January 11, 2007

Western Australia looks at saline groundwater fish breeding plan

Building on experience gained in inland saltwater aquaculture in Western Australia, a plan is being developed to use saline groundwater from the south-west and wheatbelt regions to breed fish.

The South-West Catchments Council (SWCC) is planning to bring saline water from underground reservoirs into dams for aquaculture, spokesman Damien Hills said.

The SWCC is a cooperative regional organisation which identifies and coordinates strategic opportunities to achieve sustainable natural resource management (NRM) in the South West of Western Australia.

The approach proposed may provide both a profitable venture and a way to fight salinity, he said.

There is enough salty water in the ground water systems in parts of the wheatbelt to support aquaculture and it would not take much to pump the water into dams for breeding fish stock, Hills said. 

He added it was an interesting project as the project would convert what has long been a problem into a solution.