Welcome to the March 2023 quarterly update from the Blue Economy CRC.
Recent Announcements
2023 Participants Workshop
Inaugural PhD Summer School
2023 Webinar Series
Outreach & Participation
New Project Launches and Updates
Publications
Latest PhDs & Postdocs
Welcome New Partner Echoview Software
The Blue Economy CRC is pleased to announce its new partnership with Echoview Software, industry-leading hydroacoustic data processing science and software experts.
Their flagship product, Echoview®, allows for the analysis of hydroacoustic data collected from virtually any platform such as research vessels, towed platforms, USVs, ROVs and moorings, and then Echoview’s many built-in processing and visualisation tools can be applied onboard or remotely in offsite locations.
On behalf of the Blue Economy CRC Chair Greg Johannes, we warmly welcome Dr Maia Schweizer to the team. Maia has worked in energy and infrastructure for 15 years, moving from oil and gas to renewable electricity and green hydrogen. She has held executive roles in project development and operations in Western Australia at Origin Energy and Fortescue Future Industries, and served as CEO of CleanCo Queensland.
Maia’s passion is tackling difficult climate change challenges while ensuring that the benefits of solving them flow through to communities. We look forward to her involvement and contributions to the BE CRC.
The Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle, WA
16th - 18th May, 2023
The 2023 Participants Workshop is under 50 days away! A reminder for all our Participants to please register in the coming weeks.
An agenda will be shared in mid-April on our website. Accommodation can now be booked at the Esplanade with delegates having access to a discounted group rate.
Our current PhD students were invited to attend a week-long Summer School in January along with academics and fellow students with opportunities to present their work, learn from keynote lectures, participate in workshop/group activities and expand their professional networks.
“The best thing about the Summer School was about how it unified different kinds of researchers, studies, thoughts, experiences, languages, nations and most importantly different kind of humans to create a better future.”
The 2023 webinar series kicked off in March as the Blue Economy CRC, Blue Cluster and Deloitte hosted a webinar on a blue carbon credit system. The webinar explored the need to develop such a carbon accounting system and what it could look like. The recording is now available for viewing.
Greg Johannes, Maia Schweizer, John Whittington, Irene Penesis, Angela Williamson and Partners Carnegie Clean Energy, Huon Aquaculture, Tassal and Saitec represented at the Oceans Decade Ocean Business Leaders Summit with Greg on the Summit Advisory Board and Angela as co-Chair for the Oceans Food panel along with Veronica Papacosta. Members of the team alsorepresented at the 24th International Seaweed Symposium with fellow Blue Economy CRC Participants and Project Leaders.
John Whittington, Professor Chris Carter and Angela Williamson presented to the South Australian Research and Development Institute (PIRSA/SARDI) and local industry on the BECRC’s energy and aquaculture programs.
Research Director Professor Irene Penesis presented the keynote at the AOG Energy Knowledge Forum in Perth, WA with Partners Carnegie Clean Energy, BMT, Marine Energy Research Australia (MERA) and the University of Western Australia, bringing together specialised industry sectors to discuss the latest techniques, technology and opportunities in offshore renewable energy.
Project Launches
The following projects have launched within this last quarter across our five research programs.
Developing Production Systems for Offshore Kelp Mariculture This project seeks to develop technologies suitable for commercial-scale offshore kelp production off southeast Tasmania in particular, but which could also be deployed in offshore environments elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand. <Read More>
Hydrogen Powering of Vessels This project will undertake a feasibility study into the maturity of hydrogen and ammonia-powered vessel technology for operating in Australian waters and overseas vessel exports, and to understand the relationship between the logistic supply chain for hydrogen fuels and the likely uptake of hydrogen vessel propulsion in Australia and New Zealand. <Read More>
Data Infrastructure Design for the Blue Economy Effective knowledge sharing and collaboration between research programs and across the various project, data, and technology outcomes is essential for the CRC to achieve enduring success. <Read More>
Project Progress Updates
We are excited to report on the following progress updates across some of our current projects.
The Onapua Bay Voyage was the last New Zealand voyage before heading to Australia mid-2023 for deployment at Tassal fish farms. The main goal of the voyage was to test a number of technical modifications/improvements on the landers with analyses confirming modifications have improved data quality. <Read More>
Opportunities and Challenges for the Oyster Industry in the Blue Economy In early March Oysters Tasmania progressed the Blue Economy CRC oyster aquaculture scoping project with some key activities. Selected team members visited an existing ‘high energy’ lease located off Dart Island on the Tasman Peninsula. Local oyster farmers Steve and Yvonne Leslie grow Pacific and Angasi oysters onsite, while also developing experimental deep-water farm equipment alongside operations. <Read More>
Experimental Platform for Aquaculture Production The Experimental Platform for Aquaculture Production project achieved an important milestone in March by reaching the end of the first phase of a large experiment being conducted in experimental tanks and at sea in salmon pens. <Read More>
Marine Spatial Planning for a Blue Economy The Marine Spatial Planning for a Sustainable Blue Economy project is on track to identify a draft framework for Marine Spatial Planning by Spring 2023. The project has engaged with 106 external stakeholders through focus groups, the project Advisory Committee and one-on-one meetings to understand the needs of government, industry and organisations who are interested in the management of Australia’s marine estate. <Read More>
Completed Projects
The Baseline Survey of the Blue Economy Zone (Phase II) project wrapped up this quarter. Field data was collected between March 2021 and December 2022 within the BEZ. This fieldwork was a collaboration between the University of Tasmania, University of Queensland, Griffith University and industry partners Tassal and Xylem. The major activities performed included mapping of the seafloor, sediment and benthic habitat, monitoring the local wave, wind and ocean current climates as well as getting an understanding of fish species in the BEZ.
A Network Approach to Analyse Australia’s Blue Economy Policy and Legislative Arrangements
Our latest research published in the Marine Policy Journal on implementing a network approach to analyse Australia’s blue economy policy and legislative arrangements for coordinated management of our emerging blue economy activities.
Highlights:
Our network approach facilitates understanding of policy and legal complexity.
The blue economy policy and legislative system in Tasmania is analysed.
Results show a need for greater integration and fit-for-purpose legislation.
Regulatory complexity and fragmentation is very high for co-located activities.
New Offshore Horizons for Future Seafood Production
Professor Chris Carter features in the Jan-March 2023 edition of The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology discussing the new offshore horizons for future seafood production and the importance of offshore aquaculture, seaweeds, offshore renewable energy solutions and marine spatial planning to support Australia's sustainable seafood future.
The IEA Ocean Energy Systems publishes its highly anticipated 2022 Annual Report.
This Annual Report showcases the 2022 key achievements and recent outcomes of the IEA-OES in collaborative efforts on a global scale, as well as updates on ocean energy policy, research, and deployment advancements in all participating countries.
As the Australian Delegates to the IEA-OES, Professor Irene Penesis, Research Director of the Blue Economy CRC and Professor Christophe Gaudin, University of Western Australia along with Philip Marsh provided a chapter on Australia’s activities. (page 71 – 80).
The BE CRC places heavy emphasis on Education & Training, with an unprecedented scale of research opportunities on offer, including fully funded Higher Degree by Research (HDR) PhD scholarships across its five research programs. We are pleased to introduce some of ourlatest PhD scholars and PostDoctural Research Fellows who have recently joined us.