The Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre is delivering a targeted research portfolio to understand challenges and opportunities for sustainable ocean economic development in Australia.

As part of this, we are proposing to establish, commission, operate, evaluate, and decommission a multi-species aquaculture research trial in the Commonwealth Waters of Bass Strait.

This research trial is fundamental to building awareness, confidence and readiness to support the governance reform required to introduce multi-species aquaculture into Commonwealth waters.

The proposed Research Trial Site is in Commonwealth waters, adjacent to Tasmanian coastal waters and approximately 12km off the coast of Burnie, Tasmania. The Trial Site is characterised by open ocean, higher energy, deeper waters and stronger currents.

Figure 1. Location of Proposed Trial site within existing MOU Fisheries Arrangements Area.

Table 1. Coordinates of Proposed trial site.

The proposed Research Trial Site sits within a Blue Economy Zone (BEZ), which is an open ocean site for research focused aquaculture and renewable energy activities and is supported by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Commonwealth and Tasmanian governments.

The Commonwealth Government has previously consulted on a Fisheries Arrangement Area and an initial trial site in 2022.

Varied Research Trial Site coordinates to those consulted on and outlined within the 2022 MOU are proposed.

The variation provides for more suitable benthic conditions, deeper water and safer positioning of infrastructure given known sea and wind characteristics.

The broader Fisheries Arrangement Area remains the same.

The proposed trial is a three-year research program designed to test the capability of existing and new sustainable offshore/high-energy aquaculture farming systems for finfish (Tasmanian Atlantic salmon and kingfish).

The proposed trial involves commissioning a mooring grid, where two pens will be active for fin-fish production. Each active pen will stock 15,000 fish and will be farmed using a hybrid of high-energy precision farming and traditional farming.

The trial will be undertaken through partnering with industry, university and government BECRC participants, as well as technical experts on finfish aquaculture systems, while exploring opportunities for seaweed and shellfish and the potential for co-located renewable energy generation.

You can join the conversation by:

Joining coffee drop-ins and community sessions will be held at Burnie Surf Life Saving Club, 2 North Terrace, Burnie.

At these drop ins and community sessions, the Blue Economy CRC Project Team will offer an overview on the Research Trial, including details about the site characteristics gained from existing research, as well as the trial profile and scope. Sessions will be broken into research team led conversations in smaller groups ensuring the participants have direct access to the project team including technical, environmental and marine specialists.

This face-to-face engagement is being supported by a comprehensive online approach, making all project materials available at the Blue Economy CRC website so people who were unable to make a session could participate.

We have also written to offer briefings with Tasmanian Government identified stakeholders, in accordance with the Tasmanian Government Permit Supporting Information Guidelines For applications under s 12(ja) of the Living Marine Resources Management Act 1995

The Blue Economy CRC will also invite local boating clubs, local land and water-based recreational group/clubs and local tourism operators to meet.

These stakeholders will also be invited to participate in online industry and community sessions and webinars. These online sessions will target groups representing other ocean industries, costal tourism and local business, local government, environment, and community.

This activity follows the conversation alongside the development of the research governance, regulatory and policy framework and original trial site. While we now shift to a conversation on the proposed research activity and new trial site as part of the approval processes of the proposed Research Trial, we will keep the conversation going through an ongoing engagement program throughout the three-year period of the trial to allow continuous access to the research team and findings.

We are establishing a Community Advisory Group (CAG) to advise upon other user and community perspectives on the Research Trial and other ocean estate matters associated with new, emerging and transitioning ocean industries.

It will deliver a schedule of deep dives into the research (i.e. site characterisation, wildlife interactions, benthic surveys, finfish welfare, precision farming etc) and include a series of site visits as appropriate.

Membership skills and experiences being sought include:

An expression of interest process will be activated shortly.