Breakthrough in kingfish aquaculture
Biotechnology solutions for sustainable aquaculture
Tags reveal long and deep shark migrations
New regional manager for Bream Bay Aquaculture Park
First-ever tethered hoki measurements
Michael Stobart is the new regional manager at Bream Bay Aquaculture Park, NIWA’s marine farming research and development facility in Northland.
Michael is a facilities manager with extensive aquaculture experience. His role at Bream Bay is to streamline operational management.
“This is a fantastic set-up; I’m in my element here,” says Michael, who comes from Zimbabwe but has lived in New Zealand for more than five years. “I have arrived at a time when aquaculture is poised to do great things for New Zealand.
NIWA fisheries scientists recently made the first-ever acoustic measurements of live tethered hoki, in a bid to verify data from earlier acoustic surveys.
The measurements allow ‘target strength’ to be accurately assessed from live swimming fish which were subsequently identified and measured onboard. Target strength is an estimate of the amount of sound returned by an individual fish in acoustic surveys.
Kingfish reared from the selective breeding programme. (Photo: NIWA)
NIWA has achieved an important milestone in its selective breeding programme for new aquaculture species. We’ve now bred from first generation captive kingfish that were themselves produced from eggs at NIWA’s Bream Bay Aquaculture Park in Ruakaka, Northland.
“This breakthrough means that kingfish rearing no longer depends on catching wild fish.
The New Zealand aquaculture industry has a real opportunity to stand out in the global market with new and sustainable products. “In addition to investing heavily in selective breeding of new species, NIWA is combining its aquaculture and biotechnology capabilities to provide innovative solutions for a sustainable industry,” says Michael Bruce, Aquaculture Leader of NIWA’s National Centre for Fisheries & Aquaculture.
Great white shark cradled, tagged and ready for release. (Photo: Malcolm Francis, NIWA)
A 4.4 m great white female fitted with an electronic ‘popup’ satellite tracking tag has set a new distance record for a New Zealand shark and provided the first evidence that New Zealand great whites travel to, as well as from, Australia.
