particular, the Macleay is an example of the range of water quality issues that can impact oyster
farming, as in the past 2 years, it has been effected by: flooding, bushfire runoff, acid sulphate runoff, deoxygenated water, QX disease, low salinity, and sewage spills. As in all NSW estuaries, it also has fluctuating
levels of potentially harmful algal species occasionally.
Little water quality data exists yet for this estuary, despite the fact that it has suffered recent severe ‘black
water’ events. This project will represent the first time that very detailed water quality information will be
collected and analysed from this estuary, in order to determine predictive models to improve the ability of
oyster farmers to respond to poor water quality events.
For this reason, this estuary will serve as a case study for the range of issues that can impact oyster farming
in Australia. This site will be used as an example of an approach to managing water quality using high quality
data. In addition, the Georges River estuary and the Hawkesbury estuary experience other issues and have
active growth of Pacific oysters rather than Sydney Rock oysters. The Hawkesbury has experienced a large
scale POMs outbreak which devastated industry. The Georges River has been an experimental site for oyster
research by the NSW DPI and Universities for decades, and has an extensive collection of metadata
associated with it.
Data from these three estuaries is appropriate and can be useful to oyster growers in Tasmania and South
Australia, as we will examine the impact on water quality impacting a Pacific Oyster growing estuary, and
because water quality issues such as impact these estuaries are typical examples of the issues impacting
this industry nationally. Tasmanian and South Australian oyster farmers will benefit from the information
about how a real time sensor network and associated biological data collection can be used to model water
quality issues of concern to industry, as well as being used for industry regulatory purposes.
OBJECTIVES:
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Collect new biological and physical data from the Macleay estuary using a real time temperature and
salinity sensor, oysters and water samples. -
Conduct modelling and analysis of real time sensor data from estuaries in comparison to biological
data, showing the impact of water quality variables, rainfall and disease on oysters in estuaries farming
Sydney rock oysters and Pacific oysters. -
Discuss outcomes with oyster farmers, regulators, government, researchers, councils other industry
groups. Discuss outcomes with app developers able to incorporate the models outcomes of the project
into their products. -
Produce a guidance document outlining the way in which real time environmental sensing data is
acceptable and applicable for use by shellfish safety regulators.
RESOURCES GENERATED:
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No other resources currently available.