3 August 1992 Lincoln Casts Fisheries and Aquaculture Net

Lincoln University is casting a net to cover aquaculture and fisheries as a logical extension of existing interests in natural resources, business management, recreation and tourism.

A new paper, "Introduction to Fishery Management", is in the offing for next year and another paper, "Principles of Aquaculture", will be added at a future date. Both will be components of Lincoln's Bachelor of Commerce and Management and Bachelor of Resource Studies degree programmes.

The introductory paper will give an overview of the world's commercial fisheries, the commercial and recreational fisheries of New Zealand, the policies governing fisheries, and the management of fisheries. Social and political aspects will be stressed.

"Principles of Aquaculture" will cover the rearing of aquatic organisms under controlled or semi-controlled conditions for commercial sale or recreational stocking with an emphasis on species of current and potential aquaculture interest in New Zealand.

Lincoln's move into fisheries and aquaculture was spawned by an Academic Policy Committee initiative and an invited study by Professor Robert Stickney of the University of Washington's School of Fisheries.

Last year New Zealand was exporting around $800 million in seafood products. That makes the fisheries/aquaculture industry an important one, but the number of individuals employed, particularly those with tertiary qualifications, is relatively small. It was in this area that Lincoln saw a need it felt it could fill.

Professor Stickney confirmed that existing Lincoln expertise in the areas of science, resource management, commerce, engineering and Maori Studies would provide an appropriate foundation for a move into the area of fisheries/aquaculture. However, he cautioned against duplicating what other New Zealand tertiary institutions were doing in the training of fisheries scientists and technicians.

Lincoln needed to develop its own niche, he said, and he identified particular potential in what he termed the "social" side of fisheries/aquaculture. By this Professor Stickney meant everything covered by banking, business management, economics, marketing, resource management, policy development and interpretation, conservation, recreation, tourism and Maori issues.

Lincoln University had strengths in all of these areas and should be able to expand courses to accommodate the needs of students who, as graduate employees or employers, might be involved in some capacity with fisheries and aquaculture, he said.

Although potential employers have indicated a need for specialists in both fisheries and aquaculture, and strong support exists for university level training, there is general agreement that the numbers required by all sectors will be small.

While little teaching in the area of fisheries/aquaculture has been carried out at Lincoln in the past, a number of staff and postgraduate research programmes in recent times have been concerned with related matters, e.g. the problem of algae bloom in salmon farming at Stewart Island; the dietary role of munida in helping give salmon flesh its desirable pinkness; and the composition of Antarctic krill and southern blue whiting as a basis for fish meal as a stock food.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.