Sponge aquaculture for Indigenous communities (C1.11)
Task leader: Dr Chris Battershill, Australian Institute of Marine Science.
Task associate: NA.
Objectives:
-
The grant is for feasibility research, based in the Townsville region,
on sponge aquaculture experiments examining various production models
for development/commercialisation at the Palm Islands. It involves
identification of commercial species, quantification of their distribution
and abundance, stock assessment for seed supply, development of sustainable
seed production protocols, preliminary identification of high growth
promoting locations and/or conditions, and assessment of environmental
impacts of seed generation, translocation, and aquacultured sponge
grow-out at feasibility scales. Preliminary work will be instigated
on microbial (symbiont) response to culture and analysis of risk from
pathogenic attack.
|
