A new field guide released this week brings together established and emerging scientific techniques for assessing how finfish aquaculture interacts with marine environments, from soft sediments and seagrass beds to inshore rocky reefs and deep reefs.
The Guide to the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment for Finfish Aquaculture was developed by the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), and brings together almost two decades of scientific research in Tasmania’s coastal waters.
“Since the release of the original field guide by Macleod and Forbes in 2004, both the location and scale of marine finfish aquaculture operations in Tasmania have changed significantly,” said IMAS researcher, Professor Jeff Ross.
“Our new guide covers a broader spectrum of environments – and it is designed to be a practical resource for a wide range of users, including aquaculture operators, regulators, environmental consultants and researchers.”
The guide outlines comprehensive methods for designing and implementing monitoring programs tailored to each key marine habitat:
The guide also introduces newer tools such as remote video methods capable of tracking changes over larger spatial scales, and environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. Each method comes with guidance on how and when to use it, what data it provides, and its limitations.
“It also addresses the challenges of monitoring and evaluating impacts in different environments, emphasising the importance of locally relevant baseline information for assessing performance,” said Professor Ross.
“And while the focus is on finfish aquaculture, the methods and principles it covers apply to any activities that may affect organic loading in marine environments.
“It offers a solid framework for assessing baseline health, tracking change, and supporting recovery across a range of habitat types.”
The Field Guide is available to download here. It was developed under project 2015-024 managing ecosystem interactions across differing environments: building flexibility and risk assurance into environmental management strategies, which is supported by funding from the FRDC on behalf of the Australian Government.
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