Australian aquaculture: opportunities and challenges

Australia has responsibility for the fourth largest maritime jurisdiction in the world. The Australian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and claimable continental shelf is 16 million km², extending from tropical to Antarctic waters. While the Australian EEZ is not highly productive on a world scale, it nonetheless supports a number of commercially lucrative fisheries, including tuna and bill fish, high-value shellfish and crustaceans, and increasingly important mariculture of salmonids and southern bluefin tuna. Australian fisheries have experienced a period of impressive growth in the recent past, driven by significant developments in aquaculture.