Clean Seas and Kinki University signed an agreement to share protocols on the propagation and husbandry of tuna in August 2008. It is said that this Summer’s larval rearing trials will soon commence at its Arno Bay hatchery on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. According to Clean Seas the spawning coincides with this week’s visit to Arno Bay of a high-level scientific delegation from Kinki University in Japan, comprising Professor Dr. Murata, Professor Dr Takii, Assistant Professor Dr Nakagawan and Dr Kato.
Clean Seas Chairman, Hagen Stehr AO told that the larval rearing trials should continue over the next two months and key Kinki University staff will be assisting Clean Seas hatchery personnel at the Arno Bay facility. He has praised the work of the senior research staff of Clean Seas, Kinki and Sunshine Coast Universities, and the Centre for Marine Biotechnology in Baltimore in upgrading the hatchery and operating procedures over the 11 months since the company’s first spawning in March 2008.
Stehr opined that this research commitment would not have been possible without the ongoing support of AusIndustry, The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Seafood CRC. He added that dry pellet trials are progressing satisfactorily and they anticipate that this feed will be suitable for Clean Seas aquaculture-grown SBT fingerlings when they are successfully produced.
The company told that the trials are scheduled to continue through to April 2009, and that the trials will materially assist the company in formalising their commercialisation plans for the aquaculture production of SBT commencing in summer 2009/10. Stehr also said shareholders should recognise the inherent risks involved with research and development projects of this complexity, and the need for the company to maintain an appropriate level of commercial confidentiality.
