Overview of Scallop Amusium balloti Sea Ranching
(Updated 12 January 2005)
Queensland Sea Scallop Ltd is a public unlisted company in the early stages of a project to produce, through aquaculture, the naturally occurring sea scallop Amusium balloti in the waters of Hervey Bay. The concepts adopted by the company evolved from a three year FRDC funded research project. The researchers’ report “Development of a business plan for enhancement/ culture of scallops in Australian waters” identified the Hervey Bay scallop Amusium balloti as the most commercially attractive species in Australia and suited to enhancement techniques compatible with environmental requirements.
Please see the following website for more information on the FRDC funded project.
http://bookshop.frdc.com.au/miva/merchant.mv?page=B/PROD/HD2000-190
In the ideal conditions found in Hervey Bay, Amusium balloti reaches an appropriate harvest size 36 weeks after spawning. This species is claimed to be the most palatable and the most valuable of all scallops. Research has determined that the scallop grows most prolifically in Hervey Bay, diminishing in size and growth rate north and south of the embayment. The researchers determined that a sea ranching project based on the species would be potentially very profitable and also would be ecologically sustainable. No ‘in sea’ infrastructure or additional feeding is required as the scallops are grown in their natural environment. The activity of seeding the natural sea bed with a species occurring naturally in the area, and harvesting the resulting product, is not considered a Environmentally Relevant Activity as prescribed by the Queensland Environmental Protection Act 1994.
Basic elements of project;
· Broodstock will be carefully collected from the wild and spawned in the hatchery.
· Scallop juvenile ‘spat’ will be grown in hatcheries in batches during spawning season.
· These batches will be sent to the seabed, into the company’s two licensed ‘Aquaculture Sites’ in Hervey Bay.
· The scallops will grow naturally, over approximately 36 weeks undisturbed, without feeding by man and without any in-sea infrastructure.
· Regular monitoring, using video and benthic sampling equipment for growth, survival and movements, will provide important biological information.
· Harvesting of mature scallop will be conducted using licenced trawlers with conventional scallop trawling equipment.
QSS successfully completed a second capital raising share offer among the existing twenty shareholders and secured a Federal grant of $487,000 from the Sustainable Regions Programme to support the development of the project. The company’s first hatchery at Port Bundaberg is under construction (see photos) and will be operational in April 2005, ready for a full year’s production in 2005. The Bundaberg Port Authority is constructing a 4.5 km long seawater supply line to provide the hatchery with clean oceanic seawater, an essential factor for raising healthy sea scallops.