Aquaculture Research to foster investor attraction and establishment of commercial Aquaculture Parks aligned to major saline groundwater interception schemes in South Australia SARDI Publication Number: F2008/001027-1 SARDI Research Report Series No: 317 Wayne Hutchinson and Tim Flowers SARDI Aquatics Sciences, PO Box 120, Henley Beach, SA 5022 December 2008 This publication may be cited as: Hutchinson, W.G. and Flowers, T. (2008) Research to foster investor attraction and establishment of commercial Aquaculture Parks aligned to major saline groundwater interception schemes in South Australia. Centre for Natural Resource Management (CNRM), Project 043713. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2008/001027- 1, SARDI Research Report Series No. 317, 378 pp. South Australian Research and Development Institute SARDI Aquatic Sciences 2 Hamra Ave, West Beach, SA, 5024 Phone: 08 8207 5400 Facsimile: 08 8207 5481 Website: http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au © This work is copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owners. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. The author does not warrant that the information in this book is free from errors or omissions. The author does not accept any form of liability, be it contractual, tortuous or otherwise, for the contents of this book or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. The information, opinions and advice contained in this book may not relate to, or be relevant to, a reader's particular circumstances. Opinions expressed by the authors are the individual opinions of those persons and are not necessarily those of the publisher or research provider. SARDI Publication No: F2008/001027-1 SARDI Research Report Series No: 317 ISBN No: 978-1-921563-06-5 Printed in 2009 by: PIRSA Corporate Services 101 Grenfell St Adelaide SA 5001 Author: Wayne Hutchinson and Tim Flowers Reviewers: Mehdi Doroudi and Steven Clarke Approved by: Steven Clarke Signed: Date: 18 December 2008 Distribution: CNRM, PIRSA Aquaculture, National Library, State library of SA, SA Aquatic Sciences Library Circulation: Public domain TABLE OF CONTENTS NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY........................................................................................... I ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS.......................................................................................... XVII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... XIX OUTCOMES ACHIEVED ....................................................................................................... XXI SUMMARY OF PROGRESS AGAINST OBJECTIVES .............................................................XXIV NEED .............................................................................................................................XXX CHAPTER 1 – GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF GROUNDWATER FOR INLAND SALINE AQUACULTURE ..........................................................................1 1.1. SUMMARY.................................................................................................................1 1.2. WATER SOURCES......................................................................................................2 1.3. WATER QUALITY......................................................................................................2 1.4. INLAND SALINE AQUACULTURE IN AUSTRALIA.......................................................3 1.4.1. VICTORIA.....................................................................................................3 1.4.2. QUEENSLAND...............................................................................................4 1.4.3. WESTERN AUSTRALIA .................................................................................4 1.4.4. NEW SOUTH WALES ....................................................................................5 1.4.5. SOUTH AUSTRALIA......................................................................................6 1.5. SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S SALT INTERCEPTION SCHEMES..............................................7 1.5.1. LIMITS ON DISPOSAL BASINS ....................................................................11 1.6. WAIKERIE INLAND SALINE AQUACULTURE CENTRE .............................................11 1.6.1. PILOT COMMERCIAL SCALE PRODUCTION TANKS ....................................17 1.7. REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................20 CHAPTER 2 - CHARACTERISATION OF THE COMPOSITION OF SALINE GROUNDWATER FROM THE WOOLPUNDA, WAIKERIE, QUALCO-SUNLANDS SALINITY INTERCEPTION SCHEME AND STOCKYARD PLAIN DISPOSAL BASIN .....................................................................................................................................23 2.1. SUMMARY...............................................................................................................23 2.2. BACKGROUND.........................................................................................................24 2.3. METHODS................................................................................................................25 2.3.1. WATER SAMPLING.....................................................................................25 2.3.2. WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS ................................................................25 2.4. RESULTS .................................................................................................................28 2.4.1. PH ..............................................................................................................28 2.4.2. SALINITY....................................................................................................30 2.4.3. CALCIUM ...................................................................................................30 2.4.4. MAGNESIUM ..............................................................................................30 i 2.4.5. POTASSIUM ................................................................................................32 2.4.6. SODIUM......................................................................................................32 2.4.7. BICARBONATE ...........................................................................................33 2.4.8. CHLORIDE ..................................................................................................33 2.4.9. POTASSIUM:CHLORIDE RATIO...................................................................35 2.4.10. FLUORIDE ..................................................................................................35 2.4.11. SULPHATE..................................................................................................36 2.4.12. SILICA ........................................................................................................37 2.4.13. METALS .....................................................................................................37 2.4.14. IRON...........................................................................................................37 2.4.15. ARSENIC ....................................................................................................39 2.4.16. RAINFALL ..................................................................................................39 2.5. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................40 2.6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................42 2.7. REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................43 CHAPTER 3 - ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF MULLOWAY (ARGYROSOMUS JAPONICUS) CULTURED IN SALINE GROUNDWATER FROM STOCKYARD PLAIN DISPOSAL BASIN. .......................................................................45 3.1 SUMMARY...............................................................................................................45 3.2 BACKGROUND.........................................................................................................46 3.2 METHODS................................................................................................................48 3.2.1 EXPERIMENT 1 – PERFORMANCE OF MULLOWAY IN DILUTED SEAWATER AND SIS GROUNDWATER ..........................................................................48 3.2.2 EXPERIMENT 2 - PERFORMANCE OF MULLOWAY IN DILUTED SEAWATER, SIS GROUNDWATER AND SEAWATER .......................................................50 3.2.3 EXPERIMENT 3 - MEASUREMENT OF ROUTINE METABOLIC RATE, AND MAXIMUM METABOLIC RATE AND METABOLIC SCOPE ...........................50 3.2.4 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ............................................................................51 3.3 RESULTS .................................................................................................................51 3.3.1 EXPERIMENT 1 ...........................................................................................51 3.3.2 EXPERIMENT 2 ...........................................................................................54 3.3.3 EXPERIMENT