Report on field visit to SARDI (Aquatic Sciences)

Aquatic Sciences is a research division under SARDI with a main motto of the sustainable growth of South Australian Industries. The South Australian Aquatic Sciences Centre (SAASC) is located at West Beach on the shores of Gulf St. Vincent and most of the research works in aquatic biology are conducted here. The thrust areas of research include 1. Aquaculture: Here active research is being carried out for freshwater, brackish and marine aquaculture needs. This include development of diets, species selection etc. 2. Marine Environment and Ecology: conduct research on habitat mapping, environmental impact assessment, etc. . Oceanography: Research to understand the influence of oceanographic factors on climate. 4. Wild Fisheries: They carry out stock assessment works and provide necessary information to the industries involved for the sustainable exploitation of the stocks such as abalone, rock lobster, prawns, snapper, garfish and Australian sardines. Also undertakes surveys to measure the impact of fishing effort on fish stocks. 5. Inland Waters & Catchment Ecology: Undertake research on inland water habitats. There are 87 research and technical staff, 18 support staff and 40 postgraduate positions at West Beach research centre. The facilities include a central library with the most modern and comprehensive literature of different aspects of aquatic sciences. The pool farm has facilities to carry out research in both marine and freshwater environments with tanks of different capacities. We were allowed to visit the different research infrastructure facilities such as coastal finfish hatcheries, sophisticated aquaculture laboratories, controlled environment rooms, fish aging laboratories, image analysis rooms etc. As a whole, the trip was of great use to understand the various research activities that are going on in the field of marine biology.