3.7 Oceania

Australia, Cook Islands,
Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Micronesia,
New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,
Solomon Islands.

Production and production trends

Figure 3.7.1.
Total reported production from aquaculture in this region in 1995 amounted to 96,000 mt worth US$230.2 million, with an increase of 22,000 mt (28.8%) and US$35.7 million (18.4%) over 1994 (Figure 3.7.1). In the global context, these figures represent 0.3% of the total volume and 0.6% of the total value. In terms of contribution to local fisheries products in 1995, aquaculture supplied 9.3% of the combined output from capture fisheries and aquaculture.

Figure 3.7.2.
During 1984-1995, aquaculture production increased at an APR of 15.2, compared to 5.6 for capture fisheries, which in this region have witnessed a considerable expansion in production. Despite the importance of capture fisheries for Oceania in view of the extensive EEZs of the member countries, aquaculture has been tested in 12 countries of the region and has established itself as a profitable parallel form of supply of fishery products in some of them. The growth and progressive consolidation of aquaculture in Oceania has been driven by New Zealand and Australia. The former produced 68,000 mt in 1995 (with an APR of 18.1 for 1984-1995), while Australia contributed 25,000 mt with an APR of 10 in the same period (Figure 3.7.2). The combined output from both countries accounted for 97% of the total volume of aquaculture production in Oceania.

The historical pattern of aquaculture production in these two countries is rather different. Australia has experimented with, and apparently also abandoned, more species than New Zealand. From the records provided to FAO, some 31 different species have been cultured, of which 11 were abandoned. In the mid 1980s, there was a gradual consolidation of the sector around six high-value species which accounted for 90% of the production in 1995. From 1992 to 1995, Australian aquaculture production grew rapidly (albeit from a low initial production base), increasing by about 9,000 mt (or 50%). New Zealand has shown a more steady growth, based on only five species, with an increase of 32.8% in total volume from 1992 to 1995, also an indication of the healthy state of the sector.

In the smaller islands of the region, aquaculture is seen as a provider of food and/or income, depending on the country. Export-oriented aquaculture is dominant in the Cook Islands and French Polynesia (pearl culture), in Kiribati (Eucheuma production), and to some extent in New Caledonia (shrimp). In Fiji and Guam, production of food for local consumption is the main developmental objective of aquaculture.

Finfish production accounted for 16,000 mt, or about 17% of total regional production volume from aquaculture in 1995, with an APR of 27 during 1984-95. Salmon (9,000 mt) and trout (4,000 mt) from Australia and New Zealand dominated production, accounting for 83% of finfish production. Tuna farming is a recent (1992) development in Australia and is growing rapidly. Production in 1995 was about 2,000 mt.

Crustacean farming contributed 3,000 mt in 1995 with penaeid shrimp as the main group (2,600 mt). Of this group Penaeus monodon, cultured mainly in Australia, is the main species (1,600 mt), followed by P. stylirostris (900 mt), cultured in New Caledonia. The interest in freshwater prawns and lobsters in the region is noteworthy. Three species of the genus Cherax are reported to be farmed in Australia and Samoa (336 mt), and Macrobrachium rosenbergii has been tested in five islands, although it is only farmed in Fiji and French Polynesia at present.

Seaweed culture, mainly Eucheuma spp., supplied 400 mt of product in 1995, largely from Kiribati and Fiji.

Taking into account the differences in domestic markets, land mass and proximity to other export markets, the countries of Oceania fall into two groups with respect to major issues: Australia and New Zealand on the one hand, and the rest of the islands on the other. In the two major producers, an important issue for expansion of aquaculture production concerns the need to ensure sustainable development with due attention to conservation of the environment, particularly in the coastal zone. Due to the novelty of aquaculture development in both countries, the combined efforts of the public and private sector are necessary to develop well co-ordinated national plans and regulations for sustainable development.

With regard to physical issues, the incidence of natural calamities (cyclones) is very high in some of the smaller islands, representing a menace for aquaculture facilities. Several farms have already been destroyed and even the stock enhancement programmes for coral reefs may suffer considerably from the devastation caused by tropical storms. Bio-technical issues range from problems encountered in Australia with toxic algal blooms, which affect oyster and mussel farms, to the limited marketability of some of the species farmed or being considered for aquaculture due to restrictions imposed by the CITES agreement. In addition, production packages for local species are not thoroughly developed, and regional collaboration for technology development is scarce. This fact, linked to the complexity of the development of packages for a new species and to the limited resources available in many of the smaller islands, has pushed producers to favour the use of exotic species, which may have negative environmental and biodiversity impact.

On the economic side, with the exception of the larger states and territories, it is difficult to reach an economy of scale for production, due to the relatively small size of many local markets, and to the difficulty of marketing abroad due to remoteness of the markets and the limited possibilities for transport of perishable products over long distances. Also related to economics is an important institutional issue: the region, again with the exception of the larger states, possesses very limited institutional and financial capability to promote development through the public sector. Thus, research and development efforts depend to a large extent on external aid (see Section 2.8 External Assistance). The limited allocation of resources to aquaculture development is also due to competition for these resources with the marine fisheries sector, which is a very important source of foreign currency, and is therefore the focus of attention of the public sector and regional institutions. This has resulted in a scarcity of properly trained personnel with hands-on experience in aquaculture research and development. External aid has been used in the region for a vast number of projects, most of which were not properly focused and have failed, thus generating serious doubt about the economic viability of aquaculture. Regional initiatives that could have contributed to the creation of networks, permitting a pooling of resources and a more efficient transfer of expertise from the more advanced countries, have been scarce and largely underfunded. Similarly, co-operation among the states and territories in the region has been poor.

The potential for growth appears to be significant and is centred in Australia and New Zealand, where the average annual growth rates in 1984-1995 have been 10% and 18%, respectively. Growth of the sector has accelerated in Australia to 14% per year and has continued at a very healthy 19% per year in New Zealand, for the period 1990-95. Areas for expansion of farms are certainly available and the governments are in the process of regulating development to favour sustainable expansion of production.

In the smaller islands, the best prospects seem to be for export commodities (high-value non-perishable products like pearls) aimed at specialized markets. However, the potential for pearl culture will be rather tightly controlled by the private sector, especially Japanese buyers and companies, to maintain prices. Hatchery techniques for pearl oyster breeding are not easily transferred because of this tight control, and the smaller islands are basing their production on the availability of natural stocks. Therefore, additional growth of pearl culture in the South Pacific in the medium term will probably occur in only a few places and under tight market control. For other local species that have potential in Asian markets (e.g. sea cucumbers, giant clams, etc.), technologies for commercial production have still to be perfected, and institutional capacity for technology development is very scarce in the South Pacific. Freshwater aquaculture for local markets may have potential in the larger islands.

Examination of the growth rates of the various commodities shows clearly the novelty of aquaculture in the region. There was very low initial production in the mid 1980s, which accounts for the high average growth rates over the period 1984-1995. By comparing the APR values for the various commodities for 1984-89 with those of 1990-1995, it should be possible to verify the changes and, bearing in mind the levels of production, to derive an idea of possible trends.

In terms of species groups, the analysis of growth rates in these two periods indicates that finfish culture growth has slowed down in the 1990-1995 period from an APR of 37.8 to an average 19, which is still a very interesting value. In the case of finfish, the groups which appear to have better prospects are: the salmonids, for which production is still growing at APRs in the order of 16 (1990-1995) in spite of the fact that annual production is already sizeable at 13,000 mt; and tuna, a very recent entry, production of which in Australia has been growing annually in the last four years at 79% (1990-1995), reaching over 1,900 mt in 1995. As the form of farming practised for tunas is mainly fattening of wild-caught specimens, a limit for the expansion of this highly lucrative form of aquaculture in the medium term would be the availability of stocking material. Prospects for growth in the production of seabass (Lates spp.) and tilapias, based on analysis of the APRs, appear to be more modest than for the previously mentioned groups. Although still at annual production levels in the order of 2-300 mt (1995), their APRs during 1990-1995 (51 and 9, respectively) augur continued growth.

The average annual growth rate of crustacean aquaculture has slowed down from 56.7% to about 19%, which is still substantial taking into account the present level of production of over 3,000 mt in 1995. Possibilities for expansion of shrimp culture in the near future certainly exist, in particular in Australia and to a lesser extent in New Caledonia. Production is already about 2,600 mt, which indicates that the pilot-scale period has passed. Cherax spp. culture is a novelty in this field and starting to become significant, with annual growth rates of 25%, although production is still in the pilot stage.

Mollusc culture growth APR has increased from 13.2 (1984-1989) to 17 (1990-1995), pushed by the rapid development of New Zealand mussel production, which maintained a very fast APR of 20 for the period 1990-1995. With ample areas for culture and well established distribution channels, it could be expected that mussel culture will increase its dominance in the mollusc group in the years to come. Other mollusc species seem to have a rather limited potential for growth in the near and mid term. Oyster production has slightly increased in APR from around 2.5 in 1984-1989 to 5.4 in 1990-95, while pearl oyster production growth has slowed from 10.5 to 4.7, indicating the control by the recipient markets on increase of production. Seaweed farming trends do not indicate a bright future in Oceania for these commodities, possibly due to the remoteness of the area and the availability of alternative sources of supply.