Education
MARK CRANE, Australian Fish Disease Laboratory at the CSIRO: There are
several institutions that you can go to to enter the aquaculture sector. There are
TAFE colleges for working at technical levels, there would be university courses at a
number of different universities around Australia where you can do undergraduate
degrees and enter a lab and work on fish biology or fish diseases. You could even
then go on to do a doctorate degree and do post-doc in that area overseas, get some
experience in other countries, then come back to Australia and work in state labs or
in CSIRO or universities at a higher level.
NARRATOR: There are many options and opportunities for aquaculture training
available in Australia and around the world. There are different levels and focuses
available from relatively basic certificate courses to university degrees, leading to
PhD levels and beyond.
Of course the reason people wish to study aquaculture varies and it’s important to
match the type of study with the desired outcome. Setting up a commercial
aquaculture farm can be an expensive proposition. Those entering into it will have
capital at their disposal and should be prepared for the major life-changing
consequences of choosing this career path.
It is difficult to set up a commercially viable aquaculture farm of any type for under
$500 000, even if you already have land at your disposal. Alternatively, a small hobby
level enterprise may be the goal. In either case, a doctorate or masters degree is not
necessarily required. Most people in these categories want to learn enough practical
knowledge to set up their farm and run it, knowing that experience will be the real
teacher. The key training requirements are going to be:
 water quality
 plumbing (pumps, flow rates and so on)
 biology
 farm management.
The best type of course in this case is one of the certificate level courses offered.
BARBARA NOWAK, School of Aquaculture, University of Tasmania: Farm
managers on most farms have, at least, a university degree. Obviously in some
cases it will be replaced with very extensive experience. The advanced diploma,
which is two-year course (Advanced Diploma in Aquaculture), provides all the
necessary information for starting up an aquaculture business. It’s obviously much
better to have a degree in aquaculture, because that leaves much more space to
continue education if someone wants to follow it up later on.
Training to work in the industry
NARRATOR: The aquaculture industry, both world-wide and in Australia, has far
more qualified staff than it can hope to employ. Training to enter the industry as a
labourer on, for example, a prawn farm is not necessary but is a definite advantage.
Off-campus and on-campus TAFE, or similar courses, are ideal for this type of entry
into the industry, but like many similar industries, they are no guarantee of a job.
Those who have completed a certificate or diploma are best advised to get
themselves on the spot. Prawn farms, with their constant feeding, offer the best
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chances for employment in the northern states, with the salmon, trout and tuna
industries good options in the south.
SHANE RAIDAL, Murdoch University: To become a worker on an aquaculture
facility, it would be good for you to do a degree in aquaculture and you can do TAFE
training. The Challenger TAFE at Fremantle is very good at providing basic training
for aquaculture people. There are also degrees that you can do, if you wanted to do a
university degree.
NARRATOR: To be employed by a government aquaculture research body, a
bachelor degree can be enough, but industry experience will be important here. For
true research positions, a doctorate is essential.
Training in the sciences to get employment in the industry can be a long road,
beginning with a bachelor of science. Many institutions now offer this degree in pure
aquaculture. A masters degree often follows, and then a doctorate. An honours
degree bypasses the masters step.
The key to research positions is generally a specialisation that begins almost from
the start of higher education.
MICHAEL BOROWITZKA, Murdoch University: Well if you really want to get into
research, then a university degree is the best way to do that. Do a bachelor’s degree,
then maybe an honours degree and then do a higher degree. Normally if you’re really
strongly interested in research you would go on to do a PhD, do a doctorate. There
are many areas of aquaculture where you could do that, which I think covers just
about all the interests of someone in the area. You might go into the ecology, the
environmental impact on aquaculture, you might work in pathology, diseases and
disease management. You might work in engineering—the design of the aquaculture
facilities, the sea cages and those areas. So there’s a wide range of different areas,
depending on your interests.
Further education
NARRATOR: As well as the many formal tertiary courses available from government
institutions around Australia, there’s a range of further education opportunities for
those wishing to enter the industry and for those wishing to upgrade skills through
workshops and short courses, or conduct specialist research in a preferred field.
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