Changes at the helm
DNA barcoding of all marine fishes
Acoustics in the Atlantic
Polyculture first
Pacific oyster spat production expands
Retrieving the NIWA CREST echo sounder from the Irish Sea
NIWA’s acoustics expertise is in demand at both ends of the Atlantic.
Earlier this year, NIWA scientist Richard O’Driscoll took part in the acoustics component of a four-week fisheries survey for mackerel, icefish, and toothfish around South Georgia in the South Atlantic. Richard did this at the invitation of the British Antarctic Survey.
Meanwhile, in the North Atlantic, Gavin Macaulay and Wilbert Knol from NIWA were helping the Irish Marine Institute conduct an acoustic survey of orange roughy.
Margaret McVeagh loads DNA into a gel
NIWA has been invited to participate in an international research network to DNA barcode 20 000 marine fishes by 2010.
Barcoding offers a simple means of unambiguously identifying different species. NIWA has a contract with Te Papa, funded by the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology, to use the barcoding method to identify so-called ‘problem fishes’, where it is hard to distinguish between species.
Michael Bruce
Centre Leader, Aquaculture
Alistair Dunn
Centre Leader, Fisheries
Dr Michael Bruce takes over from Dr Andrew Jeffs, who has been promoted to the position of General Manager, Aquaculture & Bioactives. Michael specialises in aquaculture nutrition and production, with the emphasis on incorporating natural products from marine and terrestrial sources to enhance the health and well-being of aquaculture species.
NIWA has begun commercial production of Pacific oyster spat at Bream Bay. In fact, the latest larval production run was so successful we had to cull spat down to 5 million until we expand our nursery capacity.
Until recently, our oyster facility has been designed specifically for research. We have used batches of spat for experiments looking at settlement on artificial growing substrates. We plan to continue that research in future, alongside the commercial supply.
Graeme Moss with some of the paua. We are testing several tank designs.
NIWA’s world-first polyculture system based on paua is now operating as a prototype.
Polyculture involves two or more complementary species growing together in a single sustainable system; in this case, paua, tio (Pacific oysters), sea cucumbers, and karengo (a seaweed). The venture is a joint project with the Hongoeka Development Trust, and aims to develop a low cost way for coastal iwi to engage in land-based aquaculture.
