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View Full Version : Are Barramundi Cod farmed?



Sea-Dog
03-10-2009, 01:52 PM
I went to a fish shop in Sunnybank today and noticed about a dozen Barramundi Cod for sale.

I know they are a protected species in the wild, but are they farmed?

What was the number for fishwatch again?

aussiefool
03-10-2009, 03:31 PM
Yep, they are see
http://www.aquafarmer.com.au/Barramundi%20Culture.html
sell for $30. to $40. per/kg

thephotoguru
03-10-2009, 04:13 PM
That is very interesting.

Would have though there a bit obscure for marketing purposes.

I was thihnking I had to go to NT and catch one to have a taste.

All I have to do is find someone that stocks them?

JRJR
03-10-2009, 05:05 PM
I heard survival rate is bad in the event you accidently catch one and then release it.
Your thoughts??

Daryl McPhee
03-10-2009, 05:11 PM
Hey all,

You can check this link out for more info.

http://www.gfbfisheries.com/reef.asp

Daryl

yellowbeard
04-10-2009, 06:20 AM
Hey Sea Dog,
Just wanted to hijack your thread. Bought some of those regular farmed barramundi a couple of times. Yech, bloody horrible. I'm just waiting to get up north where I can actually catch a barra and throw it on the barbie so I can judge for myself how good these fish really are -- because even the non-farmed barra that end up down here in NSW are mostly crap.

crab man
04-10-2009, 01:12 PM
Hey guys they must farm a fair few as i see them on the sydney fish market report all the time , Ive cought a few when i lived / worked on heron island pretty looking fish

Scott nthQld
04-10-2009, 06:28 PM
I heard survival rate is bad in the event you accidently catch one and then release it.
Your thoughts??

Depends at what depth, deeper than about 15m and chances of survival are very limited, less than 10% survive if caught deeper than 30m. For the few that do actually get caught these are very worrying stats, and is such a waste of a truly beautiful eating fish. Same situation for the Hump headed Maori Wrasse, these get very large, and if you do manage to get one to the surface (upto 200lb specimens have been reported), their bladder is basically stick out of their mouth about a third of their body length. Again, another beautiful eating fish gone to waste, they might be protected, but a fat lot of good that does for them, they get caught by accident and either die because of barotruama, or get sharked on their way back down. Whats worse is that when you do hook one and it ends up being sharked, there's usually plenty of flesh left to be trimmed up for the table, but again, protected species, have to throw them back, dead or alive (which shortly becomes dead).

So far the use of release weights and those venting tools have not been successful in reducing the mortality rate.

Also, divers are reporting that more and more are being sighted and in some locations are actually in plague proportions.

Swindells
05-10-2009, 04:09 PM
You can probably bet some of the natural stock find their way on the black market.

Benno1
11-10-2009, 01:17 PM
i never knew these fish were farmed...cheers for the info Aussie :)

Mrs Benno1
Sunny

GBC
11-10-2009, 09:52 PM
I've line caught a few and released them - they aren't a robust fish like say kingies or estuary cod. I'm not surprised mortality rates are higher for these pretty little guys.
Yellowbeard, these are a cod, with a barra head so don't give up just yet - they taste good - apparently?

Batters
11-10-2009, 10:28 PM
yes these fish are definetly farmed, only a recent thing though. the asian countires regard these as the ultimate in fine white flesh, in respect to the grouper, coral trout species etc. i'm supprised as to the prices though. only a few years ago before they were being farmed prices were well over $100/kg, with prices up to $300/kg, then again china alone has over 20mil people who earn over 10mil US anually so its more of a prestege thing. GFB an australian aquaculture company teamed up with JCU and deveopled the spawn and growout techniques for this species i'm not sure if there are any other companies in Aus selling fingerlings of this species but the fish GFB grow out are all exported live to asia i assume thier getting a fair bit more than $40/kg.

Sea-Dog, have you ever seen the Qld grooper for sale at the markets? slightly more recent in the aquaculture industry, would be interested to know their price. if i had the land thats what i'd be doing, strait to asia live a bit of a money spinner i would assume.

cheers
mick

Scott nthQld
12-10-2009, 09:11 AM
Yes Qld Groper is now also farmed, JCU was also involved with that as far as I am aware. This is only fairly recent so much so that it was only 2 years ago that the 'farm' was having to run through all sorts of hoops to take wild groper for brood stock just to keep up with the demand, the farming of Qld groper has only been running in Australia for about 3 years, and typically the fish they sell at around 3-6kg are only up to a year old, groper apparently grow very fast for the first couple of years until they start to get some size about them and growth rates slow dramatically. There was also talk of breeding the groper to release into the wild, but I kind of lost interest at that point (ie fell asleep, it was on the telly) so don't know if thats progressed any. If they can keep them clean and disease free, that would be a brilliant way to improve the fishery and help the species.

Batters
14-10-2009, 11:36 PM
seadog all fish grow fast till they reach maturaty then slow down but never stop. 'how fast' depends on species and conditions. i doubt the growth rates of the barramundi cod compare to Qld groper or even barramundi.

you cannot always believe what you have read but some people suggest that with protection, a greater number of hidie holes(wrecks etc.) and decreasing shark numbers the Qld grouper is increasing which could lead to greater preditation on parrot fish and hence more algae covering our reefs. it does make some sense as the biggest problem a 200 pond grouper has is finding shelter from sharks.

either way it would be great to see juviniles as more than an occasional catch in esturaries, beuitiful black white and yellow markings they have.

still wondering what prices thier getting for live barramundi cod and Qld groper.

cheers
mick

Matthias
15-10-2009, 09:33 AM
FYI - you can also buy farmed barra cod for your saltwater aquarium. They look cool in a tank.

Cheers
Pete

trilogy
15-10-2009, 09:57 PM
Very interesting does this mean if I farm dolphins and koalas I can sell them for food too?

Sea-Dog
16-10-2009, 06:36 PM
Very interesting does this mean if I farm dolphins and koalas I can sell them for food too?

Can I put in my order now Trilogy-san ;D

Batters
16-10-2009, 09:00 PM
yes its a tough topic in terms of the black market but you have to remember someone poaching these will likely have up to a few dozen for sale while farms will sell tonnes over the year.

in terms of export dollars thier a good thing. get in before the asians do it cheaper n more ifficent i say.

yes i want one in my tank, great display fish. this has already caught on with public aquariums and businesses leading the way.

cheers
mick