Aquaculture audit gives tick of approval

Aquaculture ventures in Shark Bay and Exmouth Gulf have been given the stamp of approval in the State's first full regional audit of marine based aquaculture compliance.

The compliance audit was carried out by Department of Fisheries' Gascoyne officers in accordance with the Aquaculture Compliance Plan developed in 1999.

Department of Fisheries Senior Aquaculture Program Officer Tina Thorne said all aquaculture farms in the region were found to be complying with their licence conditions.

"It is important from the community point of view that aquaculture is seen to be adhering to licence conditions and regulations, and that the water allocated is being used effectively in the manner intended," she said.

General checks carried out under the audit included:
· the licensees are operating within the boundaries of their designated locations (checked using GPS coordinates);
· the correct species are being grown; and
· determining how much stock is being carried on farms.

Further operation-specific checks are carried out on both land and sea based operations. ie at-sea operations are checked to ensure they are correctly marked and lit for navigation purposes.

In the case of an at-sea operation growing mussels or oysters, the audit checks that quality assurance procedures under the WA Shellfish QA Program are correctly carried out, especially in regard to sampling. Where an aquaculture site had been closed to harvesting, checks are also carried out to ensure that no illegal harvesting had taken place.

Land-based abalone enterprises are checked to ensure that records are being kept of numbers of broodstock mortalities and whether the species of abalone specified in the report is the one being grown.

Ms Thorne said the Aquaculture Compliance Plan was currently undergoing a risk assessment and upgrade. Manuals on carrying out an aquaculture compliance audit, with the updated compliance plan and checklists, will be placed in all regional offices to assist in carrying out future audits.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Tina ThorneSenior Aquaculture Program Officer Ph: 9482 7361 Jenny HodderSenior Public Relations CoordinatorPh: 9482 7235 (Mob): 0418 901 767