Aquaculture 100 Hours Certificate Course

1 Introduction to Aquaculture

• Scope and nature of freshwater aquaculture
• Resources, references, organisations around the world
• Equipment and material suppliers

2 Production Systems - EP and IP

• Open, semi closed and closed systems
• Extensive production
• Intensive production
• Water containment: earth, concrete, wood, brick, stone, fibre-glass, liners, etc
• Dams and water storage: siting, site

3 What Species to Farm

• Selection criteria
• Climate
• Water resources
• Finance
• Scale of operation
• Other resources: manpower, knowledge, support services, etc.
• Market demand and access
• Ecological considerations
• Risk considerations
• Review of different fish: we review many fish and other species suited to farming in Australia,the UK and other countries), including:
• Trout
• Rainbow trout
• Brown trout
• Bass
• Catfish
• Carp
• Cod
• River blackfish
• Marron
• Algae

4 Trout

• Three main trout species
• Farming trout
• Water
• Determining flow in source water
• Water temperature
• Water dissolved oxygen
• Stocking rates for production pools
• Spawning trout
• Checking the fish
• Stripping technique
• Fertilisation of ova
• Hatching ova
• From hatch to free swimming stage
• Feed
• After free swim stage

5 Barramundi

• Industry perspective
• Breeding and growth rates
• Induced breeding; hormone injection
• Growth
• Fry management and after care
• Grow out
• Pond rearing for larvae
• Barramundi diseases and parasites

6 Bass

• Varieties: Australian bass, American loudmouth, Smallmouth
• Habitat requirements: temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH
• Natural spawning cycle
• Controlled spawning
• Harvesting

7 Freshwater Crayfish

• Scope and nature of crustacean aquaculture
• Marron and Yabbie
• Conditions: water, temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, organic loading, water clarity, pod size
• Initial breeding stocks
• Production potential
• Stocking rates
• Breeding
• Growth
• Feeding
• Composts for Marron feeding
• Red Claw
• Yabbie

8 Setting Up a Fish Farm

• Land and water
• Water requirements
• Extensive production dams
• Intensive production pools and raceways
• Cages
• Biological filtration systems
• Filter efficiency
• Clearing turbid water in dams
• Protecting fish
• Improving genetic quality of fish
• Economics of establishing and running an aquaculture farm
• Financial management
• Financial institutions
• Better planning
• Economics
• What to plan for
• Production
• Marketing

9 Fish Foods & Feeding

• Scope and nature
• Pelleted feed
• Live feed
• Brine shrimp
• Daphnia
• Worms
• Night lights
• Fishmeal
• Oil meals
• Fish food production
• Beef heart
• Legumes
• Seafood and vegetable mix
• Earthworm and compost production

10 Harvesting

• Introduction
• Harvesting techniques: seine nets, gill nets, traps, long lines, funnel trap, flyke trap, etc
• Fish pumps
• Mechanical graders
• Fish health management
• Review of diseases: salmonids, barramundi, trout, carp, etc