ACIAR aquaculture mini-projects (03/2008) |
Thursday, 20 March 2008 00:00 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By Ben Ponia
Project leaders for the ACIAR-funded aquaculture mini-project scheme met in Fiji in February to develop small, flexible project proposals that will help aquaculture development in the Pacific region to overcome bottlenecks. The meeting was also an opportunity to learn about ACIAR post-graduate scholarships, which are open to students at the University of the South Pacific. Five projects, with a forecasted total budget of AUD95,000, will be developed into final proposals. A further nine projects, with a projected budget of approximately AUD115,000, will be further developed into concept notes (see Table 1). Project funding will target the eight ACIAR Pacific Island countries, although non-ACIAR countries are also invited to explore opportunities to collaborate on these projects. Table 1: Mini-projects formulated during the project leaders meeting
Dr Tim Pickering from the University of the South Pacific provided an update on the ACIAR post-graduate scholarships, which he is coordinating. Five of the eight awarded scholarships are aquaculture related and most will be associated with the upcoming mini-projects. The aquaculture scholarship awards were awarded to:
Jone Varawa (Fiji) MSc marine peaneid shrimp cage-culture; Marilyn Vilisoni (Fiji) MSc pearl oyster spat recruitment; Shirleen Bala (Fiji) MSc; aquaculture Pranesh Kishore (Fiji) MSc pearl mabe; Marie Satoa (Samoa) PgDip local feed sources for tilapia feed formulation; There is also possibility for MSc research on sea cucumber restocking. The meeting was held at the Hot Springs Hotel in Savusavu, Fiji. This location was chosen because Justin Hunter Pearls Ltd offered its facilities for mini-project research. The pearl farm will be used as a site for pearl mabe and spat collection research. The pearl oyster hatchery will be used for technology transfer and sea cucumber breeding. Sea cucumber ranching trials are also expected to take place in the vicinity of Savusavu. The Australian commissioned agency for the ACAIR aquaculture mini-projects is James Cook University of North Queensland. The project coordinator on behalf of the Pacific is the SPC. Collaborating agencies include the University of the South Pacific and WorldFish Centre. ACIAR funding is approximately AUD1.2 million dollars over a four year period. For further information on the ACIAR mini-projects contact Ben Ponia ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Cathy Hair ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). |