PhD project with $10000 per year top-up scholarship available
The future of aquaculture: how will fish cope with an offshore life?
A PhD project is available to investigate the behaviour and welfare of farmed salmon in new and emerging fish farm designs, principally for offshore and exposed locations. The project is a collaboration between the Sustainable Aquaculture Lab at the University of Melbourne (https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/saltt/) and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway (www.imr.no/en). The student will be based in the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne, while experimental work will occur at the Institute of Marine Research’s state-of-the-art aquaculture research facility near Bergen, Norway, and in the field at commercial farms around the scenic fjords of western Norway.
There has been much debate regarding the salmon industry’s footprint in coastal waters. Part of the debate has revolved around whether farms should move to more exposed or offshore locations, where many of the problematic interactions with coastal environments and communities might diminish. A myriad of new fish farming concepts are now being proposed and implemented to tackle this challenge.
Offshore and exposed production system types have design aspects that alter the environmental conditions and behavioural context for fish relative to standard farms. Understanding these new production environments and their challenges for fish is key to success. Existing evidence suggests that several parameters critical for production will differ, including current flows, fish swimming speeds, school structure, dissolved oxygen levels, and fish buoyancy levels.
The PhD project will develop knowledge of the behaviour and welfare of salmon in new production systems. We will use a range of equipment to study fish farming environments and fish behaviours, including individual fish tags, echo sounders, and camera systems. Experiments will be conducted in research facilities and salmon farms that are testing new technologies.
The student will need to obtain an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (https://studenteforms.app.unimelb.edu.au/apex/f…) for a PhD at the University of Melbourne. A first class honours or Masters is essential to qualify. A $10 000 per year top-up scholarship will be available in addition. Experience working with fish or in marine environments is desirable, but not essential. The student must be prepared to spend 2-3 months per year in Norway for experiments. The project starting date is flexible.
Expressions of interest (with CV attached) are welcome at any time until the position is filled. For further information contact Assoc. Prof. Tim Dempster (dempster@unimelb.edu.au).
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